START WITH A STORY (part 1 of 2)

The transformational journey of a little Sesotho-speaking Zulu boy – from abandoned orphan to beloved son in a large Afrikaans church.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR:

You are about to read the remarkable story of an extraordinary young man. The finished product is a work in the genre of reality fiction. It is a collection of real life events and plausible realities combined into the life story of a fictional character. I made the choice to intentionally focus on specific important details, while skimming over and even omitting other, perhaps equally important, details for the sole purpose of reflecting WHAT happened, instead of HOW it happened. It may seem that certain processes, actions and/or experiences appear to have gone down in smooth and seamless orderly fashion, but the truth is that neither Paballo’s victories neither his support team’s efforts to assist and protect him in the process were without unpleasant, unnecessary and even unbearable resistance in some form or another. But it is simply impossible to reveal the powerful message of this life story in short story format without the use of a literary chopping board. The primary focus is placed on the purification and growth of the characters’ faith in Jesus, their only sustainable Source of life, and the outcomes of their journey together. Please note that the intentional omission of the harrowing details of their trials and tribulations (how they experienced times in which they were stripped down to naked desolation while having to endure blazing flames and scorching heat of impossibly relentless raging infernos inside gigantic refiner’s furnaces testing their faith in every way possible), does NOT imply that it did not occur. But, in the end, they emerged from each furnace with fresh mercies and refined faith in Jesus, having had to learn ways of following and trusting Him they have never had to do before.

Thank you for your willingness to read Paballo’s story. It is my hope that it will touch your heart with the same measure in which it did my own.

One last thing….I am not telling the story in chronological order, so please pay attention to the subtitles of paragraphs. It took me two days to write this story, so I will publish it in two parts. Part One will be subtitled START WITH A STORY. Part Two will be subtitled END WITH A LEGACY.

[PABALLO’S STORY – PART SIX]

The 5,000-seater university auditorium is jam packed with a large crowd of excited people from all over the world. They are the loved ones of the guests of honour and they are eagerly awaiting the start to a prestigious white coat event in which faithful medical students will graduate and be ordained as qualified doctors. …FRANCINE LUBBE, PABALLO MOSES MKHIZE, DILLON MILLER…. Paballo’s TearsTrio (MamaTears, TannieTears & DomineeTears) is there, and true to the endearing collective pet name he assigned to them, none of their three pairs of eyes are dry. Their hearts are filled with indescribable gratitude to the Lord for having the privilege of being a part of a very special transformation story – Paballo’s story. They are also so profoundly proud of this young man for stepping up to the plate to, with unmatched resilience, grab hold of and be faithful with the extraordinary gifts the Lord has blessed him with.

WHEN WE FOLLOW JESUS, WE DO THINGS HIS WAY AND WE TRUST HIM TO SHOW US HOW. IT IS NOT EASY, BUT IT IS SIMPLE! All throughout Paballo’s rigorous undergraduate study years, he so remarkably maintained an inexplicably beautiful balance between his commitment to his medical studies and his ministry. In his beloved large Afrikaans church, he became the GoTo man for equipping his fellow saints for the works of (outreach) service, specifically for the church’s Shop Day ministry. With his evergreen-fresh humble disposition and his excellent proficiency in almost all eleven of South Africa’s official languages, he so faithfully continued to relinquish his God-given giftedness in his personal sacrificial service to the Lord through the teaching, training, supporting, encouraging, uplifting and leading of people from ALL walks of life, from Afrikaner tannies & omies all the way through to non-Afrikaans-speaking orphans. His message always remained simple. First we all NEED JESUS. Then we find Him and surrender to Him. Lastly, WE FOLLOW HIM AND TRUST HIM by living our lives in such a way that other NEEDY people can see Him in us, find Him, and then FOLLOW AND TRUST HIM also. At the end of his very first semester as a medical student, his natural ability to connect people and their hearts led directly to the establishment of a modest mobile clinic offering free basic medical services and it was launched at Shop Day that very same year.

[PABALLO’S STORY – PART ONE]

It is a bitterly cold Free State winter’s day and a loving Gogo (Zulu for grandmother) has her arms firmly wrapped around her 8 year old grandson in front of her. She pulled him towards her just moments ago and she is now adjusting her position to use her own body to shield him from the piercingly ice-chilled breeze which mercilessly slices through flesh and bone. Under the thin, frayed blanket wrapped around the boy, he is wearing tattered short clothes and he is barefoot. Gogo’s heart is shattered, figuratively and literally, and with her tired arms around her beloved grandson, she hopes to offer a protective shield around him fending off the remaining breeze-free chill as well. The two of them secretly spent the previous night with Lindiwe, a friend, in the servant’s quarters of a family home in another neighbourhood, a neighbourhood distinctly more affluent that the informal settlement from which they hail. They have been queuing outside the gate of the large Afrikaans church in the affluent neighbourhood since 04:50 this morning and have secured themselves a favourable position in the long queue. There are only six people groupings ahead of them, so by Gogo’s calculations, they should be part of the first group to enter once the gate opens at 09:00. Gogo remembers how her neighbour, Tankiso, returned home with new clothes and light in his spirit after visiting this church last year. She is convinced that they will be fed and given warm clothes and blankets, for which she is truly grateful. However, deep within her, she carries an overwhelmingly desperate cry to the white people’s God of light to see her, to see her grandson, and to bring light to a dying old woman and her grandson who will soon be orphaned.

[PABALLO’S STORY – PART THREE]

Outside the large church building, in the prayer garden, a middle-aged woman is engaged in an enticing conversation with a little boy. Paballo is just 9 years old, and he speaks Sesotho, because he can neither speak English nor Afrikaans. The woman is proficient in both English and Afrikaans, and she speaks English, but she cannot speak Sesotho. Earlier that morning Paballo arrived at the church gate on his own, jumped the queue to first position and once the gate opened, demanded to see Leandri. After a young Sesotho-speaking student explained to him that Leandri had to relocate to another city, he was happy to go with her, but as they approached the kids play area, Paballo halted their journey abruptly. He made it very clear that he didn’t want to go to the kids area, he wanted to meet Jesus. The young student called in the assistance of the middle-aged woman and then availed herself as willing translator, securing a smooth and sound conversation between the older woman and the little boy as they made their journey through the dining and shopping areas to their final destination in the prayer garden.

Paballo clearly possesses an agile and inquisitive mind, and with every question he fires off to the woman, her astonishment of him grows deeper. With every follow-up question, he shows remarkable insight into and comprehension of her answers to prior questions. He points to the building across the street from where a team of people are carrying cardboard boxes loaded with snacks into the church terrain. IS THAT PART OF THE CHURCH? The woman sees the sparkle in Paballo’s eyes and she gets up to fetch a snack pack for him before she sits down again to answer his question. While he eagerly opens a packet of chips with a red lollipop already securely nestled into his left cheek, she goes on to explain that the building across the street belongs to the church and that all the members of the full time ministry team have their offices there. DOES JESUS ALSO HAVE AN OFFICE OVER THERE? CAN I MEET HIM, PLEASE? Paballo takes advantage of the woman’s transient dumbfoundedness to continue expressing his train of thought. I SAW JESUS IN THE LARGE AUDITORIUM EARLIER. HE WAS ON HIS KNEES WHILE COMFORTING A SOBBING CHILD IN HIS SAFE EMBRACE. HE WAS CRYING TOO. She also remembers the inconsolable little child wrapped in the tender embrace of a kneeling man among multiple little groups of people engaged in personal ministry moments. In her mind’s eye, she sees another picture of the same man comforting another sobbing little child in a tender embrace. He cries invisible tears. Suddenly she so intimately identifies with Paballo’s pure heart’s desire. Oh, how many times in the past has she not also wished for Jesus to have an office in that building where she can visit Him and He can comfort her during times of great distress. She swallows down the lump in her throat before she starts speaking, but she allows her tears to flow freely while speaking. THE MAN YOU SAW WAS NOT JESUS, BUT THE LOVE YOU FELT, REALLY CAME FROM JESUS. THAT MAN IS ONE OF OUR DOMINEES* AND HE LOVES JESUS. HE ALLOWS JESUS’ LOVE TO FLOW THROUGH HIM TO OTHER PEOPLE. BUT I AM PRETTY SURE THAT SOMETIMES, JUST LIKE YOU AND ME, HE ALSO WISHES THAT JESUS HAD AN OFFICE.

*DOMINEE is an official, recognised title reserved for qualified ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church