PA TITUS AKANBI BOLUTIFE: THE FOUNTAIN AND THE LIGHT!
For with thee is the fountain of life; in thy light we have seen lights. Psalm 36:9 (Paraphrased)
PA TITUS AKANBI BOLUTIFE! This is our confession about you in the words of David the son of Jesse: You are the fountain of our lives. In thy light we have seen lights.
You Are The Fountain of Our Lives. We owe our biological source to you. Without you there would not be our biological existence. Our genealogy is traceable to you. We are a proof of your sexual viability, fruitfulness and productivity. If anybody asks us whose children we are, we can boldly and proudly answer, we are not bastards without identity. You are our father!
Many men like you, without doubt, have done well in this dimension of bringing forth biological lives. but I believe, where you have excelled many of your equals lies in the fact that, while many of your contemporaries were only fathers as defined by ability to impregnate women and bring forth children, your own fountain is a fountain that did not only have the capacity to bring forth life but also possessed the capacity of producing the light of direction for the lives you brought forth. Not every fountain of biological lives has the light dimension. It’s why many children live their lives groping in darkness and frustrated in life having not the light of life and direction.
Pa Titus Akanbi Bolutife, you are a fountain that has light! You did not bring us forth to life and yet make us stranded of the light to navigate life. In your light we have seen light.
In your light we see the light of love! parental love was exemplified in you. Not every father is a lover of children. But you are an exemption. You loved us with a sacrificial love-a love that made you willing to clad naked in order to send us to school and gave us basic necessities of life. Sending children to school in your era was not a celebrated or welcomed idea. It made you appeared to your contemporary as a fool of superlative degree. You defied cultural inclination and public opinion to provide quality education to your children. And having loved your own children, you loved them even unto the end! Our expression of love to others today as your children was shaped by our experience of love with you. In the light of your love we have learned to love.
In your light we saw the light of fairness in parenting! You treated every child equally. You gave every child equal opportunity. There was no partial or preferential treatment of children with you. You never placed one child above the others, not even because some children cared for you more than the others. You knew individual ability of all your children and appreciated them all. You are just a class of your own.
In your light we saw the light of integrity! Our father had zero tolerance for falsehood and insincerity. He would not judge a matter without hearing every party and confirming the truth. He would show no respect of person whoever you are whether among his children or kinsmen. Nobody, not even any child can bribe him with gift or money such that he would not be able to tell you the truth. He would usually say, “it’s your money you would keep to yourself but that I will not tell you the truth, forget it.” Oh that we may receive grace to walk in this light you have shown us!
In your light we see the light of devotion! Without doubt, this is the greatest light you have ever shown us! We grew up seeing and watching you in prayer. In the light of your prayer life we saw the light of daily praying. We grew up knowing how to kneel in prayer ever before we were taught. Every night you would always gather us for family devotion. The Bible was a special Book to you. You showed us the path of devotion. You were not ashamed to identify with Jesus, the Person you loved till death. Many times we watched you faced intense persecution from your country men because of your devotion to Jesus. You took a stand for Jesus. You were ready to die than compromise your faith in the Jesus the Son of God. You were a passionate lover of Jesus. We remember how you used to take us on a 3-mile journey from Itoko Village to Olodo every Monday to attend the weekly Deeper Life Bible Study. You were a man of prayer. You prayed till your last breath! How beautiful to know that some who persecuted you so fiercely for your faith in Jesus eventually came to serve Jesus with you in your lifetime! Your walk with the Lord and your work for the Lord remain a challenge to our heart. They provoke our heart to a closer walk with Jesus.
Our greatest Joy lies in the fact that you finished your journey strong with Jesus! The manner of your departure leaves no one in doubt of your destination. Truly, A SAINT HAS GONE HOME! We look forward to meeting you again when The Day Breaks! Then we shall meet to part no more. With a deep sense of joy and gratitude for a life well spent and worthy of emulation, we say, FAREWELL OUR FATHER!
