THREE SABBATH PRAISES

Sabbath peace and greetings to all of you in Christ! We welcomed the Sabbath this evening singing the hymn “How Great thou Art” accompanied by rolling thunder and lightening-gilded clouds. What a spectacular God we serve! For the vespers meditation, I invited three people to share something about how great God has been for them this week. The first to speak was Javier Esteves, a brother from Puerto Rico who left his family business and came to spend this entire school year as a volunteer along with his wife and two daughters.  They have been such a blessing. Well, we have been praying for Javier’s brother-in-law, Daniel Ramon, who was recently diagnosed with an aggressive, mutating form of leukemia. After one dose of chemotherapy, instead of a lower cancer-cell count, the cancer had increased dramatically. The doctors told him to go home and enjoy what was left of his life the best that he could. Daniel decided to go to the U.S. and see if he could get an alternative treatment.  Meanwhile, we kept praying that God would be glorified through this difficult situation for the salvation of souls, and for Daniel’s healing. This morning they called Javier with the word that the cancer is in remission! We serve a powerful and merciful God!

Next to speak was Paulina, one of our seniors. She was thankful that we were able to burn our 3.2 acres of chaco and get it brushed and cleared in one week’s time. This was a miracle because the rainy season arrived emphatically with a deluge and the rain continued for over a week, saturating the brush that we needed to burn in order to plant the rice. Usually rainy season is a bit more gradual in its arrival. Finally we had a full day of sun. We were all praying fervently. We needed at least two more rainless days to be able to burn. The next day was Thursday, and after a morning of hot sunshine, there were systems developing to the west and to the southeast. Soon the sky was black and as the breeze picked up, we could see the rain falling not far away. Many of us stopped what we were doing and prayed for God to hold back the rain. Well, the storm passed by and left us dry, and Friday morning dawned hot and clear. In the afternoon we lit the chaco and by four in the afternoon it was all burned! Every day for the next week we worked from five to eleven o-clock a.m. to get out the firewood and pile and burn the brush and limbs that didn’t burn the first time.    

            The third praise this blessed Sabbath sat a few feet away from me with a huge smile on his face. His mere presence was a testimony to the healing power of our merciful Creator. Some of you may remember Mr. Antonio? While, last Sunday he was run over by a motorcycle. He was helping Mirta set up her vending table at the roadside cafeteria in Yata, when a young girl just learning to drive careened out of control and slammed into him. Praise God that one of our service-day teams was in the area at the time and was able to administer first aid. He seemed to have a dislocated hip and possible fractures in his leg, wrist, and finger as well as internal injuries. The x-rays revealed no fractures however, and when we brought him to the school to convalesce he made a rapid recovery. By Friday he was able to walk on his own and felt good enough to come praise the Lord with us to welcome His holy day!

            All this is just a drop in the bucket of blessings that God is pouring out and will continue to pour on his children that love him and seek Him with a whole heart.