Funerals to Birthdays...

It’s been over a year since I was blessed with the privilege of going to Sunbury, South Africa for a short-term mission trip. For those of you who don’t know (which shouldn’t be any of you seeing as how I can’t go two seconds without rattling off some story from South Africa…), it was a life-changing experience. I can’t even begin to describe it in words. My entire life was turned upside down. I’ll soon include the mission updates on the side in case you want to read them.

While I was there, I visited with a family of missionaries (the Stearns) from England who were working with SIM. Their missional work consisted of holding devotionals at various HIV/AIDS clinics, traveling around the townships (imagine project housing but 100 times worse), holding Bible studies in various houses, and helping the sick get to and from the clinics. David Stearn puts a pretty serious emphasis on treating the whole human. They try to avoid a social gospel but also don’t try to become so theologically rooted that the gospel’s practicality is lost.

I stayed with them for about a day and a half and the entire time I was there we were driving around in a bukky on dirt roads, trying to minister to the sick and dying. Two former South African witch doctors who had been completely transformed by the power of the gospel, Bheki and Mama Zimu, traveled with us. A language barrier definitely made communication difficult but, to quote Toni Cade Bambara, you bond with whom you share salt.

One of the young ladies we met with, Pendihle, was suffering from AIDS related tumors, specifically one in that went from inner thigh to inner thigh. She was in immense pain and while we prayed with her, read her the Scripture, gave her soup and medicine, and watched over her… the tumor hemorrhaged. For those of you who don’t know medical jargon, that means she started bleeding profusely all over the hut. Never in my life have I been more sure that someone was going to die in front of my eyes. While we begged God for her life, encouraged her to be strong and to trust in God, and called for an ambulance, I can remember seeing the terror and the hopelessness that was in her eyes. Thanks be to God, an ambulance eventually came (a miracle in and of itself), she was taken to the hospital, was treated, and later asked for a Bible. Needless to say, I was overjoyed.

A few days ago, I was informed that both Bheki and Pendihle had passed away. Personally, this past year has been filled with death but for some reason their deaths left me rattled. While I know Bheki was a believer, his last words were “Jesus is calling me”, what about Pendihle? What about Sibosiso and Lungisani and the others that I met? They say life is cheap in Africa… I guess I just wasn’t prepared for it to happen so soon.

I don’t know. I guess this unexpectedly long blog has two intended purposes. First, to leave you encouraged. Death is a hard pill to swallow but know that it is also the best thing that can happen to a saint. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And Second, to push you towards urgency. If you know of unsaved family members or friends, plead with God for their souls. We don’t have to time to sit idly by and watch those we claim to love walk slowly towards eternal punishment. Should we not risk our comforts and relationships for the sake of the souls of those whoa re lost? Better yet, doesn’t Christ deserve this offering?

Philippians 3:20 “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”