LATE YESTERDAY AFTERNOON I knocked on the door of an elderly colleague of mine's quarters. The rain was pouring down heavily and I was soaking
wet. Very warmly and concerned seeing how wet I was, Oom Dries exclaimed,
"Livhu, come inside man!!".
I kindly declined and quickly explained that all I needed
was just a bit of powder soap. I had just finished running a malaria awareness
marathon and during my run, I'd dropped a vest in the mud. I therefore needed some soap as I couldn't wait till Monday morning for our minders to take
my dirty laundry.
After chatting a little bit and agreeing on a cycling
expedition that we would embark on together on Monday, I thanked him and left him for my
quarters.
Later on, in the warmth of my room and having washed and freshened
up, my over active mind predictably took me back to Oom Dries' kind offer, and the concerned look he had on his face.
Would I have done the same? Would I have offered my living quarters, "my
home" in many respects, as a refuge to anyone that needed shelter and
respite from the rain?
My room was just a few doors away from Oom Dries’,
but he surprised me by how when he saw
me drenched in the rain, he didn't ask why I wasn't in my own room and all sorts of
questions; no, without asking anything, he simply offered me shelter and refuge. He acted very much like the father of the prodigal son who, when he saw the son approaching home in his stinking, raggedy and soiled clothes, he didn't ask the son any questions as to where he had been and what he had done with his riches. No, he simply embraced him and welcomed him home!
I recently read a blog on www.garythomas.com where the bestselling author, Gary
Thomas, blogs about visiting
a pastor’s home with his wife for counselling during a troubled time in his
marriage. He describes how the visit made him feel they had come to an “oasis”.
Gary then challenges Christians, particularly Christian couples, to live their
lives such that those finding themselves in trouble, turmoil and hurt can find
it easy to run for shelter and refuge in the company of such couples (I suppose the same applies to singles).
Ever since I read that blog
post and when I stood drenched in rain at the door of my elderly colleague, I
have been thinking hard about my own personal life – can my life come close to
being an oasis?
When Oom Dries warmly opened
his door for me to go in it was as though in that moment I was also being asked, can you do the
same? “Livhu, don’t you also want to be an oasis?
Or perhaps provide that shelter from the rain?” Food for thought…
