Dear beloved: Another of the pastors who spoke at the morning conference sessions in Mumias, Kenya was a tremendous preacher and teacher of the Word, and in addition,he is a modern day old testament Job. Over the coarse of his life he had buried seven of his ten children. One by one they were taken from him through various events and circumstances that left him and his wife with only three children.
The weight of all that pain, coupled with his preaching regimen, finally caused him to collapse in exhaustion; a deep exhaustion that was unto death. He laid down and was ready to die. The angels of the Lord escorted his spirit up to heaven as he watched his physical body lying there unresponsive on the floor. As he was escorted up through the heavenlies, he was torn between feeling a need and desire for his physical body and the feeling of freedom and joy that he felt from his new spirit body. However, when he came to the gates of heaven, he was not allowed entry, the angels informed him it wasn't his time to stay just yet. And so they escorted him back to earth and into his earthly body; as he approached it his spirit laid down beside and rolled into his physical body. Amazingly, he was refreshed and renewed and he felt no after effects of the fatigue and exhaustion. He has since gone on to preach and pastor with great passion, and is instrumental in establishing a bible college near the border of Uganda with Kenya.
How does one stand up when the circumstances and tragedies of life tend to overwhelm? Not easy, I'm sure, few are tested and tried the way this pastor has been, let alone Job himself. Psalm 68:19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, the God who is our salvation. And in Job 13:15 Job says, "Though He slay me, I will hope (trust) in Him. Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him." Eventually we read in Job that the Lord restored to him a double portion of all that he had. Job 42:10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord increased all that Job had twofold, all his livestock and possessions. And he was given 10 more children, seven sons and three daughters. Why not 20 children, you say, that would be double? He was given 20; the ten in heaven that died he would soon be with, and ten more on the earth that were eventually also his to enjoy in heaven. v12 And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. v16 And after this Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons, and his grandsons, four generations. v17 And Job died, and old man and full of days. God bless you, in Christ, Jim
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