Day 44.

David was a young man who knew just enough about Christianity to make him dangerous. He had been reared in a Christian home but had never embraced it. Nothing had made the journey from his head to his heart. His association with one of my church members brought him into my orbit and on occasion both he and his partner ‘Bub” attended my Kaikohe church group. I never knew Bubs proper name as she was the youngest of about 9 children in a Maori family and that had always been her name. However, they became fairly regular, and on one occasion at a church Saturday night BBQ Bub took me aside and said she wanted to be baptized. That was exciting! I booked them in to have regular Bible studies with a view to Bub being baptized, and maybe even David as well – that was my hope. What followed was a regular visit to the humpy house David had built from salvaged materials about 50 Kms out of town on my church members property. Actually, ‘humpy’ might give you the wrong idea, the 2 story house was actually quite good – just illegal.

The studies continued, but the church attendance became more irregular and then petered out. Weekend sport engaged them both instead, as did alcohol and marijuana. I became burdened in prayer for them. On one occasion as I prayed asking God what I could do for them and how could I help them make the choice between these worldly things and the eternal things I was offering. A crazy idea came to my mind. I wrote a note to them, and then drove all the way out to their home, when I knew they would not be there and placed the note in their door. The note said, “David and Bub, while praying for you this morning the Lord showed me that you will be lucky to survive the next 3 months. You need to get in touch with me ASAP.”

I drove all the way home and continued my work. That night, about 11pm, the phone beside my bed rang. It was David. “What’s this!” he declared very strongly, “What does it mean!”
I replied, “David, it’s true you need to come and see me tomorrow morning!” His panicked response was, “I’m not going anywhere, I’m too scared to move, you came and see me!” And so I did. I drove all the way out to Rawene where they lived and proceeded to show them what the Bible says about the transient nature of life – a mist, a vapour, like smoke descending. I showed them the choice, and the importance of making the choice and not delaying it. I showed them that God had placed before them life and death and God wants them to choose life. “Now is the accepted time.” Paul says – there may be no tomorrow. “Is that all you meant,” David blurted out almost in relief and disgust. Bub stayed silent.

The three months went by, weekend sport, marijuana, and alcohol kept them away from church. However, one Friday night, 6 months after the note, David, Bub and a passenger, were drive their ute home from the Rawene pub. It was bucketing down and a road side drain that was normally dry, was a raging torrent. The ute failed a bend and tipped into the drain. David swallowed some mud and died instantly. The windscreen popped out and the passenger escaped. Bub, unaware of the way of escape clawed at the door. When they removed her body all her fingernails were gone. Both physically and spiritually, the way of escape had been ignored. I know not her final prayer as her life ebbed away. Her case is committed to the tribunal of our Heavenly Father and awaits the outcome of the two separate resurrections.

When the two families came to clear out the home they found my note stuck in the bedroom mirror. In amazement they declared how they had been warned. Neither before or since have I used such a method, but in retrospect it seemed that God had given the trumpet-sound-of-warning a certain blast in response to the earnest prayer of a struggling prayer.