Caleb was interrupted by a young man as he walked through Circle, one of Ghana's busiest trading centres. The man appeared untidy and shabbily dressed. Caleb turned to avoid him but the fellow held his hand apologetically and showed him a phone he was selling. This caught Caleb's attention and he decided to examine the phone. It was an iPhone 7 plus.

"How much are you selling it for?" Caleb asked. "Ma boss, 900 p?," the guy responded. Caleb took the phone with unbelief and examined it for authenticity. As he inspected it, the man added, "Make I spy your phone?" Caleb gave his iPhone 6 to him. "Oh Masa, you not get problem! You like a, you for take 300 p3 attaché your own make you take am." The deal sounded so sweet in Caleb's ears.

After a minute of a bargain, the guy agreed to take GHC 250 in addition to Caleb's phone. Caleb quickly added the money to his 'outgoing' phone and handed it over to the guy, who quickly packaged his 'incoming' phone in a nice box. Caleb took his new phone and thanked the guy countless times. He didn't need to transfer his documents because he could retrieve them from his cloud storage. Therein, Caleb parted ways with him.

After walking 5 metres away, Caleb decided to go back and ask for the name of the guy or take his contact so that he could refer his older brother to him to also benefit from such a good deal. When he returned, the guy wasn't there. He scanned around briskly but he was nowhere to be found.

Caleb asked about him from those around but they claimed they don't know the fellow, even after he has given a vivid description of him. Anyway, he resolved to leave. As he turned to go, he heard from one of those who sat there, "?kwasia, Snatcher de edi no," to wit: "Fool, Snatcher has done it to him." Those who were around laughed heartily.

He turned back and asked the man, "What did you say?" "Oh, ino be your matter I talk" he retorted. However, Caleb was not convinced. He knew they were talking about him. At this point, his heart skipped a beat. He quickly fetched the encased phone from his bag. When he unwrapped it, he couldn't believe what he saw. It was a quarter bar of Key Soap instead of his new iPhone 7 plus.

Suddenly, he saw the world rotating. He couldn't stand; he bumped his butt on the floor and began to weep. In utter confusion, he held the key soap up and asked those around, "How much is key soap?!" "1 cedi," a voice from the crowd who had mobbed the scene teased. When he realised selling it couldn't even buy enough data, he rained curses on Snatcher. Consequently, Caleb went home 'phoneless.'

This story reminds me of the account of Esau selling his birthright for a bowl of food (Gen. 25:29-34). Like Esau, Caleb exchanged his iPhone 6 for a snippet of soap. Even though he sought his old phone diligently with many tears, he never had it back (Heb. 12:16, 17).

You may not have gone through Caleb's experience or you may consider yourself too wise to avoid such dupery. However, I wish you don't only take caution with regards to phone trading but in every aspect of your life.

There are times we mistakenly sell/exchange our blessings and highly valuable things in our lives for very cheap things. For instance, some people exchange their God for satan, integrity for bribes, virginity for indomie, decency for fame, health for STDs, what have you.

Why do many people always fall prey to the aforementioned despite historical lessons suffered by others? The answer is simple! It is because the ignoble things have a superficial good taste obtained without a sweat. Due to this, man's insatiable taste for wealth and luxury would always make him vulnerable if he does not wise up.

As the saying goes, “A fool knows the price of everything and the value of nothing” ~ (Anonymous).

Therefore, let us be wise and flee from the juicy but delusory barter trade offers from satan to protect our divine inheritance.

Enjoy the Grace of God!
Amen!