From Death to Life

Front of Joseph's House

I want to share a testimony of how God has worked in a tragic situations.  I pray this testimony will encourage you to look to God no matter what season of life you are in.  

Look at the picture at the top of this post.  I took this picture last April when I visited Joseph’s house for the first time.  When Joseph built his house, he permanently etched Ecclesiastes 3 on his front wall.  I couldn’t help but feel the reality of this verse while ministering to his family while they were in the mists of deep sorrow and many tears.  Ebola devastated Joseph’s family.  At times, it killed 2 people each day in his house and in the houses of his family members.  By the time ebola had finished it’s toll on Joseph’s family, his wife, two brothers, and all his children except 1 were dead.  Joseph and his sister-in-law were left with 14 orphaned grandchildren to care for.

During their crisis, Joseph’s family’s homes were quarantined and the community turned their backs on them.  Joseph’s family was blamed for bringing the sickness into town.  From time to time, someone from the CDC would stop by their home, standing at a far distance, they would yell at Joseph’s family asking them for progress reports.  As family members died, Joseph’s family would help carry their bodies outside the house and wait for authorities to pick them up, never to see them again. 

There was a time when Joseph’s house was known as a place of death.  Now, God is making his home a place of life and a lighthouse to his community.  The house that was rejected and shunned is becoming a safe place for the community to come and hear about God’s love for them.  Joseph has become a very serious student of God’s Word and is taking his responsibility to pastor each of his grandchildren seriously.  Each morning and evening, Joseph’s voice can be heard on his porch teaching his grandchildren God’s Word.

First house church meeting at Joseph's house

Last Sunday, our family and some friends of ours, had the wonderful privilege of attending the first worship service Joseph held at his house.  Joseph meekly taught the story of John the Baptist and encouraged his family and neighbors to repent and turn to Jesus.  

The verse Joseph etched on the front of his house is quoted from the Bible.  Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 says,

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:  a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to morn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up , a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”

This verse gives us a healthy perspective for whatever season of life we find ourselves in.  If we are in a time of weeping, we should know that there is a time of laughing ahead of us.  If we are in a time of death, we should remember there is a time of birth ahead of us.  

It is important for us to know that the reverse is also true for us all.  If we are in a time of dancing now, we should know for certain that there will be a time of mourning ahead of us.  If we are in a time of planting, there will be times of uprooting ahead of us.  

So long as we have life in us, both realities of this verse will be true for us.  Our lives are short.  The Bible teaches us that life is but a vapor.  It is here today and gone tomorrow.  (James 4:14)  Life is very fragile and each day we have is a gift from God.  No one knows what tomorrow has in store for them.  In this life we will have trouble but take heart, Jesus has overcome the world (John 16:33).   

I want to end this post by reminding us that there is coming a day when this verse will no longer be true for us.  In heaven, there will no longer be time for mourning, weeping, tearing down, hating, war, death….  Let us fix our eyes on things that are eternal while producing spiritual fruit here on this earth.  We have but one life to live.  I pray that each of us will be able to truthfully say the same words Paul the Apostle said in Philippians 1:22, “If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me.”

Have a blessed day!