Missions

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My Father
He died in the early hours of May 1, 2001 at the age of 73. His was a sudden illness which was followed six hours later by a very painful death. My parents’ homestead is situated in a rural village where roads are in a bad state and communication by telephone is virtually dead. Neighbors tried to rush him to a distant rural hospital by ferrying him in a scotch cart but the distance was too long and the transportation too slow. He never made it to the hospital.
I loved my father very much and it pained me to hear of how terribly he had suffered. My comfort came from knowing that my dear dad had gone to be with the Lord. Four months before he passed on we had experienced a miracle which was to turn his life around in a way we could never have foreseen. I was working for Life Ministry Zimbabwe then, and though I was their Accountant I was however involved in the missions outreach programme as well.
Early in the year we had gone as a team to show the Jesus film to my village people. While my mother was a committed Christian my father had stopped going to church more than twenty years ago. He had turned to ancestral spirit worship and consulting spirit mediums.
Two weeks before the outreach we had been gathering as a team praying regularly for God to go before us and prepare the hearts of the villagers to respond positively to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I never for once anticipated that my father would be among those who would give their lives to the Lord. The scripture which had been impressed on my heart as we prayed was from Isaiah 40:25, "To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.
As the call to receive Christ as personal Savior was made, my father arose from his seat in the shadows and with the support of his cane slowly limped his way to the Preacher. We couldn’t understand what was happening but as we watched we saw him drop to the ground and knelt before the preacher! As the angels in heaven cried ‘Glory’ I burst forth in tears; tears of overwhelming joy at the awesomeness of God Almighty.
‘Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him’.
Isaiah 64:4

Notes
- A scotch cart is a very primitive ox-drawn sort of carriage used in rural areas for the ferrying of goods and people.
- Scriptures are taken from the New International Version

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