A ray of solar light pierces through the damaged walls of a small African mud hut. It grazes over the forehead of a young man of 12 years until it signals its presence by triggering the delicate sensory receptors upon his eyelids. Suddenly the young man rejoins the world of consciousness. He sits up upon the unlevel mud/ manure mixture that forms the floor and gazes around his small world to make sure his siblings are accounted for. The eldest of five, Rafiki (a generated name for the sake of this blog – means friend in Swahili) has much responsibility with the absence of his parents. This early in the morning his dad was still meandering through the streets of town hammered, and his mom was scraping up whatever food she could find at the market with an inadequate amount of shillings (Kenyan currency).
Once he gathers himself and stands to his feet Rafiki makes his way out the front door curious of what the night rains have cultivated. He has learned much during his time in the fields and realizes due to the shallow African soil a good night of rain can produce exponential growth among his crops. In his excitement he hurriedly steps out the door and observes luscious green stalks of corn stretching over fifty yards in three directions which must have grown six inches through the night as well as beans planted in between that were almost ready to harvest. Rafiki and his four brothers are not afforded with enough money for school, due to their father’s habitual pleasure seeking, so they spend their week days sowing seed. This is their training ground and a lot rides on these young boys ability to understand the land. Rafiki takes a deep breath, he is captivated by the natural world and Kenya is so beautiful, yet he has nothing to compare it to, for his world takes place upon this small hilly plot of land. His brothers make their way outside, each in his own pair of rugged and dirty dress pants in no particular color coordination with a worn and torn sweater to combat the cold weather. The youngest brother picks up some wood chips and begins chewing in order to settle his otherwise empty stomach. It was not unusual for the boys to go a day or two without food, but this is a good day for they have plenty of water to drink from the midnight rains. After a sip or 2 of chilled rain water the boys begin their day of work with the lofty goal of tilling and planting seed upon an overgrown uncultivated plot of ground.
Navigating through the “African bush” Sarah and Dex guided by Mrs. Evelyn Omega trudge around mud puddles, up steep hills, over custom barb wired gates sometime puzzled by their complexity, and make their way to local homes. On this day they would traverse through a village untouched by western feet, their white skin making it impossible to escape unnoticed, to share their experience in this spiritual journey we call life with local villagers whom they consider to be their brothers and sisters. After scaling the fence of the boy’s yard (if you will) the three saints make their way to the small patched up mud hut Rafiki calls his home. The boys decide to take a break from their labor with their interest peaked by the strange albino people now sitting in the grass in front of their house. After introducing themselves Mrs. Evelyn translates the words of Sarah. She speaks to the young boys gauging what knowledge they had of God, quickly finding out it was nothing beyond the name of Jesus and what they have experienced in the fields. The boy’s interest slowly began to fade as Sarah walked them through an abbreviated version of the gospel. Rafiki mind would wonder, “All the fancy terms and stories sound good, but it does not adequately explain what I have experienced in the fields.” Rafiki and his siblings have only what they have experienced in this world to verify what is true, and they are relatively uninfluenced by culture. They think, “Why do I need forgiveness of sins? What are sins?” After explaining the story of Jesus Sarah began to talk to the boys about prayer. They became reengaged at this point, because of the startling truth that God is all around us and we can talk to him at anytime. We have unlimited access to the father, in fact he wants to hear your unique voice, Sarah would say. She decided it would be a good idea to practice praying and the boys, rather reluctantly due to nervousness, agreed. She prayed as an example and then gave the boys an opportunity to individually talk to God for the first time. Sarah says pray big guys our God is great, nothing is impossible with God, and he tells us to ask and we shall receive.
Rafiki went first and he said, “God, I just hope we have food.” Then his brother said, “We would love to have food, and that our dad would be home, but not drunk.” What ensued were several short sentences requesting basic needs, heart wrenching in their delivery. Dex glances over his shoulder and notices a man stumbling toward the house assumed to be the father. The man listens as his children pray and then Dex concludes the prayer. Mrs. Evelyn introduces the man to the two visitors and tells them he was once a member of the church. The man confesses after saying his name he has a problem. He says, “I am a drunkard.” Alcohol controls his life; he spends the few shillings he makes at work on beer, while his children sit at home not in school struggling to remain nourished. He says he knows God is real and he has received Jesus in his heart. The man wants to know the Lord more, but cannot conquer his drunkenness. He says, “Will you pray for me to get better?” “Listen brother,” Dex said, “I would love to pray for you, but first you need to know God says you are a free man. The labels people put on you like drunkard or bum have no more hold than you give them. God says you’re more than a conqueror and he has blessed you with a beautiful family because he knows you’re more than capable of providing for them. Don’t limit your father for nothing is impossible for one carrying the living God within them. I am not the one who’s going to break the bondage induced by alcohol, that power lies within you. I would love to pray for you brother, but know you have to claim who you are and rely on him (points to the sky) to make it through this.”
Dex, Sarah, and Mrs. Evelyn pray leaving their blessings upon the man and his family. They then continue onward traversing the African bush sharing the mercy and grace so boundlessly bestowed upon them from their gracious, loving, and glorious creator.
