THE BUFFET OF TEMPTATIONS

By:Quansah Ebo John

date:14th June,2011



THE BUFFET OF TEMPTATION

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The night had been pretty cold in Cape-coast and I was all alone in my room at the guest house in 'Abora',Cape-coast where I had lodged. My thoughts drifted back to the beautiful girls I had encountered earlier in the day who seemed to have a soft spot for a tall, dark and handsome Ghanaian guy like me. It may sound like self-gloating trip but I sure received a lot of attention from most of the ladies I had encountered closely within the Abora neighborhood in the course of my two weeks Clinical Attachment Programme at "Arthur Baiden Memorial Hospital' a private hospital I applied for during the short first semester vac.I tried to fight the thoughts but they lurched at me with greater intensity and became more ferocious as the days went by. I was amazed that a Holy Ghost-filled and tongue-talking Christian guy like me could ever entertain such unclean thoughts. It was as though an advocate from hell had been sent to convince me to yield to the pull of temptation and the girls seemed willing accomplices if only I would just make the move. Just a little sweet talk; some drinks together; an invitation to my room to spend the night and the pressure would be gone. “After all you have no undercover agent here in cape-coast to watch you and no pastor to report to…so feel free and enjoy the thrill while the moment lasts”, -a voice had intoned to the ears of my mind!



I had wanted to spend the two weeks as a time of personal spiritual retreat aside my attachment at the hospital and had bought a new months' edition of Rhapsody of realities and journal to record lessons from my inductive bible studies I intended to have. But here I was on my bed, rather than feed my mind with the pure thoughts from the Bible and pray as I had planned; I had become a victim of my own impure thoughts. My Rhapsody of reality copy book was lying open at the far corner of the wide bed, yet my fingers would not flip through the pages, let alone let my eyes scan them at least. This continued for days and I knew I was being set-up for a major crash of faith, and yet I felt helpless to help myself. I knew I can only get help from outside, and an idea came up;” Why not put a call through to one of your colleague coursemates or friends and bare your heart’s struggles to him and see how things will go. My friend,' Baffuor' is an upwardly young and spiritually sound christian and a medical coursemate of mine who stayed at kumasi during vacations. Though a very handsome and wonderful guy,Baffuor is still single and has remained a virgin since I knew him years ago in Med Sch.



“Hi mate, how are things over there in Kumasi?” I greeted as my friend’s phone beeped.

“Everything is cool man. I was just taking a nap . By the way, how things with you over there in Cape-coast? You sure must be having some swell time dude…?”



I wish Baffuor would know how much I had struggled with sexual thoughts that seem to badge me like a bulwark these past couple of days. But being a close and accountability friend, I felt it was best I open up to him. “Boy it’s been crazy out here in Cape-coast. I just can’t figure out what has gone wrong with my head. All that I think of now have been just about girls, and there are too many of them around here…and they seem to have stepped out from a modeling class with the right curves and sexy figures that will make a monk to renounce his chastity vows…and I seem to be losing it cos all I want to do is just have a girl spend at least a night with me in my guest room…period!”, He could feel the tension in my voice and he must have been shocked, as we have held such ideals of not straying away from our Christian values especially our resolve to live sexually pure.



“Common Ebo! What do you think you up to?” he said with a tone of concern. “What do you think you’ll gain from having sex with any of those girls? Ok…maybe it’s the few minutes of sexual thrill and the relief of sexual tension that you will gain but will that be enough? How about the values we’ve always stood for as single Christian guys…are you just gonna throw them away in a flash? Please, you need to think twice before you plunge into that pool of pleasure.”



I just didn’t care and was ready to stick to my ground. “Baffuor, you don’t understand what it is like to spend a cold night all alone in a guest room. I just need a cute girl around me, and you know even if I let down my guards and do it just once, God won’t cut my neck off.Morever, he understands how weak we can be and I guess he won’t banish me to hell either”. I was actually shocked at how I was rationalizing this whole issue.



But Baffuor won’t just give up.” Ebo”, he said, “I kind of feel your struggles but try and hold on to your resolve. I can’t imagine you locked up in a guest room with some strange cape-coast girl all alone. You know premarital sex is not worth all the sorrow and regrets you’ll most likely experience after the thrill is over. Please, I beg of you, don’t try anything crazy that will make you feel guilty before God whom you love so much. But be sure to know that I’ll be praying for God to help you till you’re done with your course.”







Good friends! What can one do without them? Vince and I talked at length and after a while, I began to reconsider my plan to have sex with one of the Cape-coast girls. We shared some jokes together, teased me a little more, and we laughed it over and I felt so relieved after unburdening to my friend. So I resolved to not do anything stupid again and made efforts to avoid some of the girls I felt posed some threats till the end of the course.



Nevertheless, on the last day of my clinical Attachment, one of them walked up to me and said “Ebo, I won’t be happy if we don’t spend sometime together before you leave for Accra tomorrow”. She was beautiful and the body-hugging dress she wore that morning had accentuated her sculpted body frame and curves. My eyes roved over her sensuous frame as I mulled over the irresistible offer over and again; it looked more like a good Scholarship from a girl who seem to have a crush on me but…



“Thank you so much Teewa as she's called, but am sorry I wouldn’t be able to accept your offer” I replied with much courtesy but with a degree of firmness. “You see, I am a Christian and it wouldn’t be proper for me to get into something that is against the ideals I hold unto. I’m really sorry if I’d hurt your feelings but do bear with me” , I pleaded, while her eyes were riveted on me.



I didn’t know where the strength to say NO came from, and we ended up talking about God and eventually became good friends without any romantic or erotic involvement before I left guest house in Cape-coast two days after the encounter. It’s possible my friend and course-mate in Kumasi had prayed as he promised; at such a time when I was too weak to pray for myself. And this made me know that we need such kinds of friends as bulwarks against the enemy when seasons of temptations buffet us as God’s children.