Growing up in a “ghetto” was a quite challenging battleground for Jonas, a young Christian teenager who truly wants to love God as a Christian. While in Primary school, living in a public compound of 22 apartments with families having an average of 5-7 kids each, Jonas grew to have firsthand knowledge of a lot of life crises a teenager shouldn’t have been exposed to at that age. 

 At age 11, he had seen a young man and a girl caught having sex. He had listened to older neighbors arrange on how to toast a girl and have sex with her. Having a boyfriend or girlfriend seems to be a norm as a youth. Reports of young ladies getting pregnant out of wedlock and aborting it sounds normal in his neighborhood. Young boys smoking ganja/ stone/weed or “wi -wi” as it is commonly called in the hood, was alarming!

 Drinking alcohol and taking drugs seems to make you the happening guy. Staying out late, boys and girls pairing up in dark corners shamelessly caressing, kissing, fondling, and …!hanging out late into the night was the in-thing. These were the pictures young Jonas had playing on his young mind battling with the sound Christian teachings of values and morals he must strictly adhere to! 

His parents have done a good job bringing him up in a godly way but now as he grows into maturity, his hormones yarns for satisfaction and to put to practice all that his environment has engraved upon his young mind! The unending battle begins! Jonas gave his life to Christ when he was in Jss 1 and made a conscious decision to stay clear of all negative social vices in his neighborhood and everywhere else. He aimed to be an example to others. So, he decided – NO GIRLFRIEND TILL HE IS MATURED ENOUGH TAKE RESPONSIBILITY, NO SEX TILL MARRIAGE, NO SMOKING OR DRINKING ALCOHOL even if its 1%, amongst other decisions reached. The dice were cast! In Jss 2, most of his mates were undergoing puberty and so many changes in body physique were already visible. Hormones boiling and yearning for expression.

 A lot of boys and girls who couldn’t help it were already pairing up and calling themselves lovers! Secret parties were organized and attended with a lot of foul stories that seem to be interesting to the carnal mind. In Js 3, it got more pronounced as rumors of sexual escapades by classmates started filtering around and pressure started mounting on young handsome Jonas to get a girlfriend, attend one of those secret parties, have a taste of what alcohol is like, or even arrange a sex outing for him but Jonas was resolute not to fail his God for he has learned so much from scriptures what sin can do to a man. 

 More so, he just wanted to be like Joseph in the story he read in my book of bible story! And he was bent on making good grades in school so he can become a pilot and buy houses and cars for his poor parents! This is the dream and he must not lose focus! But the war within Jonas, of those negative pictures, seems to be gaining more ground in his mind lately… …Watch out for part 2!