Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? (John 3:4)
It was a busy morning. Two construction projects were starting at the same time, side by side. These sort of things always draw a crowd to watch, and today was no exception.
Manus Hapuyo, one of our landowners, had decided today that he was going to sit in the bush hut clinic, and regardless of the mission rules, he was going to chew betelnut and smoke his home-rolled cigarette while he watched the construction. So he sat on the bench in the clinic, took his cigarette from behind his ear and put it on the bench. Suddenly, his vision went black, and he fell to the ground!
I need to get right with God NOW!
One of our men, Gideon, was nearby, and he rushed to get some water for Manus to drink. When he returned, Manus said, “I’m fine now. God must have done that to get my attention. I need to get right with God NOW!”
First, he headed home quickly to get rid of his betelnut and his smokes. He told his son, Konos, what had happened.
Konos had witnessed to his father many times, and many of those times Manus refused to listen. “You’re just a child (Konos is 20). I watched you be born and grow up. Don’t tell me about such things. I don’t want to hear it.”
This time was different. As Manus told of being blinded, Konos told his father about the Apostle Paul. Paul had been blinded on the road to Damascus; before that, Paul had refused to hear God’s Word. Manus immediately made the connection. “I believe God did that to me to get my attention. Many times you have tried to tell me the “good news,” but I have not listened. Many of your church people and the missionaries have told me about Jesus Christ, but I wouldn’t hear it. Many, many times, you all have invited me to visit your church services, but I refused to go. I ran away to my jungle garden instead. But in my heart, I have been convicted that what you say is true. God’s Word has shot my liver [a local expression for deep conviction of sin].”
Konos took his father to see Pastor James Naudi, who had already been told of what had happened to Manus. After showing him how he could know the free pardon from sin through the precious blood of Jesus Christ, Manus Hapuyo, the oldest of our landowners at Kunai, became a new babe in Christ!
Are you weary in praying for the conversion of a loved one? Manus has been at the top of the prayer lists of most of our people for several years. We see him daily, love him, and witness to him as the door is open. Behind the scenes, God has been working in his heart…and today, August 30, 2010, we heard with our own ears of the work God has been doing to bring Manus to himself. Friend, “let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not”! (Galatians 6:9)