Luke 15:24

For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

I’m writing this story at 11 PM on Thursday, April 7th because this is the day that a lost child has come home!!  I cannot sleep tonight….first, because of all the excitement of the day, and all the details the Lord perfectly orchestrated and second, because I am broken for the people out there who have yet to come home.  

This story of the prodigal son began about a year ago, when we first arrived here.  As our family became familiar with Heidelberg (the town nearest to us) we found a local restaurant, Nando’s, that had great food and was reasonably priced.  Adjacent to the restaurant was the parking lot.  Like all parking lots in South Africa, there are always guys that stay and watch your car, and when you return, you give the guy a tip.  A great way for people to make a small amount of money, in a country where the economy is in such bad shape.

This was the first time we met Thembinkosi.  When our family first saw him, something about him stuck out to us but, we couldn’t put our finger on it.  Jeanie remembers that he was barefoot and this clothes were extremely tattered.  He seemed timid, and broken.  Over time, we began praying for him, talking with him, purposely dropping food off for him, and the Lord increased our love for him.

In August we shared with Nathi and Karabo about Thembinkosi, and told them when they were in town working at the after-school program, they also needed to check up on him….and so they began building a relationship with him too.  Nathi moved into extension 23 in January and a few months later, he found a roommate, Bayanda.

As we shared in one of our last posts, we are doing a men’s group at extension 23 church – with our main focus on reaching and discipling non-believers within the community.  A few weeks back we challenged everyone to spend time with a non-believer, who society would say has no hope.  Bayanda (Nathi’s roommate) works across the street from the parking lot Thembinkosi is at, so he immediately said he would spend his breaks with him and also start building a relationship with him too.  I, of course, thought that was awesome but I had no idea what was about to happen.

Oddly enough, about 2 weeks ago I was chatting with Thabiso, the extension 23 pastor.  He told me about how a sangoma (witch doctor) had stopped him and said, “Pastor – you need to go and tell my son about Jesus – he isn’t doing well.”  A pretty strange request coming from a witch doctor.  I hadn’t thought much about it until I took Thabiso to lunch and wanted to introduce him to Thembinkosi….and he said, “Rob – are you kidding me….Thembinkosi is the sangoma’s son!!”  I really couldn’t believe it – now there were 5 guys that were reaching out to him.

Which brings me back to today….it is the first cold day we have seen in a while.  As Thabiso and I were en route to buy a winter school uniform for a girl we met (more details on that later),  I thought it would be good to get Thembinkosi a sweatshirt.  We looked for him in the parking lot, and he wasn’t there so we headed back to the extension.  On our way back we saw his mom, the sangoma, and she said he was at home getting ready for work, we should go see him.

When we arrived at his house, he couldn’t believe or understand why we came to see him.  And as we shared with him why we were there we could see the overwhelming emotions and he asked, “Why me, why me, why me?  You don’t know what I have done.”  It gave us the perfect opportunity to share the gospel, and he gladly accepted.  I have seen the ‘light bulb moment’ with people as they have come to the full realization of the gospel, BUT never like this.  He seemed to change right before our eyes.  It was one of the most incredible things I have ever witnessed.

I can’t begin to truly express in words all that God did to save this man, and all of the people he used to do it.  Each one of us involved having strengths and weaknesses that produced the perfect platform for Christ to shine.  What an unbelievable feeling, when God chooses to use us to invite one of his children home.

Please join God and us in celebrating the return of one of his children.  Welcome Home Thembinkosi!!

UPDATE:

Today (Saturday, April 9th) I was going to meet with Nathi and Bayanda and Thembinkosi.  We all wanted to spend some time with him, and continue to disciple him in his new-found faith.

Just as I have read in John about the woman at the well, Thembinkosi had done the exact same thing.  We found out that he had gone right away and shared with his friend what the Lord had done in his life.

^{John 4:28} Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” ³⁰ They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

As we were heading to lunch, Thembinkosi asked if his friend, Xolani, could come with us to hear about the good news.  After two hours of us sharing with Thembinkosi more in-depth, about the character of Christ, and Thembinkosi also sharing with us what he has experienced in the last few days, Xolani interrupted us and said, “I want what Thembinkosi has – and I want to give my life to Jesus today.”

All 5 of us bowed our heads and with tear-filled eyes Xolani committed his life to Christ.  Thus begins the journey for Thembinkosi and Xolani!!

Please join us as we continue to cover these two young men in prayer.  Both of them have been in and out of prison and struggle with drug abuse, but we know the power of God and also experienced it these past few days…we pray expectantly!!

^{Philippians 1:6} being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

AMEN