This is Robert….and this is his story
When I first found out that I would be doing door to door evangelism for part of this month I was not a happy camper. I thought it would feel like selling toasters and all I could think of was when Mormons come to my neighborhood how I avoid them like the plague and don’t answer the door. Well turns out I was wrong, very wrong.
I don’t even think I would call what we do door to door evangelism. Many of the people that I have meet live deep in the bush and have never seen a white person, so when they see us they want to hear what we have to say. Most people have already heard of God and have many questions or would just like to share their life story with us. We offer encouragement and prayer as well as share struggles from our own lives and how we saw God working.
When we meet Robert the first thing he said to us was that he had done something too bad that God could never forgive him. He then continued to tell us something that only his wife knew prior to telling us. He said that he was a Dr. in the military and had orders to inject peoples IV’s with poison that would kill them, all along these people thought he would be saving their life. Robert has been carrying this guilt for a long time and it has been eating him alive. There has been and still is a lot of turmoil in Africa and many times people find themselves in a kill or be killed situation. Robert knew that he would have been killed if he did not follow orders and wanted to return to his family.
After hearing Roberts story I asked him if one of his children had killed someone if he could still love them and if he would want to help them with what they were going through. Without any hesitation he said, “yes” I then proceeded to tell Robert that it is impossible to be too dirty or sinful that God wouldn’t want anything to do with him. God knew that as humans we were going to make mistakes of all multitudes and that’s why Jesus died for us. The price has already been paid. He then started to cry and had to walk away from us for a bit. When he came back two of my other teammates talked to him about God’s grace and forgiveness and how we are a new creation when we give our lives to God and that things that we have done in our lives do not define who we are. He was very receptive and let go of a lot of guilt that day. I have not seen Robert since the day I spoke to him and don’t know where his heart is now, however I can say that I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to talk to him and felt nothing like I was selling toasters.
