An African Lesson on Following Advice

What fond memories I have of the travels, ministry experiences, and adventures I’ve had with my good friend, the late David Hatley.  David and his wife, Jennifer, moved to Nairobi, Kenya in 1985 to do career mission work.  They were sent out a few months before Cheryl and I moved to South Africa.  We were all sent by Church On the Rock in Rockwall, Texas where Dr. David Shibley served as missions pastor.  David fought a valiant fight with cancer and tropical diseases but finally succumbed to the Covid virus when it appeared worldwide a couple of years ago.  He and his wife have established Christian schools, orphanages, Bible schools, an Aids clinic, and a rescue center.  They have over 100 churches in their ministry network in Kenya and the surrounding nations.

I served on Global Advance ministry teams with the late Dale Witt who served as their primary coordinator for overseas leadership conferences in poorer lands.  Dr. David Shibley is the founder and former president of Global Advance, based in Rockwall, Texas.  Dale and I would usually have two other seasoned American pastors with us who made up our ministry team.  We held leadership conferences in rural areas for three or four days at a time.  Many of these were held in Kenya and the surrounding countries David Hatley worked in.   It was common for us to drive four to eight hours to reach the venues for these conferences, which gave us plenty of time to tell stories.  One of David Hatley’s most memorable stories was about a group of American pastors who came to minister in Kenya.  David was their guide and host.

At the end of meetings, they had held in a rural area of Kenya, they were able to enjoy a day of downtime and take in an African game park.  Because the number of men in the group was larger than normal, they had to rent a small car for the four of them.   David and his co-workers were in his SUV and the group of American pastors was following them in their little car.  They parked near a water hole in the park to see what animals might appear.  David told them that he needed to check on something back at the place they slept, which was a good distance away.  He told them to enjoy the animals but to not get any closer to the water hole since it was very muddy, and they might get stuck.  Sure enough, one of the pastors convinced the others to go against that advice because he wanted a better view of the impala, wart hogs, and other animals coming to drink.  “It looks firm enough to me” he had told them.  So, as they moved forward a hundred feet or so, nearer to the water, the inevitable happened.  Their small car got stuck in the mud.  This was a big enough problem.   To multiply the gravity of their dilemma they were startled by the strange sound of an approaching animal.  As they looked out the windows, they were horrified to see a troop of hyenas approaching.  Hyenas are fierce-looking carnivores with jaws more powerful than a lion and that are larger than a wolf.  If they tried, they would have no trouble breaking a car window.  The sun was already making its descent and the hyenas were beginning to walk a tighter and tighter circle toward the car full of men.  By the grace of God, David Hatley and a guide arrived back to the stuck car right before it appeared that the hyenas might be moving forward to attack.  They were able to scare the hyenas away.  They were equipped with the right gear to pull the car out of the mud and get it back onto firm soil. 

This is a good example of why it is important to not only listen to advice from others but to also heed that advice if they know more than you do about a given subject.  These men thought they knew better because they had been around the ponds of America in the Midwest.  They were now in Africa.  Here, where there is a water hole, the soil is much more apt to be deceitfully soggy far from the shimmer of water.   I have found that the Holy Spirit is often giving us advice by His promptings, circumstances, His word, and His still small voice.  He sees things that we cannot, and He knows more than us.   I want His advice.  Who knows what demonic hyenas are lurking near us, trying to find an opportunity to steal, kill, or destroy.