I am continually amazed with what
God is doing through our ministry work, even where we don’t expect. I’m
reminded of the scriptures in Jeremiah 33:3 when God tells the prophet “Call to
Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things, which you
do not know.” I can testify to you today that the Lord did something we did not
expect.
It was Sunday April 6, 2014 at
about 2 p.m. in the village of Kibwezi in Eastern Kenya. I was seated under a
shade with Caleb, my friend and fellow worker in the gospel. We were resting at
the guest house where we were staying after having returned from a very
powerful and moving church service at Deliverance Church in the nearby village
of Thange. The pastor there has just buried his wife, his daughter, and one of
the leading members of his congregation and we had decided to attend his church
on that day along with our good friend and co-worker, Shadrack Maunda.
It was a hot day and we ordered a
bottle of soda for each of us and also for two young men that worked there. Little did we know that ordering soda would
give us the opportunity to share Christ with one of these men.
His name is Samuel. He had been bitten
by a bee and his cheek was swollen. After taking his soda he came to us and
said “look at my cheek is it still swollen?” We told him “Yes, but not like it
was yesterday.” He laughed and said “This is nothing compared to what I have
gone through.” We were really eager to know his story so we asked him to sit
and tell us everything.
This is what he said:
“I had just graduated from high school
and needed work. I found a job where a greenhouse was being built. I was lucky
enough to be employed as a supervisor there. But I thank God that He rescued me
from death at that place not just once, but 2 times. The first time the
electricity had been disconnected from the power pole due to lack of
payment. I thought that I would connect
it back. I decided to climb the pole which is about 15 ft high and I guess it
was not my good day. I was electrocuted,
fell to the ground and broke my back. I was rushed to the hospital and remained
unconscious for two weeks and then remained in the hospital for a total of 6
months. One month after my release from the hospital, I was climbing a power
pole and again accidentally hit the electrical wire, fell to the ground and
this time my spinal cord was severed. The doctors said that I would never walk
again. This time I spent 8 months in the hospital. I was confined to a
wheelchair.
I remained in the wheel chair for
about 3 months. But God performed a miracle in my life. Slowly, I began to walk
again.
This miracle caused me to want to seek
God. So I went to a former employer of mine who was a pastor and asked him to
pray for me so that I could be saved. But the pastor said to me ‘For you to be
saved, you have to go through a class for 6 months, going through piles of books and also work at my house without pay for the same time and then you will be saved.’ But I felt like that was too much for me to
bear. My back was still aching and I could not even stand without the
supporting vest so I decided ‘To h… with Christianity.’ I was raised to be a Muslim, my family is
Muslim and I would even prefer to be a pagan than to be a Christian.”
After listening to his story Caleb and
I shared the simplicity of the true gospel with him. We started by telling him
how much God loved him. We read to him Romans 10:9:
“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your
heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
and then
explained to him what this meant. He said to us “Is that all? Is that truly the
way to be saved?” He then told us “I want to be saved. Now!” And so we prayed
with him and at that moment, he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.
After praying with Samuel, we
introduced him to Pastor Shadrack Maunda for follow up and Bible study. He was so excited about being born again; he
wanted us to go and meet his mother and tell her about Jesus.
Please pray for Samuel as he begins his new life in Christ. And continue to pray for us as we are continually amazed at what God is doing!
Be blessed,
Don and Becky
Cameron
Missionaries to
Kenya
