God of Compassion
**some names have been changed.
Komna (left) preparing to share a message with the people in the village where he grew up.
“I was looking forward to doing my ablutions, but I felt very odd and took longer than normal. When I got up, I felt a light wind on my skin that felt like a bird flying close to me. Then I lost consciousness.”
Yelling and wailing filled his ears as consciousness returned. Komna discovered himself pinned under the wheels of a large vehicle. Many men were working to extricate him from underneath the car. It took 1.5 hours to finally free his crushed leg. A drive to the local hospital proved unhelpful. They lacked the equipment necessary to deal with such an injury. A trip to a hospital 70 kilometers (45 miles) away revealed the help he needed. It took eight hours to get the bleeding stop. The doctor said that he had never seen a case like this. Komna’s femur had been shattered and required a foot to hip cast for many weeks. It took one month before the doctors discharged Komna, but he had to return frequently for several weeks after for check ups.
“The questions constantly crossing my mind at this time were, ‘Why me? What did I do to God? Why these bad things? Does God really exist? Does God care about me? Would it not be better if I were dead?’”
Komna was born in a village in, Ghana, West Africa. His childhood was different from the children growing up around him. Komna was handicapped; he could not walk. All of the things his parents tried had failed. When he was five years old, they moved to Togo to the village where his father grew up. It was there that he learned to walk, but he was weak and tired easily.
After finishing primary school, Komna wished to further his education. This required moving to Mango (about an hour away) since there was no high school in the village. Catholic boarding school became home. This connection led him to the Catholic church where he often helped at Mass and took part as a musician. About one year later, the priest, Father Key, passed away.
With the death of Father Key, Komna needed to move to a different place. Rent in the city was expensive; it was around 500fCFA ($0.86) per month. How would he afford to live? Life was proving difficult until a neighbor offered to help. Mr. X offered him a place to stay and took care of his expenses. Feeling pressure from Mr. X’s wives and brothers, Komna converted to Islam. One day at mosque the muezzin* was absent. Who would make the call to prayer for the people? What started as “stepping in” for someone for the moment became became a full time responsibility.
“Even if I understood nothing of what I was saying I was diligent with this task for 12 years. ”
The morning of April 2, 2010 was the start of a very strange day. Komna woke to go to the mosque to make the call to prayer. Arriving, it had already ended. He had been late. He went then to do his ablutions*. This was when he was struck by the car and taken to the hospital.
Mr. X, the man who had opened his house to Komna neither visited him at the hospital nor inquired of his condition. However, a new missionary friend, Andy, who had become like a second father to Komna came to visit him often while he was in the hospital. The recovery for a shattered femur was long and difficult. What made it worse what that Komna was confined to a handicapped life yet again. Andy made some crutches for him and Komna began to re-learn how to walk.
Though Komna was confused, and felt sorry for himself, God had a bigger plan for his life. Andy had begun a special study with him. They would read books about the things of the Bible and discuss them. Andy had always found ways to talk about Jesus, his Savior and Master. Through these readings and discussions, Komna understood that eternal security was a serious affair and no religion could grant it. Many of the books they read together spoke of Jesus and His works but it was only when Komna read Tout Ce Qu’on Dit Les Prophètes (All That the Prophets Have Spoken) that something impacted him. In this book, Jesus was called the Lamb of God. Perplexed and frustrated, Komna stopped reading. How could a man be called Lamb? A lamb is an animal and a man is a human. Komna had also read John 1:29.
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
~John the Baptizer (John 1:29 ESV)
The day came to meet with Andy. He asked if Komna had read anything he did not understand. They discussed the verse and the issue about the “Lamb of God” phrase. Andy explained that Jesus, when He died on the cross, was like the lamb used to pardon the sins of man*. He used the Old and New Testaments and Komna saw that the Scriptures guaranteed that if one puts His trust in Christ, the door to Heaven is open to him because it was by Jesus’ expiatory* death that He became the only door by which anyone could be saved.
“I understood that Jesus alone could answer my question about eternal security...I decided to trust Christ and from that moment I felt that I was no longer the same person. Truly, I felt like a huge burden had been lifted. An indescribable joy came over me, as if I had discovered a treasure. This was actually the case because I had become a co-heir with Jesus. Glory to God!”
Despite his physical handicap, Komna goes to villages to share how God had compassion on him. Now he is a living witness of the love of God! With a heart to take the News to the village in which he grew up, he now travels each Sunday to share with the people there. Komna desires to encourage others in their own lives.
“Today, I am grateful to God for the grace He gives to all who turn towards Him in faith.”
Hannah Strayer is a missionary using media on the field to communicate stories of need with others God may be calling to help resolve them. You can learn more about her or begin partnering with her today! You can also follow her on social media (just scroll to the very bottom of this page!)