-Gamini Mendis-

I wanted to call a meeting of all the clergy in my town in Sri Lanka. I thought we needed to pray and fellowship together. I reviewed the list to be sure I hadn’t forgotten any pastor. I knew that some of the clergy wouldn’t be happy that I was inviting the Adventist pastor, for they thought Adventists were a cult, but I wanted to include every minister.

I hadn’t met many of the clergy before,

Image © Jeff Preston from GoodSalt.com

and it was a good chance to talk with them. I was especially interested to learn more about the Adventist church. When the Adventist pastor told me that his church worshiped on Saturday instead of Sunday, I was intrigued. But my interest was for a purely selfish reason. I decided to visit the Adventist church on Saturday and listen to the pastor’s sermons. Then I could use his material to help me preach a sermon on Sunday. It would save me a lot of work!

The next Saturday I visited the Adventist church. I was warmly welcomed by the pastor and his congregation. I listened closely to the sermon and took careful notes. The following day, I preached the same sermon I had heard in the Adventist church with just a few minor changes. This makes my life so much easier, I thought. The next Saturday, I went to the Adventist church again and took notes from the sermon. I used those notes to preach to my congregation on Sunday. The next week it was the same. Saturday night I went to sleep smiling at my brilliant idea to save work.

During the night I awakened feeling a sudden sharp pain in my shoulder. I jumped up and turned on the light. I had been bitten by a snake. My wife and I frantically searched for the snake in our room, but we couldn’t find it. My wife took me to the hospital, but we couldn’t tell the doctors what kind of snake it was so they were not able to give me the right antivenom treatment. I lost consciousness, and the doctor thought I had died.

I was taken to the mortuary, and my brother brought a coffin. My family and friends started weeping over my body. After some time, someone touched me. Perhaps they felt warmth where the skin should have been cold, but they checked and found I still had a weak pulse. Excitedly, they rushed me into the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. To be continued

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission.
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