FOREST FIRE
After few months, when Omar went to Vadugapatti for vacation, his dad had gone to Melur to attend a legal proceeding on dividing inheritance between his opponents and him. The hearing was at Melur and Madurai law courts. The legal proceeding started when Omar was in eighth grade and it continued for seven or eight years. All this started when dad's uncle Ibrahimsa died suddenly of an heart attack. He owned real estates, farms, shops, jewelry, and cash worth of hundreds of thousands of rupees. But he was a bachelor. His adopted children and their kids lived with him. When dad won the case, his opponents appealed; and vice versa. To dad, filing a case was just like betting on a horse race or gambling for the fun of it. Usually dad returned home after one or two weeks. During those times mom used to run the clinic.
Fathima who was studying P.U.C. in Madurai Meenakshi Amman College also came to Vadugapatti for vacation. Other children went to school at Vadugapatti. During the vacation, Omar didn't read storybooks or saw movies. Daily he prayed and meditated silently. Seeing some changes in him mom asked, "what happened?". He replied, "Mummy! what is the use if we have all the wealth and fame in this world, but if we go to hell after death ? Do we carry our possession after death?....No! Jesus is the only way to go to heaven! He took our sins upon himself, died on the cross, was buried and rose again on the third day. You must also believe in Him and get saved".
Omar informed about his salvation and the changes that happened in his life after accepting Jesus into his heart. Mom wondered about it and warned him saying, "Omar! if your dad knows about this he will kill you, be careful". Mom had extreme love and compassion for her children; so she kept this matter a secret. Even other children did the same.
When the vacation was over, Omar and Fathima returned to University College. Omar was studying II year B.Sc. and Fathima I year BA Mytheen joined P.U.C. in the same college where Omar did undergraduate studies. Both of them stayed in the student residence. Omar and prayer group students slowly instructed Mytheen about Jesus. He also accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior and attended prayer group.
After Omar, Fathima and Mytheen went to college, mom attended a childbirth. Few days after attending to the childbirth, Subramani, the eldest son of that lady, visited mom. After paying the bill, as he talked to mom, mom asked him, " What are you doing for living?" Subramani said, "Now I am working as a Christian pastor". Mom asked astonishingly, "You belong to Hindu family...how did you become a Christian pastor?". Subramani replied, "I went to Tuticorin College to study P.U.C., and stayed in the student residence....there I came across some believers from Friends Missionary Prayer Band... and I came to know that Jesus was our savior. I asked forgiveness for my sins from Jesus and thus I became a Christian. After completing P.U.C, I came back to Vadugapatti and went to Kodaikanal once, where I met a foreign missionary lady and she invited me to do pastoral work here in Vadugapatti. From that day I am doing this service.
I took baptism and changed my name to Stephen Andrews. Mom said, " Your story is amazing. Omar also told me that he too went to a college prayer group and got forgiveness of sins from Jesus Christ". Pastor Stephen was both surprised and happy and proposed, "You must also accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior". Mom was frightened, "Ah! If Omar's dad knows this, he will kill us all the same night". Pastor Stephen suggested, "Dad need not know this. You can pray to Jesus in your heart. I am having a Bible study at Thekkattu School every Wednesday night, you can come for it secretly without anyone's knowledge". Mom said, "I shall think about it". Pastor Stephen went away.
Pastor Stephen was few years older than Omar. When Pastor Stephen was in secondary school, many parents didn't like their children associate with him, because he was a notorious boy. In his life there is such a big change now. Often Pastor Stephen visited mom when dad was not around and talked about salvation, eternal life, holiness, and righteousness and so on to mom. Mom was anxious to receive all those blessings from Jesus Christ.
One time dad went to Melur. Mom decided to attend Wednesday night Bible study. It was pitch dark. She took small lanes instead of main streets and reached the school to attend bible study. In Vadugapatti some streets and lanes don't have streetlights. This was an asset to go secretly for bible study. Nobody would notice her going to Christian meeting. She decided to go for bible study whenever dad was out of town. When dad was at home, pastor would not visit mom. At home everything was as usual. At home everything was as usual One day during the meeting in the school, as she prayed earnestly for forgiveness of her sins, Jesus forgave her sins, filled her with peace indescribable and at the same moment she escaped from impending eternal hell fire; because Jesus willingly took her sins upon Himself andwas crucified on the cross for her sake. Jesus cleansed sin stains found in her soul and spirit and made her holy. He clothed her with the garment of righteousness and gave her eternal life. Is there anything else in this world compared to these blessings? This is the true wealth ....all the others are vanity. Another day, when she was praying she was anointed with the Holy Spirit. As Jesus filled her with the heavenly joy, she was laughing in prayer for nearly an hour. Holy Spirit is God's spirit. He gave her God's power. To get away from sins and to lead holy life everyone needed this power. Holy Spirit helped her to understand the truths in the Bible. She magnified the Lord through different tongues the Holy Spirit had given her. She found new life. She told about the love of Jesus to Shahjahan, Saleem and Ayub. They also started believing Jesus. Dad didn't know any of these things, as everything was kept secret. Fathima came to Vadugapatti for holidays and mom told her about the love of Jesus Christ. During the holidays Omar and Mytheen also visited home. They happily talked about Jesus. When dad was home, they didn't talk about Jesus, pray or visit Pastor Stephen. God's love spread like a wild fire in the home.