GOD IN AFRICA

I was not running from God when I found myself in Africa, it was more like I was running from myself.

I had experienced a life shattering upheaval some months earlier and had resigned my church and walked away. I knew that I needed some time to reflect and to heal. At this point I was staying with Dr. Chuck and Grace Paine at the Kamakwie Wesleyan hospital in Sierra Leone. I would travel to the bush churches on Sundays to preach then back to the hospital during the week. I was half way around the world from where my problem first hit me, and I needed time to myself. I wondered if I would re-enter the pastoral ministry again. One afternoon just before our evening meal I was resting in my hammock out behind the house. As I lay resting the Lord said to me, “Richard remember you told me when you were seventeen that you would go anywhere and do anything that I asked you? Is that commitment still good today?” As the tears welled up in my eyes I told the Lord, “Yes it still holds true”. After a couple of months in Africa I returned home. Within a few weeks of my return, men from the pastoral search committee came to see me saying, “we wondered if you would consider coming to pastor our church?” Within a few more weeks I had entered into the new ministry with that memory from Africa still fresh in my mind. R. Lauby 11813