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| My father Rich (WIND Exec. Director) and I with Francisco Chamay |
“God, if you save my leg, I will give my life for you!” That was the prayer that brought Francisco
Chamay to Christ. Since then, Francisco
has struck true to his promise, miraculously walking each week to far out
villages on that same leg that was almost amputated, making disciples for
Christ. In my 30 years of life, it’s
possible that I have never met a man with more faith than this short, humble
Ixil man whom they call “Hermano Chamay.”
I first met him almost 3 years ago at the Bible Institute
that WIND supports. At the time my Spanish
was very poor and I only roughly understood as he spoke of his ministry of
walking to all the villages. I did
conclude, however, that a person that spends the majority of their time walking
to villages, and who pastors only a handful of people at a tiny church, would
likely have financial difficulties. So I
asked him how he had money to live and support his family. His response I did understand and remember to
this day, “Por fé, hermano (by faith, brother).”
I have had two meetings with him over these past two months
at his tiny church, trying to pin down how extensive his ministry actually is,
but he seems to have no interest in numbers.
Discipleship making books made by the Global Church Movement were loaned
to him and he went out and started a 4 book diploma program out of them. Eventually, I was able to gather from him
that this program has 6 teachers and over 200 students spread across at least
10 villages. He informed me that he has
to give the books back by the end of the year while the students are in the
middle of the series. We estimated how much
it would cost to make about 200 copies of the books, estimating it to be a
little over $1000 which might as well be a fortune to the Ixil people. Having no idea how these books would get paid
for, he told me he was leaving in a few days for a “run” of the villages to
tell them the program would continue again in February. I laughed out loud, shaking my head at this
man’s bold faith. He smiled and said “Si,
por fé, hermano.”
He showed me his leg, which is slightly deformed below the
knee. He says God always gives him the
energy he needs to walk and not feel pain.
We talked about faith, how people often wait for money first before
moving to serve God but sometimes God is waiting for us to move first, to show
faith. I had had a conversation just an
hour earlier with another local church leader who said he would love to
evangelize in the villages but that first he would need to have money for gas,
materials, etc. It is human nature to
want to know what will happen or know we can succeed before we set out but sometimes
God is waiting for us to simply obey him and boldly dive into the unknown,
trusting that He will provide for us. Francisco
gets excited with this topic for he has seen personally how God always provides
exactly what is needed for him to complete His will. “Por fé, hermano.”
I ended my visit with a walk to his home (or as he calls it
his “ranch.”) As I expected, the house
was small and impoverished. A little 4
year old girl greeted me and I asked if it was his granddaughter. “No, she is an orphan that we are caring for.” HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD. Francisco, with no guaranteed income to
support his own family or ministry, still has enough to support this little
orphan girl as well.
POR FÉ, HERMANO
