I am amazed at how tight a grip Satan has on these people. I am certain, however that the grip here is not any stronger than the grip at home except that we have a look and feel of being OK. The reality is very simple. We have either turned our lives over to God through belief in Jesus or we have not. It has never been more simple. When someone chooses to walk the path of Christ in their life it means something more than it seems to at home. They will lose a job and possibly lose their family. This fear grips and tortures them. One man told me that he believed in Jesus as the son of God but was not ready to tell anyone else just yet.
Does that make him lost? How different is it at home where it takes 48 “Christians” to see one person turn to Christ? I would say that it really is no different than the silent believers at home. If we will say that since that have believed in t heir heart they are saved I would grant the same latitude in Africa. If a man says he believes in his heart and confesses to one of us, is that enough? I would say that is enough. It does not make him mature. It does not allow for much growth, but it does afford salvation. How great is our God!
We travelled to two villages this morning and shared Christ. Chuck was able to get into a good conversation about cattle with one man. We found out that he knows his cattle on sight without tags or brands. He even knows his cattle by hoofprint! His cattle know him as well. They hear his voice and come to him. What a picture of what our relationship with God should be. He knows the number of hairs on our head and formed us in our mother’s womb. He fashioned us and made a plan for us. Do we know His voice? Have we listened long enough to feel the heartbeat of God and follow?
After lunch we went back out to a village and sat down with a few men who were the heads of the compound. They wanted to hear a sermon and I obliged. I explained that the reason we were in Africa was to be obedient to Jesus’ final words of commission. We were here to share a story of truth about Jesus Christ. I began with creation and worked my way to Jesus. The gospel is so simple and they were encouraged by the word. One of the men was a believer but the other 3 were not. I answered a few questions that were asked and prayed for them before leaving. We arrived back at camp to a barrage of kids waiting patiently…well…maybe not so patiently…for the balls Chuck would hand out. They had a blast with them and played for a long time. The dust they were kicking up was getting thick so we sent them down the road to play away from the house.
Pete and Bill worked 11 hours today with a 1 hour break for lunch, although he took it begrudgingly. He saw 50 patients today. Each time someone would walk in after being numbed they would be prayed over. After Pete was done they would be prayed over. We very much believe in the power of prayer. The ones that we somehow forgot to pray for before Pete would work always turned out bad. Coincedence? Absolutely not. Prayer changes things and we would pray as often as we could. We will not know the long term effects just yet, but we have planted much love and seeds of the gospel. We pray that they will be watered and a harvest will come soon.
We had to pack up everything for the clinic in the dark because Pete wanted to work as long as possible. His final patient was done with nothing but his headlamp! We packed up and loaded the truck to be ready for tomorrow. Cherry had made a nut and chicken stew that was fabulous. We poured it over rice and ate. After supper there was a group of people in the camp that we visited with for a while. Tonight was just a visit without any questions or teaching. Our interpreter is a tea master and made us this very good tea each night. He would share it with us in three rounds. Each round was a little different than the one before and wonderful to drink. We soon finished our tea and our talks and went to bed at the very late hour of 9:45. As I write this it is 10:15 and everyone is asleep. It is my time as well…
Here is a peek at our day…
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| Make a Smilebox photobook |
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| Make a Smilebox photobook |
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