PTI July 2011

June-July has been to us (and particularly to me) a time to experience a bit the reality Peter talks about in 1 Peter 1: 3-7. He talks of those (you/us) who by God's power are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed ... in which they (we) rejoice though now for a little while, if necessary, they (we) have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of (their/our) their/our faith... may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Nights after nights I have groan in my body and spirit asking God "how long he was going to look on"(Ps. 35:17) (although I knew that he always intervenes at the time he chooses not the one we assign to him). He seemed to be far remote (even though I continued to see evidences of his presence) to the point I was desperate to hear him "say to my soul, 'I am your salvation'"(Psalm 35:3). As it grew dark and the prospect of the future uncertain, I heard some grumbling from colleagues who gradually were becoming impatient with the situation. I wondered how long I was still had before loosing my temper in my turn. Finally one of my closest allies resigned out of anger that I was insincere by not admitting that we have failed and cannot deliver. His resignation resonated as a bomb among our students. Every eye and ear was now on me to see what I would do and hear what I would say. I was still recounting God's great deeds to us in the past (the big compound we are in, the facilities we now have, the library (nearly 60,000 books!) etc) to those who could still listen (others having chosen to close their ears) when God finally decided to intervene in a decisive way. We got a gift that wrote off all our debts and allowed us stand on our feet and face the future once again. We now see the light again. The future looks promising once again. This coming weekend the newly appointed school board will be having its statutory meeting. Shelves for the books are being made and professional librarians will be starting cataloguing them in a week time. We are busy preparing for the coming academic year that will start beginning of September. Thank God for his timely salvation. Thank him for the family he used. Thank him for the new board for the school. Organizing professionally a library of more than 60,000 books appeared a bit expansive. We have negotiated a very reduced rate of 0.40 USD per book. (i.e. 24,000 USD). Pray that the one who started this wonderful work will bring it to completion. We hope to hand in our application for state registration of the Bible school this week. Pray that it will be received favorably. Yours truly, Emmanuel Ndikumana