Counting the Cost

Swaziland is a country with a mix of Christianity and traditional ancestral religions. One of the things that the Vanderwal's told us is that witchcraft is as common in Swaziland as materialism is in the USA. We did see many places where products for witch doctors were sold and where their craft was practiced. Obviously, witchcraft and Christianity can't really work together.

One of the workers with the Luke Commission is named Sipho. We call him "big Sipho" as opposed to one of the other workers, "little Sipho." He actually was on the Swazi national soccer team, so he's definitely big. He's a very kind hearted man who truly has a heart to see people in his country come to know Jesus. If there's anything that needs to be done for the group, he does it, from driving to setting things up, to translating for the doctor. When we went to visit his homestead, we got to meet his wonderful family as well. We also got to see a few of the gravesites on the premises, one for his brother and one for his daughter.

Sipho had become a Christian and went to work for the Luke Commission. Sometime after that, his brother became married to a witch doctor. When the witch doctor learned that Sipho was a Christian and was working for a Christian organization, she got mad. She started poisoning his four-year old daughter. For a few days, she got sicker and sicker until she finally died. I'm sure Sipho was very angry, but he didn't speak out against her, since it was his brother's wife, and it would be disrespectful. His brother eventually died of AIDS. In Swazi culture, when the husband dies, the wife has no claim on anything in the family, so they kicked Sipho's brother's wife out of the homestead. In his culture, I'm sure Sipho must have had to think hard about staying committed to Christ and the Luke Commission, but he did stay.

The death of Sipho's daughter is truly tragic. I can't imagine his pain, especially since I have two daughters of my own. He remained committed to serving those he loved in his country despite losing his daughter. It reminds me so much of the love of another Father who loved me so much that he gave his son, Jesus, up to die. I want to have that kind of level of commitment to Jesus – one that stays strong despite any hardship because of my love for God and others.