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Psalm
121:5-6 King
James Version
5 The Lord is thy keeper:
the Lord is thy shade upon
thy right hand.
6 The sun shall
not smite thee by day,
nor the moon by night.
Our family moved to Solusi, Southern Rhodesia, in 1954 when
I was 12 years old, and living in tropical Africa was a brand-new experience
for me. When we arrived, well-meaning folks warned me, “You are red-headed,
blue eyed, and pink skinned. You had better wear a hat all the time you are
outside, or you’ll have a sunstroke for sure!” A stroke sounded pretty bad to
me. My grandfather had died from a stroke just days before we moved, so I
started wearing a hat often when I went outside.
The E. B. Jewels, second generation missionaries at Solusi, decided
to retire in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, so they bought a bungalow on
Khami Road west of Bulawayo near Solusi. Their son Laverne and I were good
friends, and they invited me over to help whip the neglected yard into shape.
We worked all morning in the tropical sun. I wore a hat as per instructions. By
lunch time, I started throwing up, had a fever, and was feeling extremely
exhausted. Mrs. Jewel was a nurse and suspected I had gotten a sunstroke. She
rushed me off to the Bulawayo hospital, and they gave me an IV to combat my
dehydration. I felt miserable but recovered readily enough.
In 1967 when Sylvia and I arrived at Ikizu in Tanzania, a degree
or so off the equator, I knew that I had better wear a hat. My picture as I
left the airplane shows me wearing one. I think that was the last time I wore a
hat at Ikizu. For five years, I usually dressed in short pants, a T-shirt, and
sandals locally made from an old car tire. I decided that the only time I had
gotten a sunstroke was when I wore a hat. I figured out that the hat must have been
the cause. I relied on the Lord’s promise that He would be my shade, and that
while I was doing His business, He would protect me. He did.
Gracious God, thank You, for being our keeper and
shielding us from catastrophes all around us.
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