HEAVEN’S GOT AN ANGEL BACK!

>Heaven must be celebratin' an angel
Celebratin' an angel, who’s back with them right now
Her love was heavenly whilst here
Heavenly to all, she ever met whilst here...em>

No, I haven’t become a poet or lyricist yet. It is just that you cannot but wax lyrical when you find yourself joining in the celebration of a life that was lived giving joy, laughter and succour to others. But even then my muse isn’t being original. The four lines above are actually derived from that vintage song, “Heaven Must Be Missing An Angels”. Recorded by the Tavares, it was subsequently adopted as signature tune for the TV series, Charlie’s Angels. But unlike the Tavares, heavens simply got tired of missing this angel that they took her back last week.

Yes heaven must be celebrating the return of one much more than an angel. Heaven must be celebrating the return, to the bosom of the Father, of one soul, created a little lower than Elohim, who came to the earth radiated and manifested love, the God-kind of love and departed suddenly last Thursday. Heaven truly must be rejoicing, for earth’s loss is indeed heaven’s gain!

Cherie Ebele Dibiana (nee Muoka), changed mortality for immortality in the most unlikely way on February 7. She was on her way from work when she got reports that armed robbers were operating somewhere ahead along Ikorodu road, her route home to Ogba. Of course she did what a wife close to her husband would do. She called her husband of nearly 13 years, Kingsley Chukwuma Dibiana. They agreed it was better to use the main road rather than any one of the backstreets. She must have said a cheery “see you later, darling”, as the call ended and she continued her journey.

Soon enough she got to the Maryland midsection of Ikorodu Road and her car stopped, like many others at the traffic light waiting to bear right into Mobolaji Bank-Anthony Way, to Ikeja. Then the agent of death came calling. Without warning, for no discernible reason, he defied, according to the driver, the admonition of another member of the gang not to shoot; he shot at the lady through the shut window of the car, shattering the glass and hitting her on the neck! The next call her dear husband got was from the driver hysterically announcing that madam had been shot. Three hospitals later (the first two having refused to admit her), she was confirmed dead.

Yours sincerely last saw this wonderful woman of God, who was one of the Coordinating Pastors of Ikeja Centre of Christ Chapel International Churches, the previous Sunday. She, in the company of her husband, had dropped Pastor Segun Oyebola and I off along Kudirat Abiola Way, Oregun on our way from the final session of a three-day Faith Seminar conducted by our Senior Pastor, Rev Dr Tunde Joda. We did not realise we were saying our final “good nights.”

At about 4:00pm that Thursday, Cherie called Pastor Jennifer Oyebola, whose line of business include baking some incredibly delicious cakes, to order a birthday cake for her mother, Rev Mrs Esther Muoka whose birthday was next day. She also ordered Valentines Day cakes for a long list of people. You can imagine her shock when about five hours later she was told “she had passed on.”
Shock, disbelief, pain, confusion reigned for a while in virtually every heart at this absolute bolt from the blues. But God has begun to speak; in fact he begun to speak immediately after she was shot!

With the benefit of hindsight, those of us who were at the Thursday service that day can recall the powerful presence of God in our midst all through the service. Now we know he came to comfort us. Right there in front of the mortuary of Ikeja general hospital, Cherie’s dear mother through her tears spoke what must have been the mind of the Holy Spirit. In quivering voice and holding tightly to one of her daughters-in-law, she vowed: “we will carry on without her; we will put the devil to shame.”

Earlier, when news that his wife had been shot was broken to the husband, Pastor Chuks remembered falling flat on his face in their living room, where he had been waiting to welcome Cherie back to their love nest, and declaring to God: “Father, you gave her to me as a gift; if this is your way of taking her back, let your will be done”.

The departure of the righteous young cannot but lead us to questions upon questions. It couldn’t have been otherwise in the case of Cherie. To hear one person after the other talk about how self-sacrificing, how consumed by the zeal of the House of God; how eager she always was to resolve issues if and when they arose, how much of a present reality heaven was to her, is to ask; why God, why? Why Cherie? Why that way?

But as I said earlier, God has been speaking. As Pastor Chuks, a glint in his eyes and great gratitude to God in his general comportment, told some of his visitors on Tuesday, the Holy Spirit led him to the answer to all our questions in the first two verses of Isaiah, chapter 57. The Message translation renders it this way: ”Meanwhile, right-living people die and no one gives them a thought. God-fearing people are carted off and no one even notices. The right-living people are out of their misery, they're finally at rest. They lived well and with dignity and now they're finally at peace.”

If this does not comfort us, what will? That’s why, I can wax lyrical, the risk of plagiarism, notwithstanding! That why I am humming, “Heavens must be celebratin an Angel…” as I put this piece together remembering with great pleasure the wonderful life our dear sister lived.

That is why I wish I could tell you about how this wonderful lady was the bridge-builder; the one who remembered virtually all the birthdays in church and mobilised others to celebrate them; how she co-opted herself into the altar nursing group on communion Service days because the membership had thinned down; how finding jobs for the unemployed or under-employed amongst us was one of her passions; how…I can go on, but space won’t let me.

But, in closing let me quote from her letter to this columnist early in December last year which reveals her great passion the eradication of unemployment among the brethren. Titled by me as, Let’s Walk Our Talk, it reads in part:

“…I recently met an elderly man on one of my marketing visits to a multinational company. He is neither an ordained Pastor nor a General Overseer of any Church.
He is presently a Departmental Head in his place of work. He told me that years ago (almost 2 decades now), he made a conscious decision to ensure the employment of qualified Christians. (He meets you, your CV is ok, he forwards it to his Human Resources Dept and follows through until you come in or they formally decline). Please note that he has never worked in the Human Resources Dept of the Company. He says that he realized then that many Christians never ever get the opportunity to "access" highly paid jobs in some "coveted" sectors of the economy. It may interest you to know that one pastor has worked in the Human Resource Dept of the same company for years (and is still working) and no-one else in his Church has "made it in". We speak a lot of English on these matters, but you and I can count how many of us "spiritual people" in Church really walk our talk. Do what you can, though. Maybe, God willing, some of the people who read your column or visit your site will be convicted by the Lord to do something more. Stay blessed!”

The “earthen vessel” that used to house the “treasure” known as Cherie, will be laid to rest at the Victoria Court, Lagos on Friday February 22 after a Testimonial Service on Thursday at CCIC, Wempco Road, Ogba. To God be the glory.

First published in a Nigerian Daily, the Sunday Independent, published in Lagos Nigeria.