Page 8 - Good News March 2016 paper

ne early morning around So he stopped. While he was the sins of mankind and how His
03:00 my Indian dad heard catching his breath under a tree in Son died on the cross to redeem
OGod tell him in his sleep: the darkness, God told him: the sinful world. At the end of his
'Run!' He woke up from the dream, 'Preach to the tree!' My dad just sermon, as a good evangelist, he
and God kept telling him: 'Run!' gasped: 'Preach to the tree?' He gave an altar call. 'If you have
He understood that it was not just was certain he heard it right, but sinned, would you want to submit
a dream. Amazed, he asked God, he was upset. 'You disturb my your life to Jesus?'
'…at this hour of the day?' And sleep, then You ask me to run,
God answered him in a firm tone: now You want me to preach to a To his astonishment he heard a
'Run!' tree in the dark, in the middle of shivering 'Yes' from the dark tree!
nowhere? Is this some kind of a A young man climbed down from
My dad thought it was weird, but joke?!' God simply said: 'Preach!' the tree, trembling and weeping.
he quietly sneaked out of the door He had a rope in his hands and he
while the rest of the family were So he preached the Gospel of wanted to hang himself from that
sleeping and he ran, not knowing salvation to the tree in the dark. very tree, thinking nobody would now 81 and he has served God for
which left or right turns to take. He He preached about the Fall of look out for him at this hour. the last 47 years.
just ran. Mankind and how even nature
suffers from this, but then God in That day my dad understood what Source: Mercy Simson, Joel
After some time, God said, 'Stop!' His love sent his Son to forgive it means to obey God. My dad is News 977, 12 January 2016.

teenoor dié Een wat ons almal met Sy bloed gekoop het
uit elke stam en taal en volk en nasie!
Dis wonderlik hoe'n mens mekaar herken. Soms vra dit
net 'n glimlag, 'n bietjie bedagsaamheid, 'n flentertjie

ie taal wat ek by my moeder geleer het, het medemenslikheid, 'n beleefde groet... om die versigtige
ek lief. Dis deel van myself en van my kyk in die oë, die wantrouige stugheid van die
volksidentiteit. MAAR nou vind ek dat vreemdeling te verdryf. En dan breek daar in ons
daar 'n ongeskrewe taal is waarin ek kan tussen-menslike verhoudings 'n helderheid en 'n
kommunikeer met baie ander mense met 'n warmte deur, en ons staan verstom oor die nuwe
ander taal en van 'n ander volk. Dit is die óópheid tussen ons, oor dit wat ons in mekaar herken -

taal van die volk van God, die taal van Één Heiland, één geloof, één lewensdoel, en één
geloof in Jesus Christus, die taal van liefde identiteit: dié van ons Meester!