Jonahs by Jet

Two Feet in my House

“I’m home!” Dad shouted cheerfully as he came in the front door. “David! Keri!”

“Yes, Dad.” Both children came on the run.

“How would you like to come with me to a Fulani village?” Dad asked as he took the stethoscope off his neck.

“Wow!” David was thinking fast. “Right now?”

“Yes,” Dad answered, “Elder Harry from the church is coming. We would like to visit a friend of ours named Isa. It’s a man we met at the hospital. We’ve been studying the Bible with him. I thought you might like to come along and see what his village is like.”

“Sure, Dad!” David and Keri ran to get their water jugs and put on tennis shoes. They climbed into the van with Dad and Elder Harry. Before they started the engine, Elder Harry asked God for protection on their trip and also for the right words to speak, so that Isa could know Jesus as his Savior.

As they drove, David asked Dad, “How did you get to be friends with Isa?”

Dad explained, “One day, I had a break between patients, so I stood up to stretch my legs. I noticed a tall man with a beard standing in the hospital courtyard. I tried greeting him in Hausa. I said ‘Sannu! [Greetings!] Ya aiki? [How’s your work?] Ya Gida? [How’s your home?]’ That’s about all the Hausa I knew, so I called an interpreter. The man told me is name was Isa.”

“Isa means Jesus in Hausa!” David exclaimed.

“Right. I asked him why he was named Isa (Jesus). He told me he is a Muslim, but he was named after Jesus, because the Muslims believe Jesus is a great prophet. I told him I would like to study with him about Jesus.”

“So this is the man you study the Bible with on Sundays.” David realized.

“Right,” Dad answered.

David and Keri soon saw mud brick houses with thatched (straw) roofs surrounded by African farmlands. “Hey, look.” Keri pointed. “There’s a camel.”

“Look at that huge load of straw on its back. Somebody must be making a new roof,” David added.

There’s a Fulani boy with all his cows!” Keri pointed out her window. A boy not much older than David wore a wide-brimmed straw hat and carried a bottle of water. His arms were stretched out over a long stick on his shoulders, making him look almost like a scarecrow. He was herding about a hundred huge white cows with humps on their backs and long horns.

Soon the van turned off the blacktop road onto a dirt track. The ruts got worse and worse. Finally David and Keri and Dad and Elder Harry climbed out to walk! They came to a cluster of straw huts the shape of igloos almost hidden by the tall dry grass. Suddenly there were people everywhere.

Children of all ages came shyly out of their gidas (homes) to see the Bature (white people). Dark-skinned, slender women with long braids, silver jewelry, and lots of beads crowded around. Many women carried babies on their backs, held snug by bright cloths. Some of the braver women came closer to stroke Keri’s pale skin and touch her blond hair.

Keri could see an open cooking pot propped on stones over the fire. She peeked inside and saw lots of rice! Toddlers, bleating goats, and squawking chickens all ran freely between the houses. Keri saw one mama goat was nursing a tiny kid. Some of the baby chicks were bright pink!

“Dad,” Keri tugged on her Dad’s sleeve, “Why are the chicks pink?”

Dad looked closer at the brightly colored chicks. He laughed and asked Elder Harry why they were dyed. Elder Harry translated the question into Hausa for one of the villagers. Then the villagers did a lot of jabbering and pointing at the sky. Elder Harry said, “They are trying to confuse the hawks who like to steal baby chicks! The hawks aren’t expecting pink babies!”

David caught the baby goat and gave it a hug. It was so cute with its pink tongue and soft brown fur. Maaa! The kid bleated. It struggled to break free and leaped toward its mother.

A tall brown man with a beard came walking toward Dad. “Sannu da Zuwa (Greetings on your coming)!” his voice boomed. It was Isa! He shook hands with Dad and then touched his heart with is fist.

“What does that mean?” David asked Elder Harry.

“It means he is thankful deep in his heart to see us!” Elder Harry explained.

Isa showed the visitors to his own home, which was different from huts made of straw. Isa’s home was rectangular mud brick home with an open doorway and mostly bare walls, except for a calendar. Isa’s family sat on the packed dirt floor, but they got a bench for Dad and Elder Harry to sit on. David and Keri stood close to Dad, listening and watching.

David was watching one girl who was just a little older than Keri. She was stirring vegetables in a pot outside the kitchen hut nearby. An even smaller girl was carrying a jug of water on top of her head. David guessed they must be fixing the afternoon meal.

Then Isa began talking fast in Hausa. Elder Harry translated. “He says he is very glad to see you. He knows that you must be his true friend to have come so far to see him! He says he will always believe whatever you tell him, because you are now his trusted friend.”

Suddenly the Holy Spirit spoke an idea to Dad. Dad spoke to Isa. “Would you have known I was your true friend if I only saw you at the hospital?” Dad asked.

Isa shook his head no.

“How about if I wrote you a letter or talked to you on the radio?”

Isa shook his head. “No” again.

“Would you know I was your true friend if I talked to you on the telephone?”

Isa said an emphatic “No! I knew you were my true friend when you put your two feet in my house!” Isa exclaimed.

Dad grinned. “That is exactly what Jesus did when He came to our earth as God in a human body. Jesus put His two feet in ‘our house’ so we would know that He is our true Friend!”

Isa smiled. David could tell that Isa was beginning to understand about Jesus as our God and our Friend.

Before David and Keri left the village, their new friends sang for them. The young men tapped on tambourines and drums, while the women danced to the rhythm of the music.

On the ride home, David talked about the afternoon with Dad. “That was fun!” he said, chuckling as he thought about the pink chicks, squirming baby goat, and the Fulani dancers. Then he had another thought. “You know what, Dad?”

“What?” Dad was listening.