“GRACIOUS GOD, YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL.”
Pastor Solomon Nganga
The building was huge. A handful of people were gathered, squeezed between a few front rows. The building made the small gathering look like a tiny speck but nevertheless they conducted a well organized and meaningful meeting. Those who gathered knew the meaning of the meeting; A youth service.
A few rows back, a young man sat attentively trying to keep up with the on goings. It felt incredibly great for the group. The meeting began with a word of prayer. David, the youth Chairman possessed a tremendous aura of confidence. He was the leader. He couldn’t exhibit any sign of weakness. The young people gathered had one thing in common; they were thirst and hungry for God.
Phillip a youth Pastor was an inspiring speaker. Everybody liked him. He possessed ability to motivate the young and old to serve God.
The young man in the back felt such a tremendous peace. He was expectant. God was about to speak to him. He was not worried. Anything could happen at any time.
Phillip was leading the meeting. David sat at the front row and kept glancing at his wrist watch. He kept shifting his gaze from the service that was going on and kept starring at the door. The young man couldn’t help noticing and began to wondering what was going on.
He should be here. David thought to himself. Time was running fast. Where was the visitor? Everyone knew that a special visitor was coming anytime.
Phillip had already noticed something was amiss. Take it easy. He thought. Everything gonna be ok! Anyway he was a man who was ready at all time. As a servant of God, the bible admonishes his servants to be ready to preach the gospel in and out of season. He knew for sure that the servant of God was ready and when he called him to the pulpit things would be ok.
David had had enough. He prided himself to be a man in control. This moment was incredibly important and he had to let the small group know that he was in command. He beckoned Phillip and whispered to his ear. Phillip, an alert man had been waiting for this moment. He nodded briefly and walked towards the back row.
In the meantime, the young man bowed in reverence to God. He was cold too. I should have brought my heavy sweater. He thought. But you don’t have to worry, soon the Word of God is gonna light a flame of fire under your skin. As he mulled over these thoughts, he felt a slight tap on his shoulder. He raised his head slowly unsure if that was the touch of God that he had been expecting.
“Solo, today’s preacher is late. Be prepared to preach if he doesn’t show up. Will you?”
The young man could barely speak. He was tongue tied. A thin bead of sweat dripped down his nose. What? Preach? Excuses popped up in his mind. He knew every day he had dreamt of this opportunity. That day he would speak the Word of God.
“Phillip I can’t. How I am going to begin?” Phillip knew this feeling. He had been there too. He looked assuredly at the young man and then left.
The young man face began to twitch nervously. What was going to happen? He prayed with the whole of his heart that the expected preacher would not show up. Or should he? This was an opportunity that was knocking on the door. But the more he thought about this, waves of emotional and physical feelings swept over him.
Oh God. He murmured. Please help me. Beads of sweat flowed shamelessly over his body. The young man was noticeably shaking. He wasn’t cold anymore, but fear of great magnitude he hadn’t experienced before made him hot all over. He bowed his head deep into his hand and began to pray.
Phillip was ready now. He stood and spoke up. He was getting the congregation ready.
“Brethren, I would like to introduce one in your midst. I know him personally and I have seen the fire of God in him. I would like you to put your hands together and welcome him. Brother Solomon.”
The young man stood up. Already his legs were shaking so bad, he could literally hear his knees knocking against each other. This was a young man with no knowledge and experience of preaching. He walked slowly, trying to keep his chin up in the air but failed miserably.
He took over, an unknown and unproven commodity. He murmured a few words trying desperately to gain some courage. He opened his Bible in Isaiah 43:19 and read, “Behold, I am doing a new thing.” All of a sudden the trembling on the lower extremities began to disappear. Words began to form shape and thoughts that were trapped in the deeps of his heart began to be real.
The young man forgot who he was and with tremendous passion exposed the Word of God. Tears of love swelled in his heart and he spoke about the God of his salvation. Gracious God, you are so wonderful, he thought.
The congregation was in tears. Others gaped mouth wide open in disbelief. David and Phillip urged the young man with animated words of ‘Amen, Halleluiah, glory to God, preach it brother, yes, that’s right’ and so on. After a few minutes of tremendous preaching of the Word, the young man stopped, prayed and quietly went back to his seat. The congregation had already caught up with this exciting moment in worship and everybody was praising God.
Little did the young man know that this was the beginning of a tremendous journey that would span him into three continents namely Africa, Europe and now USA preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
GRACIOUS GOD, YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL.
The characters of this exciting story are real and I hope you enjoy reading the narrative. This is an event that happened somewhere in a town in Kenya. Please contribute where you can.
PASTOR SOLOMON NGANGA
