Blessings of the Feasts, Which Even a Lion Couldn’t Stop

I am an electrician. I work for a company that sells heavy logging equipment. When the Autumn Feasts were just around the corner, I had to go on a business trip because one of the machines had a problem. The business trip could take days, but the Feast of Trumpets, which I was eagerly waiting for, was only a couple of days away. I wanted to postpone the business trip, but it was an urgent matter, and no one else was able to handle the problem. I left for the trip, asking God through prayer to help me solve the problem and come back in time.

The region I had to travel to was a town called Obala, located near Yaounde, the capital city of Cameroon. I thought I would be back home by evening if I left very early in the morning. However, on the way there I found out that my business trip destination had changed. The region I had to go to was Niga, a jungle village farther away than Obala. It would be almost impossible to get there and back in one day.

I left at 5 a.m., but it was already almost noon when I arrived in Obala. I had to go into the jungle from there. I arrived in Niga at around 1 p.m. by taking a motorcycle taxi, but even the motorcycle taxi driver got lost because the path to the destination was extremely rough. After we wasted two hours driving around the jungle, we were back to where we started. I became more and more anxious. After much meandering, I arrived at the destination at around 4 p.m. I worked as fast as I could, but it was well past 7 p.m. by the time I finished the work.

It was pitch black all around me. I had no idea how I was going to make it back out of the jungle. I had never been there and it was hard to see which direction to take to get out of the jungle; I felt trapped in there. I was eagerly praying to God when a motorcycle taxi suddenly appeared in front of me in such a remote place. It was a miracle. It was just like a movie.

However, it was just the beginning of the story like a movie. On the way out of the jungle by the motorcycle taxi, rain started pouring suddenly. We couldn’t speed up because the path was so narrow that we would barely pass if anyone was coming from the other direction, and also because it was raining so hard. Although it was frustrating, it seemed that we were almost out of the jungle. Suddenly, the driver stopped the motorcycle. Wondering what was going on, I looked up and saw something unbelievable; a lion, the king of the jungle, which I only saw on TV, was lying right there, only a few meters away from us.

The lion was blocking the whole path. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, appalled. When I think about it now, I’m grateful that it was raining. We could stop before the lion because we were driving slowly. If the motorcycle had been moving at a usual speed, we would have bumped into the lion and hit it. Of course, I didn’t have time to think about it at that moment. The fear you might feel when standing in front of a lion! It is impossible to even imagine without experiencing it for yourself. We were stuck there, being unable to go any farther or to turn around and run away.

I was frightened, but at the same time I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to make it back home in time. I would have to get out of the jungle by the end of that day to be able to keep the feast the next day. However, there was nothing I could do; I couldn’t beg the lion to let me go, saying, “I’m so busy.” Nor did I have courage like that of David who struck a lion and rescued a sheep from its mouth. It was just scary and frightening.

We confronted the lion for 40 minutes like that. My heart was burning, and all I could do was pray. Suddenly, the lion stood up slowly.

‘Is it going to come to me?’

The hairs on the back of my neck prickled. I had never been so nervous in my life. The lion slowly walked into the jungle. We quickly passed through the spot where the lion had been lying, and when I looked back, I saw the lion come back to that spot and lie back down there. It looked like the lion moved out of the way shortly so that I could go and keep the feast.

I couldn’t think of anything to say except “Thank You, Father and Mother.” It seems that even lions cannot keep us from going to God. It feels like a dream that I’m writing this fragrance of Zion right now.

This is what happened afterwards. I traveled from Niga to Obala, and by the time I arrived in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, it was 1 p.m. Then I traveled for five hours from Yaounde to Douala by bus, and I arrived home at 6:25 a.m., 25 hours after I left my house.

I changed my clothes and went straight to the church. I felt so touched the moment I walked into the church to keep the morning worship of the Feast of Trumpets. Being able to stand in Zion was a miracle, and it was God’s love and grace.

Through the experience which probably rarely happens to anyone, I’ve realized that I am just a weak person who cannot do anything without God’s help, and I’ve felt in my bones the love of God who saves us from desperately dangerous situations. A Biblical figure like Daniel did not stop praying to God, although he knew that he would be thrown into the lion’s den. Also, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego confessed their faith in God even in the face of death and survived in the furnace, seven times hotter than usual. I’ve been able feel from the bottom of my heart how great the faith of the Biblical figures is.

During the Autumn Feasts 2020, I pray that I too will have strong faith like theirs. When it comes to preaching the gospel and saving our spiritual brothers and sisters, I will go forward boldly, depending on God’s power. I can do it because nothing can stop us in this path of blessing, where God is always with us.