The Strength Of A Man
by
Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid (12/6/2013)
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report” (Hebrews 11:1-2, King James Version [Faith in the fathers of old]).
Greetings in the Holy Name of Jesus,
The elders obtained a good report, my brothers and my sisters, how much more is it for us the followers of Jesus to do right by His Name. Yesterday, in the midst of true fellowship, Nelson Mandela transitioned to the life promised by Jesus. For many of us, consumed with death more than life itself, we say, “He died.” Yet, eternal life is what Jesus promised and the power of resurrection resonates today in the hearts and minds of true believers as it resonated in the lives of the disciples, those Jesus left behind. In reflection of Nelson Mandela, the man, I spoke to my son, “I am full of feelings and emotions. I can't breathe. I can't breathe.”
What a time to breathe for Jesus in spite of the sorrow there must be joy, for joy came this morning?
I laid in my bed with the quiet of the night upon me and I heard, “Have faith”. Just two words came down softly spoken void of the feelings and emotions that took my breath away. Two words spoken with assurance, a certainty of do not fail to act resonated as a taskmaster. Two words spoken with such conviction, no more time to consider anything about why and no more considerations of time to do right.
Surely, I say to you, I felt my chest cave in, my organs collapsed inside of me then welled back up inside of me in a moment of time so that I could understand resurrection, transitioning to the spirit leaving the flesh behind. It happened so fast I barely noticed that it did happen to me except the quiet of night did not let the distractions of day flatter me and take me away. It did not matter that the television was on, I still felt the caving in of my body in a nano second, if that, I cannot explain the quickening of me in time; it just happened. I know the worst of what we consider when a most loved one dies is that there is some part of the process unknown to us that they might object to in the flesh but we must “Have faith” and know that God is still on the throne and it is He who made man and it is He who takes man away. Death our enemy cannot do anything to us until God wills it so in time and gives His permission, for Jesus did not die until it was His time and even in the dying of Jesus he said, “Father they know not what they do.”
There, you must know the flesh of limited understanding does not know what to pray for so the Holy Ghost must pray for us and send our prayers to Jesus. There, you must also know Jesus said man did not understand what he did in his death for his death gave man the gift of eternal life. Yet, the death of Jesus was wrong so out of wrong God made it right, out of the darkness God brought us into His marvelous light. How many of you understand the blood of the lamb made our salvation right? How many of you understand the blood of the lamb saved us?
With such an inheritance of saving grace in the faith of Jesus, there was no doubt South Africa's reach for a democratic nation was in their grasp and there was no doubt there Father in the Struggle for Freedom, Nelson Mandela, would exemplify and magnify the glory of God, from the streets of South Africa as Jesus did in his public ministry, to the prison of South Africa as Jesus did before he was scourged and crucified, to the founding President of a new nation as Jesus did when he left to one day return with a New Jerusalem. This is the promise, a new creature and a new earth. How many of you are clothed in the promise so much til you feel joy in the morning every morning and you can dance the dance of your freedom song while in the flesh? Nelson Mandela, danced to his freedom song and stood the test of time for the oppression of his people so that he could be counted as one worthy for the faith of Jesus in practice of faith in faith acts to do right by himself and to do right for his people. May God
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let the remembrance of Mandela, their Father, remain in the hearts and minds of South Africa and in the hearts and minds of the peoples of the world.
It is right to remember the fathers of old and the fathers of modern times as we wait on our Lord for it is the memory of the fathers of old running their course that gives us the hope of our faith to keep on keeping on to go forward to never give up so that we might say, “I fought the good fight.” Furthermore, so that we might say, “I ran my course in the truth of the faith of Jesus, a living unwavering God sent faith.” May God bless and rest the souls of those who are still in His grace but who no longer remain in the flesh to practice the faith of Jesus here on earth. May God bless us those who remain with the strength of a man that modeled Jesus since his death and lived to taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Let me tell you about the strength of Nelson Mandela, not as a close friend but as a distant admirer. In as much as his former days before prison gives us the fundamental essence of how his belief in freedom grew for his fellow citizens of South Africa oppressed and out castes under a racist leadership and became a movement for change, it is the years of his own bondage within a corrupt system of justice under that same racist leadership that resonated across the boundaries of world governments and moved the peoples of the world to help his people fight the good fight for change. Nelson Mandela was in prison part of the 1960's, his letters sustained his people to keep up the good fight; during this time I grew to the age of 14, so let us say I grew up in a climate of change, a time air fro hairdos and dashikis (daishiki, danshiki), African dress, which was symbolic of brethren holding hands in the fight for freedom across oceans, cultures, and languages. It was what we all could do and we did what we could do as one peoples on earth to stand with a man for freedom. The father of South Africa was in prison for all of the 1970's, the closeness of the people with their father of their freedom struggle which became the struggle of the world served to encourage them to never give up; during this time I grew to the age of 24, so let us say the bell bottom pants, window pane jeans, platform shoes, air fro hair dos became pony tails as I left my neighborhood, Liberty City, Miami, Florida, USA to attend the predominantly white University of Miami, in Coral Gables, FL to graduate and enter into the mainstream United States of America workforce, changing the complexion of the American workforce as new leadership.
In this regard, the United States of America was behind South Africa in that decade (the 1960's) for Nelson Mandela was an attorney when he was imprisoned back in the 1960's yet many of his fellow citizens denied his level of freedom cried out and he was called to sacrifice as Jesus did before him. Sometimes I feel like a motherless child was a verse in a song of individual struggle, it is that same individual struggle that emerged in the group struggle for change so Nelson became the father of his people and served well. He was in prison for all of the 1980's, his forgiveness and resolve to move his people to change not just his release on February 11, 1990 from prison but change of a racist government even more so the return of the African nation to the original Africans; during this time I grew to the age 34, so let us say I grew from a child to a mature married woman with two sons, I left corporate America to answer the cry for change in teaching in our schools (In 1988, when selected as a Fulbright Scholar, there was a choice of teaching history in South Africa, I felt they would put me in prison when they heard me teach history [I knew I would address the development especially the educational development of the society, the structure of the society and social relationships of South Africa as well as the philosophy of Nelson Mandela's change. At that point in my professional growth I had my Bachelor's degree in Sociology/Philosophy and a Master's Degree in Education], so I preferred Germany but the same could happen there, then, finally I chose England. In 1994, I went to Benin, West Africa, one of the ocean ports that shipped the slaves to America to help them with education). I was a teacher in the Miami-Dade County School System under the leadership of a superintendent that was one of the boat children who came to America from Cuba, in Miami, Florida to represent the little
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children who searched for their place, not as I did as a child because our leaders at that time made sure we had a place in all activities and encouraged us to excel in school and encouraged us to follow the way of Jesus. You could not hide from what was required of you so that you, any of us could stand in leadership for the good of the people, the oppressed people that were stolen away from Africa.
Nelson Mandela's effect on the world obviously rooted in his former years, so you know his parents and all others who parented him held strong beliefs and the planting of the seed of their belief raised a child that became the Founding President of South Africa. God is able. He is able. The father of South Africa lived such a remarkable life of reflection that few are given the chance to live, truly, he was blessed, to dance in joy until age 95. However, now the nation who he fathered now calls him the son
of a nation. May God bless him, his nation, all those who went before him and those left behind. May the legacy of Nelson Mandela, freedom live on and may the peoples of the world never forget his great sacrifice and his belief.
