Faithful in Little, Faithful in Much

When I arrived at Zawadi House in Arusha, Tanzania, I was greeted by a nice young man named Leonard. In fact, all of the staff at Zawadi House were very kind and eager to please. I remember Leonard helping carry my suitcases to my room and showing me how to operate the air conditioner and the hot water (both luxuries I was greatly looking forward to during my three night stay in Tanzania.)

On the last night of my stay, I went to the lounge to order my dinner and discovered Leonard was my server. We exchanged pleasantries while I looked over the menu and placed my order.

In Africa, it often takes a l-o-n-g time for food to be prepared, however the trade-off is that everything is made to order, fresh and from scratch. I had settled back into my chair after ordering, prepared for the wait, when Leonard struck up a conversation.

“Pastor Cheryl, may I ask you something?”

“Of course, Leonard. What is it?”

“Well, I know I received Jesus in my heart some time ago and sometimes I can feel the Holy Spirit very close to me, but sometimes – like when I do bad things – the Holy Spirit runs away! How can I stop the Holy Spirit from running away?”

Right now, I’m sure you are thinking the same thing I was thinking at that time, “Stop doing bad things,” but that’s not the answer the Holy Spirit gave me.

“Leonard, when you received Jesus in your heart, you also received the Father and the Holy Spirit. They’re all together. You can’t separate them. When you chose to do bad things, the Holy Spirit doesn’t run away from you. You are the one running away from the Holy Spirit.”

I watched as this new-found revelation washed over Leonard. It was as if someone had turned a light bulb on over his head. Immediately, Leonard’s story began to pour out of him.

Leonard’s father had died when he was very young. This left Leonard as the oldest male in his family. At the age of 14 Leonard knew it would be up to him to help support his mother and siblings.

He did well in school, working or picking up odd jobs wherever he could. Leonard knew a good education would be critical for his future. He also knew the realities of life. Putting himself through post-secondary school by alternating a year of work with a year of school, Leonard eventually graduated as a pastry chef.

Unfortunately, new graduates do not always earn the income they expect. With a “good” but insufficient job, Leonard became desperate to earn the money needed to feed his family. Then, he began listening to the wrong people.

Leonard started hanging around with other young men who encouraged him to start selling “what the tourists want” in order to generate more income. This was one of the “bad things” he sometimes did that made the Holy Spirit “run away.”

Once he saw that I was neither shocked nor reviled by this admission, Leonard began pouring out his heart. He asked countless questions!

“How can I make the Holy Spirit stay?”

“How can I stop sinning when I see what everyone else has?”

“How can I hear God?”

“How can I support my family without doing bad things?”

We talked throughout my entire dinner. To me, it was clear, Leonard needed to encounter God as his Father and he needed to experience God’s love for him as a son. The loss of Leonard’s natural Father at such a young age had left him without any example of fatherhood. I spoke about the roles and relationships of fathers and sons. Leonard’s heart was open and I could tell he genuinely received what I was saying.

I asked if I could pray for him.

As we prayed, Leonard repented and had a fresh encounter with Jesus. As the Holy Spirit began to fill him, I could sense and see things being broken off and leaving him. Then, Leonard had an encounter with the perfect, unconditional, deep, deep love of his Father, God.

There were tears and snot all over the place as God began to rearrange Leonard’s heart. It was beautiful!

When we were done praying, Leonard was quick to wipe away all traces of his tears (African men never cry) and quick to apologize.

“I really don’t know why that was happening,” he said, “But I couldn’t stop!”

I told him it was okay, because God was doing something very deep and very profound in him. I hugged him quickly and then bid him good-night.

 

The next morning, I was very surprised to see Leonard again as my server at breakfast, but I noticed his countenance had completely changed! I asked him how he was and how his night went. Leonard sat right down at my table and began to talk. He was SO excited that he barely took a breath!

“Last night, the Holy Spirit woke me up and reminded me to talk with my Father, God. Then, God the Father talked to me all night! He talked to me about being a son and kept reassuring me I was loved…”

While Leonard was talking, I noticed the head chef, Naomi, was now sitting at my table as well.

“…I hope you don’t mind. The staff knew something was happening last night. When I came in this morning, they could tell something had changed. They asked me what happened, so I told them. Now Naomi would like prayer too.”

Of course I prayed over Naomi as well!

Before I left, Leonard and I exchanged contact information. Then he asked one more question. As a fully trained pastry chef, Leonard had interned at some of the best hotels in town, but he was unable to find a full-time job in his field.

“I had to take this job as a barman/server while I am a fully trained pastry chef. How will I ever make enough to support my family if I am not working in the field I’m trained for?”

I reassured Leonard that even at this level, he could count on God to provide what he needed. I then reassured him that God never waists anything; that while he was a server, he should be the best server he could be. He should be honest, helpful, go the extra mile and represent the Father well! Then I told him the story of the steward from Luke 16.

“Leonard, when Father God sees He can trust you with this job, and in God’s perfect time, He will trust you with a better one. Remember, faithful in little, faithful in much.”

 

I left for the Kilimanjaro airport shortly after our conversation and arrived back in Malawi on a Wednesday. On Friday, I noticed that I had a message from Leonard thanking me for our time together and giving me an update about his life.

“I just want to inform you that my Father lifted me up to another stage…now I have gotten another employment at the Serengeti National Park as a pastry chef! Now I understand the full meaning, ‘I am a son…that’s why I get priority.'”

Three days!!! Father God promoted his son, Leonard, from a small serving job, earning insufficient wages to even feed his family, to his dream job – pastry chef at one of the biggest tourist drawing places in all of Tanzania – Serengeti National Park! That’s our God! Faithful! Provider! Ever-Present! Loving Father!

I challenge you, today. If you feel stuck. If you seem to be overlooked and undervalued. Do NOT lose hope! God never waists anything. Our God is a good and loving Father! He sees you, and His heart is for you, not against you. He loves you and calls you His own. Whatever you find yourself doing, do it with excellence. Represent your Father well!

“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much.”

-Luke 16:10a