A SAD DAY IN SOUTH AFRICA
Thursday, April 9th, 2009Today we finally finished the funeral process for a family member of one of our dearest ladies here in Madiba Bay Baptist Church. Her grandson was murdered sometime in the beginning of March. His mother did not want to deal with the cost of the funeral and thus decided not to tell anyone of his death. Obviously after a while family began to ask of his whereabouts. They came to his house to find his mother had locked it up and went into hiding. Come to find out Mabhuthi/Mzimkhulu (the young adult who died) had been dead for quite some time. He was beaten to death over a cigarette and a glass of beer by four teenage boys. How sad!!! Life seems to be so cheap in Township, South Africa.
After five days of prayer and preaching in the family’s home we concluded today with the actual funeral procession. The entire process was like having a revival service. You didn’t have to go out and invite people, the lost came to us to pay their respects. Our preachers had a blast as almost all of them got several opportunities to preach and they did a tremendous job!!! Paying your respect to the dead is very important to alot of them seeing that this young man is now their newest ancestor, which they believe has the power to bless or cause trouble for them.
Surprise, surprise the mother of this young man showed up today to get some sympathy in front of a very large crowd. I didn’t have much sympathy for her but I was thoroughly convicted by the love and care our church and especially mama Johnson showed toward this young man. It was her grandson but it was not her responsibility to bury him but she did, and to the best of her financial ability.
This family (mama Johnson’s family) fed about 150 adults today (fried chicken, sandwiches, and bottles of soda). I know that this cost this family money that they will probably have to pay back for years. It was just unbelievable how someone with so little could offer so much to something that many of us with so much more than likely would have turned our backs to and said, “no, this is not my responsibility.”
I have to say I have never seen anything as repulsive as the face of this young man. I do not know why but they had the casket opened where everyone could see what was left of this 26yr old’s face. It was straight out of a horror movie. Absolutely sad!!! May God break our hearts for people like this so that they are reached with the Gospel before they die. Most likely this young man who obviously lived a lousy and despicable life is suffering in Hell today. In other words he lived a 26yr nightmare and then goes off into a Devil’s Hell for eternity. It doesn’t seem fair, and it isn’t but not because God is not loving or just, but because many of his watchmen are sleeping or have forgotten why they have been given their post. God really used this in my life - I wish you could have experienced it.
Overall, it was a tremendous outreach for our church and an opportunity to show the people of our church how we would be there for them in difficult times. We really came together as a family. Also this was a tremendous learning experience for me. Throughout the prayer meetings, Lubabalo or Sipho would lead the services but today, today was different. Lubabalo was working and as soon as I saw Sipho’s face I realized that he didn’t have a clue as to what needed to be done. I will just be flat honest and say I didn’t either but I have an excellent poker face and it was on today. I “winged it” all the way through, and I think from the responses I received and the thank you’s all that was done that they thought I had done it a million times before. Honestly, this was my first funeral… ever! I learned a ton and will be able to do an even better job next time. God gets all the glory for anything good that comes out of it. God Bless!!!