This month, we would be reading a true life experience of a very close friend, a pastor of a fast growing church in Lagos and a lover of youth, his story is sure to inspire both teenagers and every young person especially those who are yet to gain admission into the university or those facing one academic challenge or the other. Don’t give up and don’t give in! Getting admission into the Higher Institution for me was a long and rough road. But at the point of writing this article for Teensaflame, it has been 11 years since I graduated. I am happily married to the love of my life – Ajibike and we have 3 kids. In the last 11 years we have had 7 cars and we travel regularly for vacation to different parts of the world. Hmmm! It sounds like Life is good, right? Yes, right! Life has sure been great but not without Jesus and certainly not without walking the path my Saviour has ordained for me. Now, don’t get me wrong, in those 11 years I have fallen, failed and fumbled many times but Christ has been gracious to me. I want to share with you how I wrote GCE 7 times. Let me start by saying, I was not a dead brain neither was I a cracked skull. Potentially, I was above average maybe even a distinction student but my academic records did not agree with my estimation of myself. This is why you can’t succeed beyond your preparation no matter your potential. The few times I came out blazing with distinction fire on all academic cylinders was because someone either looked down on me or threatened me with some scary punishment. Those were the times I dug in to muster the discipline required for academic excellence. My parents were busy and I had concentration problems. I repeated Primary 2, while my immediate younger sister had double promotion and joined me in the class. I tried my hands on GCE and UME for the first time 1994, I was in SS1. The GCE centre was Agege primary school, Orilowo, Ejigbo. The result was 6 F9s and 2 Es and 1 P7 or P8. Subsequently, I went on to write GCE and UME in 1995, 1996, 1997 while I wrote PolyJAMB in 1996 and 1997. My final year in secondary school was 1996 and I was the disciplinary Prefect. I was to be made the Head Boy but I had joined the school in SS1. The Teachers felt I had good composure, intelligent and could communicate fluently. More importantly, I was a devout Christian and would preach at morning assemblies in school. That year, my result was 6 credits and 2 Ps. The credits excluded Maths and English – it was a blow and huge discussion amongst teachers and students alike. That year, I went on to undertake a teaching job. It was fun because while I taught in these tutorial centres alongside my friend Bolaji Adeyemi, we organized Christian fellowship for the students. I served Jesus with all my heart and strength. Many times however, there were thoughts of depression whenever I came across past classmates who were in their respective universities at that time. I felt the devil mocked me saying. Keep doing Apostle Paul while your mates are in the University and several times I would weep bitterly. Every time I wrote JAMB, I never got up to the 200 cut off mark. Yet, I had had a dream in 1996 where the Lord showed me I was going to attend UNILAG. I had many offers to have my Jamb result falsified but I refused. I just felt strongly within me that if I did that there will be backlash and I didn’t want that. Now I know it was the Lord restraining me. In 1996, I and my younger sister wrote Poly Jamb alongside a friend. We applied to Lagos State  Polytechnic, when the poly Jamb score came out, I had scored 135, my younger sister scored 127 while our friend scored 124. Guess what? My younger sister had 2 course offers at LASPOTECH while my friend with the least score amongst us had 3 courses offered to him while I had none. My mother was introduced to someone in LASPOTECH, who had been of help to people at different times without collecting money. He was a very highly placed man and he promised to assist but when the lists came out and my name was absent, he came to my mother to say he had included my name twice and mysteriously, my name was removed from the lists. He counselled my mother saying .There is higher purpose for your son’s life and I perceive this is not the school that the Lord has ordained for him. I finally made my maths in 1997 (I had made English earlier). It was not without difficulties – I had a C6. This was my 4th GCE and I wrote another UME where my score was 198 while PolyJamb score was 154. In 1998, I gained admission into Federal Polytechnic Ilaro and graduated in 1999 with a near distinction grade. In year 2000, University of Lagos started a new department called Urban and Regional Planning and decided to admit Direct Entry students from various Polytechnics. That was how I gained admission into UNILAG with my ND result in 2001. The school requested of me to present O’Level Geography which I did not offer in my secondary school days. That was my 4th GCE and I did not pass Geography. With all the course work I was only able to attempt it again in 2004 after which the centre was cancelled. In 2005, my final year in UNILAG, I wrote the GCE exam but the school waved the Geography and I was cleared to graduate with my course mates. The rest is history. Today, I pastor a church and have some businesses running by the side. In my journey, I stayed committed to God. Like I said at the beginning, I have failed many times even in my character, but I didn’t stop following Jesus. He spoke to me through many dreams and visions, called me back when in depression I turned to pornography and restored my walk with Him. By God’s grace I have been and continue to be a blessing to many.  We would love to encourage you further, as you decide to write those exams again -TEENS AFLAME TEAM