A Normal Nigerian Policeman

And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process?
Is anything worth more than your soul? -Mark 8:36-37.

A normal Nigerian policeman
In 1978 I joined the Nigerian police force.Like every other policeman in Nigeria,as an arm of the law I enjoyed a certain amount of power and had some priviledges over my compatriots.That was how most of us saw our profession.
In April 1983 there was a fatal road accident between the capital Lagos and the town of Ibadan.Two people died,three others were badly injured.Together with a colleague I had to investigate the circumstances of the accident.I told him to transport the injured to the nearest hospital .It was my task to look for things that would help to identify the victims.So I searched the first car.Two things made me curious:a briefcase with cash to the value of nearly £1000 and a new Bible that bore no name.As I was alone I pocketed the findings.That was how the Nigerian police dealt with such "titbits".
In less than three months i had spent the money,but I kept the Bible at home,where i left it lying on the table.Months later i had forgotten the incident-typical of the police! - until a colleague and friend of mine visited me.He saw the Bible and started to leaf through it.Quite by chance he came across Mark 8:36 (todays verse).I suddenly remembered how i had aquired that book.But I tried to suppress the matter,and a week later my holiday began.
One morning during my holiday I turned the radio on.A sermon was been broadcast .Of the thousands of verses in the Bible the preacher had chosen no other verse than Mark 8:36! I switched off angrily.But I just could not banish those words from the Bible from my mind.Finally I spent several days of that holiday reading the Bible.
A friend noticed my new interest and adviced me to read first the gospel of John,then the epistle to the Romans.I did so.As I read,lt seemed to me that the Bible had been written specially for me alone.
When I was reading the third chapter of John's gospel one morning,I felt compelled to confess my sins to God. and ask for saving faith in Jesus Christ..Then I suddenly began to see life from another viewpoint.I learned that the soul is far more important than all the money in the world.
My holiday ended and I returned to work.At first I had the impression that I should have to give up my job,living according to the Bible seem to me incompatible with the profession of a Nigerian policeman.But God led me to a neighbor,who was not only a customs officer,but also a Christian.He showed me that it was possible even in my profession to follow Jesus Christ as one's Lord.And that is what i wanted to do.
As a consequence it cost me many a struggle and a lot of derision.I was confronted with misunderstanding and discrimination.But I learned to take it as part of my pathway with Christ.As a policeman who is a believer,I can no longer be a "normal policeman".