Hlengani (Butiki) Chauke the day he received Jesus

His name is Hlengani Chauke, but most people call him Butiki. He is very poor. He owns nothing really. And most likely, he never will. He will probably never do much to change the world, or make much of an impact. He has few friends, and very little family. The world does not know him, nor do they care much about him. Nor do they really care whether he lives or dies. So what is he worth? Is he really worth anything to anyone?

He is one of the many untouchables of the world. Though he is a man with a broken heart and a lost soul the world is not willing to reach out to touch him. He’s just not worth it. But what about to God. Is he worth anything to the Father? Would God send someone to touch his life?

Lost and broken is how we found this man when we met him. We were bringing a weekly delivery of food to his blind mother who can no longer take care of herself. She was once a traditional healer practicing witchcraft and calling upon spirits from the dead but had since given that up and received Jesus. Mostly, that is. What I mean is, she kept many of the items she used to call upon the spirits because her son, Butiki, would not let her throw them out. He feared bad things might come upon them. But the many times the Church had delivered food they had never seen Butiki there at the house. But this time would be different.

You see I first met this blind woman several months ago as we were delivering food to her then also. When I walked into her home the terrible smell was so strong that it hit me in the face. She had not been cared for well and was terribly dirty and reeked of odor. Her home was dark and the green walls were covered in dirt and grime and cobwebs. So the Africa Revolution Team, seeing the desperate need, organized a group from the United States to clean her home out and repaint the inside. Every room that is, except for her bedroom that you see her sitting in here. In that room is where she kept the traditional healing items.

His blind mother sitting in her room

So this time as I visited I was amazed at how different it looked and how much cleaner her home was. And there was Butiki, telling us how thankful he was that we had done so much to help his mother. But there was a deep anguish in his eyes. It was undeniable. So we asked him what was on his heart.

As we stood with him in one of the tiny bedrooms of the home, Butiki told us of his depression and brokenness. He told us how he had left his home several months earlier to take his own life. He told us of how he walked to the train station where he would stand in front of an oncoming train to die. He had made sure to take with him his identification papers in his back pocket so his wife could identify him. But as he stood on the train tracks watching the train barrel toward him, he heard a voice calling him by his birth name that no one called him by. The voice cried out “Get out of the way, Hlengani” and then he was shoved off the tracks as he heard the voice say again “Get out of the way, Hlengani.” He looked back in amazement to see who the person was who cared enough for him that they would do such a thing, but the person was gone. They had disappeared.

Now you and I know what happened, but he did not. He wondered how such a thing could happen to him? He asked different people but no one could give him an answer, until today. We told him the beautiful message of the Gospel of Jesus.

“The Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, he has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.”  Isaiah 61

We told him how God cared for him and sent His angel to protect him. We told him how is life had a purpose and how the creator of all things cared whether he lived or died. As tears streamed down his face he prayed with us to receive Jesus into his heart. It was the most beautiful thing I think I’ve ever seen.

You see the Bible says in 1 Samuel “the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Do we judge and condemn too soon to death those who the Lord wants to save? The rejected and undesirable of the world may have been forgotten by man but they have not been forgotten by God the Father whose desire is for the hearts of every man and woman, no matter what their status in society.

But who is willing to go for them?

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 17th, 2009 at 12:20 pm and is filed under The AR Ministry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.