A famous African missionary had a young native boy whom he looked upon as his special friend. We will call the boy Sinta. Sinta was a shepherd lad and was helped in his work among the sheep by a hunting dog, which drove away the wild beasts which tried to steal the flocks.
At one time Sinta had been a very wild and wicked boy. But when he had met the missionary one day, the kindly man gave Sinta a New Testament all for himself. By reading in the Gospels how the Lord Jesus died for him on the cross. Sinta’s heart was softened, and he became an entirely new boy, by receiving the Lord Jesus into his heart.
Some time passed; Sinta loved to go to the mission to hear the word of God read, and he grew in grace by reading his own New Testament while watching the sheep out on the hillsides.
But one day Sinta came to the missionary in great distress. “Bwana, what shall I do?” he asked, tears rolling down his cheeks. “The dog... he tear and ate a page from God’s Book, my New Testament. Bwana! Bwana! What shall I do?”
“But, Sinta, my boy,t’ the missionary comforted him, “that will not matter. I can give you another Testament.”
Sinta shook his head more sadly than before. “No, Bwana... no good,” he said, “Think of the dog.”
The missionary laughed. “But if your dog can crunch a bone he is not going to be hurt by eating a piece of paper,” he said. “Come, I’ll give you another Testament.”
“No, no, Bwana, you do not understand,” cried Sinta, as he gripped the missionary’s arm. “Once I was a bad boy. If I had an enemy I hated him and everything in me wanted to kill him. When I got the Bible into my heart, I begin to love everybody and forgive all my enemies. Now the dog, Bwana, the hunting dog ... he has got the blessed Book inside him. He will begin to love the lions and forest beasts and let them take away my sheep and oxen. Bwana! Bwana! What shall I do?”
Again the missionary laughed. It took him a long time to explain to a very serious Sinta that all would be well with his flocks — and his dog — and at last he went away smiling, carrying a fresh new copy of the New Testament.
Sinta’s simplicity was amusing but did he not pay honor to the Word of God by his faith in Its power to change a soul?
ML 03/19/1961