A Twisted Crown of Thorns ®

Brace yourself. I just hope you will have as much fun as I did reading this excerpt from David’s letter. It’s a typical missionary’s letter with the typical bells and whistles ;).

This is Koboko situated in the North West corner of Uganda. To be more specific, this is the Hotel Delambiance (De l’ambiance) in Koboko. It’s bedtime but there is no point in trying to go to sleep as the hotel generator is roaring away outside my window and I have a dilemma – do I want the generator to be turned off, lose the electric light but be able to get to sleep or do I want the power to stay on a little longer and suffer the generator. Why, I hear you ask, is there a dilemma?

It started in the shower. I had earlier pointed out to the manager that there was no light bulb in the shower. He came to have a look and suggested that I leave the door to the bedroom open and that would give me enough light. I suggested that he try putting a bulb in the light socket but he shrugged his shoulders and said he didn’t have any so that was that. I was doing my best to have a shower in the gloomy shadows of the tiny ensuite facility when ‘something’ darted past me. The ‘something’ was the largest cockroach I have ever seen – a big shiny brown thing the size of a donkey. I made a mental note of its location, grabbed the towel to dry off a bit and went for the can of DOOM. It’s actually ‘Super DOOM Household Insecticide’. The tin says, “Fast kill of flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches and other insects”. I hope it does ‘exactly what it says on the tin’

I re-enter the gloom. I attack. The cockroach comes scurrying out of its refuge stung by the spray. I attack again – like a US Marine operating a flame thrower in the jungles of Vietnam I pursue my victim relentlessly. The cockroach is going crazy. It’s climbing the wall. It’s coming at me. No! Nightmare, that’s another cockroach. There are two of them. They’ve escaped into the bedroom but I’m hot on their heels with another jet of the deadly Doom. They’re heading under the bed. To pot with the Doom – I reach for my shoe. With two beautifully executed movements the cockroaches are dispatched. Like a member of the SAS I return to storm the gloomy ensuite, scouring the walls, weapon of Doom firmly clasped in both hands at the ready in case another fiend should show its face. Bathroom clear, time to check the bedroom. I sense a movement above the bed, yes another one. Forget the Doom. I strike with the shoe – direct hit – the cockroach falls down dead and as it does so I get sight of another scuttling under the bed. There’s no way I’m going in there, I may never come out alive! I clamber under the mosquito net, carefully tucking it in round the mattress and settle down to read with the aid of the electric light. Now you will understand my dilemma.

Remember to pray for those in the mission field. Either at home or abroad the challenges are varied. A wise man once said, if the Christian is truly obedient to the Great Commission, he will give his life to go down into the well or to hold the rope for those who go down. Either way, the rope will be burned into his hands. The depth of the scars will determine the extent of the obedience. Have you surrendered your life to go to the lost peoples of the world, or have you surrendered your life to support those who go?

What has the Great Commission cost you?