My brother in Christ, Ben and I had quite an experience the other day
here in Swaziland, a very small country located in the north of South
Africa. It is an extremely beautiful country. Rolling hills and high
mountains. It is very desert-like as well which is something I’m not
used to. Very dry and hot during the day, very cool and windy at night.
It is nice to get that relief at night from the sizzling daily heat.
Anyway, the other day Ben and I were riding bikes down the long dirt
road in front of where we are staying. I saw this child, about eleven
who was carrying a live chicken back to his home I’m assuming to eat. It
did look tasty haha just kidding…but serious. As he was running
alongside my bike as the kids often like to do, I noticed his eyes were
quite crooked. God gave me much compassion for Ugu. (I call him that
because I cannot pronounce his name or have any idea how to spell it.
Darn my American tongue! Haha)
I had asked him how far his home was and he just kind of pointed up
the road. So I felt like we should give a ride home. I asked Ben to
accompany me and of course he did. Instead of me biking all the way with
Ugu on the back of my bike with a chicken (I was afraid that it would
bite me, but the chicken was pretty chill), after about five minutes I
asked Ben if we could start switching off cause I am highly out of
shape. He of course said “yes”, and we moved on.
We switched off for a while and continued up the long, dusty road.
The bike chain kept popping off, Ugu was riding on the back with a live
chicken, and we had no idea how far up the road Ugu lived. It was
already a quite comical situation. Well, then Ugu wanted to drive one of
the bikes by himself, Ben let him of course. So now, Ugu was driving a
bike with Ben holding it up and a live chicken in his hand.
Ben always has a deeper perspective than I do on some things and he
made the comment that it probably was the first time that Ugu had ridden
a bike. Judging by how Ugu was handling the bike, or not handling the
bike made me believe that that assumption was correct. It made me so
joyous to be there and I was ecstatic that God had put us there in that
moment to give that boy a chance to do something for the first time. I
am going to be honest I was starting to get tired at that point because
it was getting dark and we had no idea how much farther we had to go.
We had stopped to put the chain back on the bike and were ready to go.
Then, Ugu motioned to me to hold the chicken so he could have a better
grip on the handle bars. He held it out for me to take. I declined
because I was afraid it would bite me (I was a coward). Oh, how I wish I
had grabbed the chicken. It would have avoided the next event. As Ugu
started to grab the handlebars, the chicken began to flip out and
dropped to the road! Oh no! Of course as a survival instinct, the
chicken ran to an area on the side of the road that was bigot guarded by
enormous thorns. (most pastures around Swaziland are guarded by a wall
of thorns and then a barbed wire fence). That was the case here as the
fence made a second strong hold to protect the pasture. Let me first
explain these thorns as well. These thorns aren’t weak sauce Florida and
Georgia thorns. These are inches long and are comparable to wooden
nails. They latch onto your legs and leave small gashes. They go through
your shoes and puncture the bottom of your feet. Like we are talking
monster thorns!
So as this chicken is chilling in all theses thorns and I am not
chilling trying to get close enough to it to grab it. I wass getting
poked left and right, top and bottom by thorns. I was trying to move
quickly so it wouldnt break the threshold of the barbed wire. Well, as I
went to grab the chicken, it almost waltzed just out of reach and under
the fence. I think I heard it chuckle a bit and possibly throw up a
middle feather at me.
I came back out of the thorns (some came out with me) defeated and in
a little but of a panic. The thoughts were crossing through my mind
that this was Ugu and his family’s dinner and Ugu had walked probably a
good couple of miles to get it and what would happen if he returned
without one. If only i had taken it in the first place. Only on the
world race would you say to your friend in a panic: “We have to catch
this kids chicken!”
Ben had been scheming up a plan of how to get it back and ran to the
left of the fence to see if there was a better route into the pasture. I
ran around to the right and down a side street to see if there was a
gate. There was not and the thorns were even higher on that side. I
heard the little footsteps of Ugu follow around the corner and I started
to run back to where I was trying to catch the chicken. It was the only
feasible entrance. I told Ugu to take care of the bikes and put a hand
on his shoulder and reassured him that we would get it back. He did not
understand the words but heard the sincerity of my voice and understood
the gesture. He nodded and grabbed a bike.
I tried to enter the treacherous thorns again as they punctured my
feet, arms, and legs. I tried to get to the fence but I had to give up
because of the pain. Just then Ben ran back to me and said there was a
guy already in the pasture who was moving towards the chicken. Almost
simultaneously a man braved the thorns next to me and the barbed wire
fence. Out of the goodness of the two mens’ hearts, they cornered the
chicken and snatched it up as I watched from afar. The man handed the
chicken to Ben and he held it for the rest of the time while we moved on
up the road. We helped Ugu ride the bike for a while longer and decided
to break from him because we had to get back due to darkness and the
reality was that we were probably slowing Ugu down.
We didn’t break without praying for him, though! We prayed for his
eyes, safety, and that he would walk in the great light of the Lord. It
was funny he really didn’t understand anything we said but “can we pray
for you?” he exclaimed “yes!” i thought that was God’s hand was coming
upon us in that moment. Ugu then proceeded to walk up the road with his
chicken safely in his grip while we watched to make sure he turned the
corner safely. Ben and I, then began to ride back to our residence
exploding in laughter here and there looking back on the ridiculous
event that had happened.
I gave me two realizations thinking back on the events. Even though
we probably slowed Ugu down and gave him more problems than he would
have had just walking, God gave him an experience through us that he
will never forget and may have never had. I imagined him getting home
and recalling the story to his parents and sibilings and them jus being
like “what?” haha I also know in my heart that God was with him and got
him home safe. I made me full of joy being a part of that.
The bigger realization I had was one that broke my heart:
” Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2And the soldiers
twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed
him in a purple robe. 3They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the
Jews!” and struck him with their hands.”
John 19:1-3 (ESV)
I realized the little pain I was in and was so weak. Jesus, our
Savior, had those same huge thorns slammed onto his head, was mocked,
flogged, beaten, and then crucified. He did it willingly for us. For
each and every one of us even though we are so underserving. My feet
were in probably one one-hundreth of a percent of the pain that Jesus
withstood WILLINGLY. that word willingly just keeps popping into my
brain because it is the ultimate testament of God’s love for us. I
really don’t have the words to describe how I felt in that moment and
still feel about it. He bore it all for us, undeserving sinners. I thank
God for the life that He has given all of us! I thank Him for His love!
I thank Him for His mercy! I thank Him for His grace! He is a God of
wonders! Oh how wonderful He is! I pray that I always remember that day
and the realization that God brought me. How weak we are and how strong
He is! His love is everlasting!!!
