'Beat Me With My Cane!': Caught in the act, for speeding.
I had been ministering in Ghana, and now, we were coming out of the country, to Nigeria to fly home, before Christmas. Presently a policeman stopped us, and, amazingly, he showed us that we had been speeding. He even had a radar gun! We knew that we were in trouble, miles from home, in a foreign land, we could have been seriously jailed, delayed, or seriously fined. When he came to Elijah's side of the car, I told the police man, "Occifah, Please, Sah. Don' blame de drivah. Ees ah my fault. Ah am de guilty pahty." The officer spoke to me, "You wah nah de drivah! You ah nah to blame." I turned on the tape recording that Joshua and Dawn Joy made of them singing West African songs, greeting me, and making me feel homesick. I told the policeman, as was true, "Sah! Ah am the guilty pahty, I was deestractin' the drivah. Ees ah my own fault. Please allow me to beyah (bear) de punismen." By now the policeman had come around to my side of the car. When in Ibo land in Nigeria ministering, the Igbos had given me a chief's cane, in honour of my high chieftaincy that had been conferred upon me by King Adeosun. The policeman recognized the cane for what it was. After I showed him pictures of Joshua and Dawn Joy and others of my family, I gently lifted the cane from my lap slowly toward his hand. I pleaded, "Please Sah, I am begging you, please let me come down from the cah, let me bend ovah de bonnet (the hood of the car), an' you can flog me wit' my cane." I kept a straight face. Elijah kept a straight face. The policeman kept a straight face. After a moment, the policeman said, "Go yo' way." And, so we did.