monthly focus ~ no higher calling

NO HIGHER CALLING

I walked into the cemetery grounds and felt like I was at the fair.  25 to 30 buses were parked with several hundred cars on the dirt grounds. I could hear a band playing amidst singing from several groups, each trying to maintain the sacredness of the moment through the constant flow of humanity around them. Banners advertising funeral services flapped in the breeze. I followed the crowd trying to stay with the people I knew.   Brightly colored tents with advertising on them shielded mourners from the heat.  The service started, but I was far away. I almost stumbled into an open grave when I suddenly realized all eyes were upon me. I had been asked to come forward and pray. I stumbled over mounds of dirt to get to the front and prayed, trying to speak from my heart but was distracted. As the band played, I grabbed some dirt and dropped it into the hole and men started shoveling. The mound rose up amidst the singing of God’s people.   Men sweat in dusty suits, patiently enduring the “help” of one of the relatives, apparently mentally unstable. I left as I had come, not fully aware of what was happening all around me.  To so many, sadly, this was not an uncommon occurrence for a Saturday morning.

The day after the funeral I was driving home. Just down the road from our house I noticed two shoes in the road and a bike wheel, and then I saw him.   He appeared to be in his mid- twenties and had been hit by a car.   He was now breathing his last breaths as his bloody head lay on the lap of the lady driver. She urged him to keep breathing while I got on the phone to call the ambulance - which arrived too late. The community from our outreach village of Plot 137 assembled along the roadside and watched as we prayed and saw him go off into eternity. Nico, clothed in rags of earth and riding a worn out bike, a migrant from Zimbabwe, was one who was loved by the Father so much Jesus was sent.    Jesus came to call sinners of all walks of life to repentance and faith.  Again I was reminded of my responsibility as a Christ follower touch the “untouchables” around us with the message that gives hope beyond this life.
 
A few weeks ago I went over to Gastaldi where the church building is located and found one of our faithful Kopano ladies lying in the grass with her face all bloodied. The night before her drunken husband had tried to strangle her and beat her in the face repeatedly. The governmental hospital workers were on strike at the time so I brought her to our home and Sarah patched her up as best she could.  These are the realities we are dealing with and the ministry God has given us here in South Africa, and we are privileged to be on the frontlines for the King.   From our perspective, there is no higher calling!

Kevin & Sarah Zakariasen
Assisting the Local Church in South Africa

For more information about the Zakariasens’ ministry, contact EBM or email: kzakariasen@ebm.org