Wow! What a day I had today! I feel like celebrating as Mary did after
Gabriel informed her that she would be the mother of the Messiah, only I’m not
nearly as poetic as she was. I feel more like Moses—thick of tongue and slow of
speech—but here’s my attempt to relate to you the awe and worship I feel in my
heart toward God after what I experienced today.
This being the cook’s day off, my breakfast was less than the high
point of my day, consisting of tea and rather stale bread. I supplemented that
with some trail mix that I brought along from home, and that was enough to
provide the sustenance I needed to make it through the morning. Moïse and the
Christian brother he enlisted to take us to his home village, Dienguesso, in
his vehicle, a Peugeot hatchback, picked me up around 8:00 am. We made two more
stops to pick up a couple of other passengers, one of whom was Moïse’s wife, I
found out later; the other was the wife of Bamoussa, another member of the Djimini
translation team. Then we were on our way out of town to the north.
It took us about an hour to reach Dienguesso. Most of the route was
paved, but the last 20 minutes or so was on dirt roads that were, for the most
part, in decent shape, last night’s rain notwithstanding. Upon reaching the
village, we drove directly to Moïse’s house, which is very close to the church.
After observing the Djimini custom of providing water for the guests and
exchanging news between residents and visitors, we were offered a breakfast of
tea and bread. I had only a small amount of the bread so that I wouldn’t still
be full when the midday meal was served later on. After breakfast, we made our
way to the church, where we were seated at the front of the church.
By the time we joined the service, it was already pretty far along. We
caught the last song or two, then it was time for announcements. During that time
I was introduced and given the opportunity to say a few words. After the
offering and another song, it was already time for the morning message, and as I
mentioned in yesterday’s post, I had been asked to preach the same sermon I had
shared at Kengenmougousso two weeks ago.
My message is based on the passage in Luke 18:35-43, where Jesus healed
a blind beggar near the end of his ministry. I entitle this message “Hope when
there is no Hope” or “Hope Beyond Hope”. The gist of the message, for those of
you who haven’t heard it in one of the many churches where I’ve given it over
the past year and a half, is this: The blind man begging by the road was caught
in a hopeless rut, looking only for a way to survive from one day to the next.
He had no hope for anything more than that—until the day that he heard that
Jesus was passing by on the road where he was begging. Hope was born in him
that day, and he called out in faith, asking to be given back the gift of sight
that he had lost. He was healed and forgiven because of his faith. Though many
of the bystanders felt he was unworthy of Jesus’ time and attention, Jesus
himself had time for him. In the same way—because Jesus is the same today as He
was back then, nor will His nature ever change—Jesus, in spite of the fact that
He is the greatest of the great, the ruler of all those who are of noble birth,
has time for each one of us, even if we’re the lowliest of the ignoble, the
marginalized, those the world considers of little value. Jesus wants to hear us
articulate what it is that we desire, and He wants to give us the desires of
our heart. He wants to give us hope when, in human and natural terms, there is
absolutely none. He wants to do the impossible in our lives so that we, like
the blind beggar, will thereafter be part of His following, glorifying God for
what He has done in us.
After the church service was over, we gathered at Moïse’s house again,
where a meal would be served to us in due time. As we were sitting there and
the people around me were chattering away in Djimini, Bamoussa’s wife turned to
me and said, “That message really slapped us!” Apparently they had been
discussing the message, and she brought me into the conversation at that point.
What she meant was that the message had really struck home for them. They were
familiar with the story, but for them it was just a story, ancient history, and
didn’t really impact their lives in the here and now. The way I related the
story to the present was like a lightning bolt from heaven. Suddenly this story
took on new meaning for them, giving them something in the Bible that they
could recall when difficult times came their way. They could find hope in the
midst of desperate situations by calling to mind the plight of the blind beggar
and how his life had been forever changed by Jesus’ power.
The next 30 minutes were spent talking about the message and how it
related to various experiences that one or the other had had or were currently
dealing with. This was a gift from God for me, because I always wonder what I’ve
communicated in my limited French through an interpreter into yet another
language, or if I’ve communicated anything at all. To hear four different
people talk about how the message had significantly impacted them gave me a
real boost.
The conversation eventually switched back into Djimini, leaving me to
allow my own thoughts to wander. I reflected on the wonder of what had happened
at that church this morning. How was it possible that someone as introverted as
I am by nature can stand up in front of a crowd of 100 people and deliver a message
in a foreign language, using no notes and having only an English Bible to refer
to? How is it that I, a person who struggles to find the right words to express
my thoughts and feelings, could speak in front of this group without feeling
nervous, speaking relatively comfortably and confidently? “How is that even
possible?,” I asked myself! There is simply no other explanation other than
that God Himself did it through me. He is the One who arranged for me to be in
Dienguesso today; He is the One who enabled me to learn to speak French well
enough to communicate. And though I often have to search for the words I want
in French, He got His message through in spite of my stumblings. Truly, it is
through our weakness that His strength is shown most clearly. That was very
much the case today.
As we continued to wait while the women prepared mashed yam for us for
lunch, various people came by to say hello. I smiled and nodded a lot, shaking
lots of hands, while understanding very little of all that was said, since it
was virtually all in Djimini. But at one point, one of the pastors present said
to me, “The woman over there with the red top has asked you to pray for her
because she has a sore foot.” Apparently, her take on my message was that today
was her opportunity to be healed of her handicap. When she looked at me, she
saw Jesus, so she came asking to be healed. I prayed for her earnestly, but I
make no claim of having the gift of healing, so I don’t know if she has been healed
yet or not. When she left our group, she was still obviously in pain. I can
only pray that she will experience a significant improvement in her
relationship with God as a result of her request and that she will find hope
where there was none before.
After lunch, and just before we left to come back to Dabakala, another
woman came. She had brought her 22-month-old son with her, and she asked me to
pray for him to be able to walk, since he has not yet been able to. I prayed
for strength in the boy’s legs and for wisdom for his parents to know what to
do to help him. Once again, I do not know what effect my prayer had or will
have in the life of this family, but it is my deepest hope that this mother
will find hope for the future that was not there when she woke up this morning
and that her relationship with God will be forever transformed because of all
that happened today.
I find myself in awe of the idea that God would choose to use me to
speak a deep and personal message to a group of people in a remote African village.
Surely there are more capable people He could use. But just as He chose to work
through Moses in spite of his discomfiture at the thought of being in the
spotlight, He has elected to use me as His spokesperson while I’m here, despite
all of my shortcomings. And here I thought I was making this trip for the
purpose of helping the Djimini people get started on the dictionary they want
so badly. God obviously had other objectives in addition to that one. And so “my
soul magnifies the LORD”
for the wonder of what He’s doing!
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