God's Destiny for Unknown People in Remote Zambia
How closely is God watching over you? Does your loyalty towards Him matter in the grand scope of life? It really does matter far more than you might think. Many people wonder if there is any purpose to their existence and is there anyone who really cares.
My wife Bev and I just returned from a three-and-half-week visit to our congregations throughout Malawi and Zambia in Africa. We visited with 11 different groups of people, and I documented our entire journey on my TravelPod blog at http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog/victorkubik/14/tpod.html. There's a lot I could say, but I want to highlight a miraculous relationship that one of our poorest and most remote groups of people in Mufumbwe, Zambia, have with the Creator of the Universe. It clearly demonstrated to us that God does care and that God is faithful, but that reciprocal faithfulness is vital, too.
The first of the group, Horasi Siyano, came into contact with life-transforming literature in 1981 through another person. The Bible became alive and understandable to him. He was driven to tell his friends about what he learned, and they also became convicted of this mind-opening truth in 1985. They subscribed to the literature and faithfully met each Sabbath for years to discuss what they were learning. They were never visited by anyone in their town. However, one of them did travel more than 500 miles to the capital Lusaka to a see a minister on one occasion.
In 1993 they received no further literature. They were forgotten. But they kept meeting each Sabbath and on the Holy Days defined by Leviticus 23 and kept by Jesus Christ and the early New Testament Church. They had a Holy Day calendar that showed when these days fell on the yearly calendar, but it ran only through 2008.
After that, in February 2009, one of the faithful in the group, Joseph Kaputula, with only $25 in his pocket set out on a mission to Lusaka to find Wilson Nkhoma. Wilson's name and telephone number was in one of the last publications they had received from the Church. While at the main bus station in Lusaka he repeatedly tried calling Wilson, but to no avail.
Joseph sat on the bench waiting and started reading a booklet on the subject of salvation. A person next to him saw this, and a conversation ensued. This person happened to be a member of the United Church of God, who himself was from more than 200 miles away from home. Just a coincidence? Jonathan then led Joseph to the United Church of God. But this is not the rest of the story. There is more, and it can be found with additional photos at http://lifenets.org/mufumbwe/mufumbwestory.html.
In April 2011 when I visited Zambia I had the honor of baptizing Joseph and two others from Mufumbwe who waited 25 years to be baptized. When we talked with them in Mufumbwe in April, we asked what the word for “persistence” was in their local language. They exclaimed ukakachira! So we fondly refer to these people as the people of ukakachira: an amazing story of patience, faithfulness and perseverance.
It was a great honor to be with these people for parts of four days in late April. I was overwhelmed by their sense of destiny and trust that God was with them. They had no doubts. Other than being overwhelmed I felt like I had nowhere near that faith and sense that God really did exist and would be there for me.
I do know that my life is in God's hands, but it took seeing this demonstrated in this very poor environment immeasurably bolstered me.
How do you feel about yourself? God is ultimately faithful and has you personally in mind. He really does. He is faithful. Are you faithful?
Please read our Bible study aid What Is Your Destiny? It points out some of this process that God is going to go through in every person's life. It will need a response from you. Are you ready to make that response now?
