Monday, June 2nd - weekly devotional Brother Dube

The Dube Family

At our weekly devotional we talked and prayed about the unrest in Nairobi. Then Thomas Dube who is very active on our visa committee and also heads up our African publishing department, gave the spiritual thought as follows (paraphrased for the most part).


                   



Hannah Last Cornaby's baptism in February 1852 near Great Yarmouth, England, was not a quiet, reverent event. It was one fraught with trauma and danger. She and her husband, who had been baptized earlier, prepared for her baptism at a home near the sea. "We found the house surrounded by a mob, through which we with difficulty made our way; amid oaths and threats of what would be done if any attempt were made to go into the water," Sister Cornaby wrote in her Autobiography and Poems. "We waited until near midnight, hoping the crowd would disperse; but it had all this time been increasing, until it numbered many hundreds, and we feared violence, not only to ourselves, but to the family, under whose roof we were waiting." Sister Cornaby and her husband, who was to perform the ordinance, tried to sneak to the sea - but to no avail. "Before we reached the water's edge, the whole horde was upon us; and my husband baptized me amid a shower of stones, and shouts. . . . We then made our way back, as best we could, followed by the mob; and, although the stones whizzed around us thick as hail, not one touched us, and we reached home in safety, thanking God for our miraculous deliverance; determined, more than ever, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, to adhere to the principles we had embraced."

And embrace the gospel the 30-year-old woman and her husband did. Early in 1853, they sailed to America and crossed the plains to Salt Lake City. Subsequent years brought joys and hardships for the English convert, including the deaths of children and a nearly six-year illness, during which she wrote the words to the LDS hymn "Who's on the Lord's Side?" She never lost her faith.

1. Who's on the Lord's side? Who? Now is the time to show.
   We ask it fearlessly: Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
   We wage no common war, Cope with no common foe.
   The enemy's awake; Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
2. (Chorus)
   Who's on the Lord's side? Who? Now is the time to show.
   We ask it fearlessly: Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
3. We serve the living God, And want his foes to know
   That, if but few, we're great; Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
   We're going on to win; No fear must blanch the brow.
   The Lord of Hosts is ours; Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
4. The stone cut without hands To fill the earth must grow.
   Who'll help to roll it on? Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
   Our ensign to the world Is floating proudly now.
   No coward bears our flag; Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
5. The pow'rs of earth and hell In rage direct the blow
   That's aimed to crush the work; Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
   Truth, life, and liberty, Freedom from death and woe,
   Are stakes we're fighting for; Who's on the Lord's side? Who?

Text: Hannah Last Cornaby, 1822-1905

In Joshua there is a scripture which says, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." There is a battle of ideas and society is moving away towards the secular. The Chief Justice at the Law and Religion Symposium in Cape Town said we would do well in this country if we would infuse religion into our law making. As you might expect, this caused quite a stir. The media said this was feeble reasoning.

This is where we are in society. When I was a child we started the school day by praying and singing. Now that is not allowed. There is a greater need now more than ever for us to participate in the decision making process. The Chief Justice has chosen to do what he thinks is right regardless of the criticism. From advent to the secular stage, unbelief has become the default option.

In these last days, the time for planting is past. Put ye in your sickle to gather the harvest...all in the valley of decision...only two decisions - on the Lord's side or not. If we choose the Lord, we will have the strength from him to grasp the iron rod and find our way to the tree of life...hold on or not hold on, that is the decision.

Robert Frost in his poem, 'The Road Not Taken" said:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both
and be one traveler, long I stood and looked down one as far as I could,
to where it bent in the undergrowth, then took the other, as just as fair
and having perhaps the better claim, because it was grassy and wanted wear,
though as for that the passing there had worn them really about the same,
and both that morning equally lay in leaves no step had trodden back.
Oh, I kept the other for another day! Yet, knowing how way leads to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh
somewhere ages and ages hence. Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the road less traveled by and that has made all the difference.

The key is in the choices we make. Be very clear that we are on the Lord's side. I've been blessed with three children ages 5, 2 and one month. My 5-year-old son has a tendency to challenge me. When I drove him to school today I was playing hymns on the CD player. He asked me why I was playing church songs as it was not Sunday. I told him I was trying to get in the spirit for the talk I was giving at work today. He said, "Okay, we'll hear your song and then you have to play mine."

For our children, we must be clear on the choices we make. As we choose the side of the Lord, we will not go wrong.  (End of his talk)

I marvel at the faith of the people here in Africa. Many of them have not been members that long, but every devotional we have attended (weekly) since we've been here...all given by employees of the Church...have been so humble and spiritual. They get it, most of the time more that most. I have learned a lot from their sweet messages. Being in South Africa is like being in the United States 30 years ago. They are now facing many of the challenges America has faced. The fact that Thomas remembers saying prayers in school and he is in his thirties is evidence of this. Sadly they seem to be headed in the same direction. What we've seen here is that when the Lord is leading all is well and when he is not...But, the members of the Church here are making progress. They are becoming leaders and eternal families. We are glad to know them.