The Straightline
Hero
by Eric Watt
I met a hero today. I arrived at the international airport early in the morning to start my journey home. I purchased the exit tax ticket and walked through the "nothing to declare" section, bypassing the security checkpoint for luggage check-in (I had none), and made my way to the airlines counter.
While waiting a few minutes for my ticket to be re-written, an elderly woman with striking white hair, accompanied by a younger man, approached the counter next to me. I offered the pleasantry, "did you come here for a holiday?” Within seconds the picture became clear. “No,” the young man said, “my father died.” I then learned that he, the son, had flown over to be with his mother who had served with her beloved for nine years in this very closed country.
“I am sure that God has given you many wonderful memories,” I responded, not wanting to be too open in this public area. I looked at this very strong woman with a smile and saw tears well up in her eyes. With a boldness that only a brush with death can give she exclaimed, “yes, we had 28 believers baptized in the last two weeks before he died. And more believed at the funeral. We had been working with one young girl who was unsure, but after being at the funeral, she told me on the bus ride home she was ready to be baptized. We stopped the bus at the oceanfront and, in our funeral clothes, walked out into the water and baptized her right there.”
Emotion started to overwhelm me. I was looking at a hero knowing full well she was thinking that it was all worth it, just for that one new believer. In one day she had buried her husband and baptized someone into new birth.
Death was swallowed up in victory. The angels welcomed home a brave man who gave his best and last years for those who had never heard; heaven sang at the spiritual birth of a young woman, and I got a taste of heaven.
“What kind of work are you in?" asked the young man. “The same kind,” I replied, hoping to one day finish as strong as this giant of a woman. I silently prayed a quick prayer -- God raise up thousands of men and women who are willing to bury their dead on foreign soil to offer new birth to hungry hearts. God, in our weakness show yourself strong.
Central Asian Resources