Angry Bees
At the end of a peaceful afternoon, Keri, David, and Mom headed down the hill. Mom led the way across the flat top of the rock-hill to the edge where they had come up. Mom noticed the sun was a fireball low in the western sky. “We better walk quickly!”
Mom urged. “See how low the sun is? We still have a long bike ride home.” They hiked as fast as they could.
As she passed a tree at the edge of the steep hill, Keri suddenly saw bees swarm all over Mom and David. “Ouch! Ouch!” they yelled. Mom ran even faster down the hill, thinking that David and Keri were following her away from the bees. But David escaped back the way they had come.
Confused and scared, Keri wondered, Should I follow Mom or help David? She edged closer to David, but the bees started stinging her too. Their stings hurt!
David panicked as the bees dive-bombed him everywhere—stinging his face and neck, again and again, even crawling into his ears and mouth! David tried swatting at them, but more came!
They buzzed loudly. He couldn’t hear Mom or see where she went. Screaming, David frantically waved bees off his head. Mom rushed back up over the edge of the rock, close to him. “Oh, David! They are stinging you too!”
Mom’s voice was sympathetic and shocked. “Let’s get down off this hill, now!” she ordered.
David raced down the hill so fast he seemed to be flying away from the bees. Mom and Keri couldn’t keep up with him. As Mom and Keri reached level ground, they couldn’t see David at all. Mom called loudly, “David!” but there was no answer. “David!” she yelled again.
Keri and Mom finally slowed to a trot. They didn’t have the strength to ride their bikes home. A few bees still buzzed around their faces. Keri panted. Her heart was pounding, and her knees rattled together. “Keri,” Mom instructed, “Go to the road and ask the first driver you see to take you to the hospital! I’ll find David.”
“OK!” Keri hurried down the path to the dirt road. At the roadside, she heard the putter of two motorcycles. She waved her arms wildly and yelled “Help! Stop!” Keri was panting after all her running. “Bees . . . stung my Mom and my brother. . . . My Mom is there . . .” She pointed to the hill and spoke in short sentences, trying to catch her breath.
One of the kind men jumped off his motorbike and sprinted to find Keri’s mom while the other stranger kept Keri company and gently shooed the last of the bees away from her face with a green leafy branch.
Soon the kind man came back with Keri’s mom. Mom and Keri were glad to hear that another farmer had already carried David home by bicycle.
Keri scrambled aboard one man’s motorcycle while her mom climbed on behind the second driver. Keri held on tightly, thinking, Don’t let go. Don’t let go! She felt shaky from the bee stings and exhausted from running down the hill.
At last, the motorcycles turned into the hospital gate. People were just leaving the Sabbath afternoon meeting at the chapel. They rushed to help Keri and her mom limp into hospital beds where the nurses cared for them.
Dr. Kunle spoke kindly to Keri, “I think you are well enough to go home to your Dad!” Keri smiled at that good news. Dr. Kunle lifted Keri into his car and drove her home, carrying her gently into her own bed.
Keri could see David in his bed looking very sick and frowning sadly with a hundred tiny black bee stingers all over his face and neck. When Keri and David woke up the next morning, their Mom was home in bed with a puffy face and lips sticking out.
Keri felt sleepy and shaky. She felt a little hungry too. But her mouth was so swollen from bee stings it was hard to eat. David didn’t feel like getting out of bed or eating.
David and Keri’s doctor Dad was supposed to be at the hospital, but since his family was sick, Dad stayed home while Dr. Kunle went to the hospital.
While David and Mom napped that afternoon, Dad’s Muslim friend, Isa, stopped by for a long Bible study. Keri could hear them talking about Jesus. She heard Dad reading Bible texts like John 1:29, RSV. That was the story of Jesus visiting John the Baptist in the desert. When John saw Jesus, he exclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
After Isa left, Keri climbed onto the couch near her dad. “Dad?” Keri asked, searching his kind eyes. “Why did Jesus let the bees sting us?”
Dad looked at Keri tenderly and gave her a hug. “Oh, sweetheart, I’m sure Jesus’ heart is just breaking to see you hurt. You know, Jesus made a perfect, painless world. But Satan ruined everything by bringing sin and suffering onto the earth. There is a war still going on between God and Satan. When Jesus comes again, the war will be over and God will stop sin and sickness forever.”
Dad stroked Keri’s blond hair while he continued with a hopeful voice, “Jesus did give us some promises to remember in our scary times. He promised us that He will never leave us (Hebrews 13:5). He also promises us that ‘all things work together for good to them that love God . . .’ ” (Romans 8:28, KJV)
“Daddy?” Keri snuggled closer to her dad. “I think Jesus sent those men on the motorcycles to help us.”
“Yes, I’m sure He did,” Dad agreed.
“I was listening while you talked to Isa,” Keri added. “He’s almost a Christian, isn’t he?”
“Yes,” Dad nodded his head, “he is almost a Christian. And do you know what, Keri?”
“What?” Keri tipped her head sideways in curiosity.
“I wasn’t supposed to be here today for this Bible study with Isa. If you and David and Mom hadn’t been sick, I would have been at the hospital all day. I think God turns Satan’s meanest tricks into something good!” Dad stated.
Keri grinned. “If there is a war going on between God and Satan, I’m glad to know that God is winning! That reminds me of the song ‘I’m in the Lord’s Army!’ I’m a soldier on the winning side!”
Dad smiled. “Yes! That is what being a missionary is all about. We are soldiers on the Lord’s side.”
