The torrential rain slashed straight through the feeble tarps that Ronald had used to cover his makeshift shelter. For the last several months, he had been living in this hut next to the Bangon tribe’s cemetery, where the village chief had banished him. He had endured extreme loneliness as the people avoided him like the plague. The Lord had even allowed several demons who lived in the cemetery to try to scare him away.

Then the typhoon came. For days, the rain poured down in cascades, turning the river into a raging torrent of muddy water. Everything Ronald owned was completely soaked.

As Ronald huddled in the cold, he heard a roaring sound. Looking up, he saw a tornado that had developed in the midst of the typhoon. It sliced through the rain, heading straight for his shack. Jumping up, he tried to save the tarp and his few belongings, only to see them ripped away and disappear into the howling funnel. He had nothing left to give. Collapsing back on the ground, he cried and prayed until he fell into a deep sleep.
In the middle of the night, Ronald awoke to the sensation of an ice-cold hand on his shoulder. Instantly, he was paralyzed. Realizing that this was another demonic attack, he mustered all of the strength left in his body to sing and recite Bible verses. Nothing changed, though. Finally, mentally and physically exhausted, he felt himself slipping into unconsciousness. With his last ounce of strength, he prayed one more time. “Jesus,” he whispered. “Whether I live or die, my life is yours.” Instantly, the paralysis left him, and he was at peace.

The next morning, Ronald awoke to the sun shining in his eyes. The typhoon had passed. God had banished the demons that had been harassing him, and he remained at peace. Sitting up, he looked around. The jungle was flattened for miles except for a small island of green around the remaining frame of his shack. Tears came to his eyes once again, but this time, they were tears of gratitude to the Lord for saving him.

Grabbing a bar of soap, he decided to bathe in the spring near the cemetery. He had been sopping wet for days. After scrubbing off all of the mud from the typhoon, Ronald basked in the sun for a few minutes. It felt so good to be clean and dry again! “Okay, enough vacation time,” Ronald chuckled to himself. “Time to get back to work and rebuild my hut.”

As he turned and walked the first few steps away from the spring, he heard what sounded like the roar of an airplane about to crash. Looking back, he gasped as the entire mountainside collapsed in a mudslide, burying the spring where he had just been standing.

“Lord!” he breathed. “Time after time, You have brought me right to the brink of destruction but then protected me. Each time this has happened, the Bangon people have seen how hard the spirits are trying to discourage and even kill me and how You have protected me. May this be the key which leads them to learn of you and be saved.”

Today, after nearly two years of demonstrating God’s love and power to the Bangon, learning their language, and enduring Satan’s attacks, Ronald has been accepted by the tribe. He has begun a literacy school for the children and has taught the adults how to grow more productive gardens, improving their nutrition and helping them to sell vegetables as a cash crop. Each day, before working in the gardens or teaching the alphabet, Ronald leads his new brothers and sisters in worshiping God and praying.

Every day, Ronald attests to the truth of God’s promise that “Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy” (Psalm 126:5).

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