Morris

Morris is from Liberia, West Africa. This is part of his life’s story………

“I was born in the face of calamity and hopelessness; and my life was characterized by anger and resentment for fifteen years. I didn’t know love. For all I knew, love was an abstract noun. And who was God, anyway? God had let my father be poisoned when I was only two years old! And then he let my mother die in childbirth when I was four. All I could remember at that young age was that my mommy was taken to the hospital to have a baby, while I was LEFT ALONE with neighborhood friends. She never came back….. You see, in my culture, kids were not allowed to go where a dead person was.

“But one day a strange pickup truck rolled into our yard, carrying a big wooden box covered with green palm branches, surrounded by somber men and sad women. ‘Aay ya’ they were wailing. Those words rang a bell in my mind that something very terrible had happened; because in my culture ‘Aay ya’ expresses great sorrow. I later found out that it was MY mommy in the big wooden box outside, ready to be carried to her village fifty miles away for burial. I cried so much, that my disappointment and hopelessness turned to hatred and bitterness.

“It was then that my eighteen year old Aunt adopted me. We lived with her older brother, my uncle; but that arrangement only lasted a few months since my aunt married; Then I was LEFT ALONE AGAIN, this time at my uncle’s. Without good supervision and fending for myself, I was easily lured into a street gang. I became known in the gang as ‘Pekin’; I didn’t want them knowing my real name, as it was the name of my dead father. And I didn’t want anybody calling me the name of a dead person. Besides, in my culture that would provoke the spirit of the dead, which I was afraid to do.

“In the street gang the older boys used us younger kids to steal things. We would bump into other people intentionally. When stuff fell from them, the older guys would pick it up and run. As a member of the gang, I also spent my time showing contempt for those who had enough money to dress nicely. I usually stung them with rubber bands formed into a slingshot. One time I almost popped out the eyes of one kid in a slingshot fight.

“When news got to my married Aunt of how I was living, she and her husband rescued me, taking me home to live with them. They both loved Jesus dearly and tried to share with me the love of God; but I was so full of hurt and bitterness that I could not open my heart to receive love. Then a miracle happened!

“On my way home from an errand one day, I noticed on the street an old sock rolled up into a ball. Playfully, I began kicking it along as I sauntered on my way home. Hearing squeaks coming from the ball, I quickly picked up the sock, examined it closely, carefully unrolled it, and cautiously pushed my hand inside. To my surprise I pulled out a set of keys and thirty-five dollars!

“When I showed the money and keys to my aunt, she questioned whether I had stolen them. ‘No, Ma! I found it,ya!’ We listened to the radio for two months to see if anyone would claim those missing items. No one ever did. My aunt figured that God had provided the money to put me in school. ‘A miracle!’ she said.

“That was just the beginning of miracles in my life. God provided again and again for my schooling. At age fifteen I took an inventory of my life and realized how the Lord’s hand was behind every good thing that had happened to me. Jesus loved me! It was then that I accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Saviour, and was baptized the same year. One scripture that continues to minister to me is found in the book of Romans 8:28 which says….’And we know that all things work together for good to them who love God and are called according to His purpose.’”

Add comment February 17th, 2007