A Day of Sorrow

Today began like every other day but quickly turned out to be a very rough day for our family. Our guard, Rabson Tembo, came to work a little bit late today. We weren't quite sure why until an hour after he had arrived. He was late because he and his wife had taken their 4-year-old little boy, Lovemore, to the hospital because he had been emitting blood when using the restroom. They stood in line at the hospital and the nurses treated him for malaria. He had no signs of malaria and everyone knew that it was bilharzia. Lovemore was walking and playing and acting just fine except for the blood issue. Rabson left his wife and Lovemore in line at the chemist at the hospital. He arrived at our home 30 minutes later and began his normal work. As I was reading my Bible and Kendall was completing his running, Zeria came into the house with tears in her eyes and said, "Rabson's son has just died." She fell to the ground and buried her face in my lap. I couldn't cry, I was stunned, shocked, hurting, upset, confused, and overwhelmed. We quickly got our family ready and we took Rabson to his home. Our kids went with us adn we explained to them what had happened. As we approached the home, Kendall, Mr. Mbewe, Henry, and Rabson went to one side and I went with Zeria inside the house. I could not hold my tears in as I removed my shoes before stepping into their home. I couldn't see because of the darkness in the house and because tears were filling my eyes. It was the first time that I can really remember crying and feeling so sad for our dear friend and brother, Rabson. The sounds of crying women is something that rings hauntlingly in my ears and the sadness surrounding us overwhelmed me to the point that I was almost physically sick. What do you say? I prayed. I just prayed out loud and cried out to the Father on behalf of this family. Later, I went to pray with Rabson and his wife and I couldn't hold back the tears. As we walked back to the truck from our visit, Easton grabbed my hand and looked me in the eye and said,"Mama, I too am so sad because he was 4 like me. I am so sad." Please pray for Rabson and his family and for us as we minister to them. Pray for Kendall and Mbewe as they lead the burial tomorrow. Our hearts are heavy and broken for this young family.