Derek was the closing speaker in the meeting, so when it was about time, he got up from the fire and started walking toward the service. He switched on his headlamp when he reached the furthest tent just in time to see a man reaching inside of it! "THIEF!" he yelled, and ran after him into the tall grass. We saw his light disappear into the night and stared at each other for a moment. We had been talking about the catfish Derek had caught earlier that day and put under the truck, joking that the dogs were going to come steal them. So, we yelled after him, "Man or Dog?" half kidding. When there was no answer, Jake and Brandon took off. They found Derek in a ravine about 40 yards away and 6 feet down. He was running too fast to see the drop and fell while chasing the thief. He was okay, but had scraped his leg pretty badly. As they headed back to camp, they picked up a few scattered bags the man had dropped as he was making his escape. There was no way to know how many he had gotten away with, so we pulled the expedition leader out of the service. Beau checked the tents and most of everyone's belongings looked in tact, but he couldn't find his backpack with his Nikon camera or all of their expedition money. They searched the path hoping to find more scattered items and bags, meanwhile, Jake pulled Senior Dwa Dwa out of the meeting along with Mariel, the co-leader of the expedition. When Mariel heard what had happened, she closed her eyes for a minute and shared with us that before the meeting, she was the last person at the camp. She noticed that there were bags and shoes laying around and tents unzipped, and she felt prompted to pick everything up - including Beau's bag - and put everything inside the tents and zip them closed. We praised God that He had prompted her to tidy the camp and that she was obedient in the 'small' task of picking up after the team.
Senior Dwa Dwa asked us if we saw the man get away, and when we couldn't verify, he and our guys went looking for the thief. When they came to the ravine, they noticed that it was actually a stream with fairly deep water. (That Derek wasn't seriously injured was a miracle.) There was a large backpack floating on top of the water. Jake reached in to grab it, but it was stuck on something. From the camp I heard Derek ask, "Is that a head? Senior, can you see, is that a man?" Senior Dwa Dwa reached in, pulled the man by his hair and lifted him out of the water. The thief had also fallen into the ravine, and was either playing dead, or hiding hoping to escape later. They brought him back to camp and sat him almost in the coals of the fire, doped up and soaking wet. Senior Dwa Dwa questioned him for a moment finding that the man was sent from town to follow the 'big trucks' in, to steal from the 'Makua' (whites) and sell items in the villages on the way back. Senior was distraught and ashamed that this was happening in his village, and assured us that it was not one of his people. He took the thief with the help of some of his council members, and we heard them questioning him for the next few hours. We could only imagine what fate awaited this man, out in the bush, where the civil laws don't always apply. For we were guests of the Chief, and this act of theft wasn't just a crime against us, but also an insult to the Chief and the headman in charge of this village.
We were quiet for the next while, torn between relief that the thief was caught and that no items were permanently stolen, and the thought of our witness to this village as Christian Missionaries. Wasn't the last person to speak to Jesus a thief? Weren't we all thieves and liars, harlots and addicts, before Christ came and erased our shame? Our flesh cried for Justice but our spirits simply cried. Is this man beyond our compassion? Is this man beyond the Grace of God? NO. He is lost, he is deceived, and he is broken - as we all were - and He is in need of Jesus, perhaps more than anyone else we had met in Dwa Dwa so far.
The leaders went and found where the Senior and his men were holding him. Sure they would walk up on a gruesome scene and find a man beaten half to death, they prepared themselves and prayed for strength. But what they found was quite different. The thief was bound, but was sitting close to a fire for warmth, no bruises or blood, and the Senior and his men were guarding close by. They told Jake that they would banish the thief from their village and deport him to the next, where most assuredly the village of Milundu would do the same until he was deported back to Livingstone. Our leaders sat and shared with the man, witnessed by the headman and his guards, the redemptive hope and righteousness that we find in Christ. He wasn't 'the thief' any longer. He was Alfred, and he is now working through his brokenness to find Christ.
When the team left a few days later, they were greeted by Alfred in Livingstone, he apologized to them, seemed to be sober, and had a smile on his face. I am eternally grateful that we have a Father in Heaven who doesn't call us what He could - for we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God - but rather calls us by Name, His Beloved, as we are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ.
We look forward to seeing Alfred more in the future, and continue to pray that he finds his restoration and peace in Jesus.
