segatashya 4

At first I could see nothing at all. 

I was aware only of being alone in darkness so complete, I thought it would suffocate me. Then, like a lifeline reaching from some-where beyond the deep blackness of the night, a familiar voice found my ears—a comforting voice, of someone I had  loved  and  trusted  from  my  childhood. It  was  the voice of Segatashya, who in my African homeland of Rwanda, is known as 'the boy who met Jesus.' 

Segatashya’s gentle voice drifted to me across the lightless abyss, as if floating upon a calm breeze. The voice, indecipherable at first, slowly formed into words, softly  whispering, “Heaven is waiting for us all when our time comes to leave this world, but only if our hearts are clean and pure.”

Suddenly I realized that I must be asleep and in the midst of a dream, because Segatashya had been murdered many years before, one of more than a million innocent victims slaughtered during Rwanda’s horrific 1994 genocide. It was now—at  least it was when I lay down to sleep that night—mid-November of 2010...so I knew I must be dreaming. 

But I also knew that if this was a dream, it was unlike any I’d had before. What I was feeling was as vivid, real, and lifelike as anything I’d experienced during my waking hours. The voice reached me again: 

“Jesus says that we must prepare our hearts for the end of days. We will all die one day—we must not live our lives as though we are unaware that our  time  on  this  Earth will come to an end. The world itself will end, and that day is fast approaching. 

We must repent for all our sins before it is too late. We must ask to be forgiven for our trespasses and find it in our hearts to forgive those who have trespassed against us. We must purify our hearts with God’s love and cleanse our spirits by living a life filled with love and charity. 

We  must  prepare  our  souls  for  Judgment Day. Christ’s return is near, and the gates of heaven will open to us only if the Lord judges us to be worthy of entering his kingdom.” 

The words grew increasingly familiar to me... 

and I realized that I not only recognized the voice, but I also recognized the specific message. I had heard Segatashya recite the exact same cautionary phrases when I was a young girl. In my dream, I was gliding above the ground as my heart pulled me toward the voice, which led me out of the darkness and into a golden circle of light. 

Several dozen people were gathered in the center of the pool of light, all listening intently to a teenage boy who was addressing them with passionate urgency. The young man sat on a long wooden bench, with his audience crowding around him. His back was turned towards me, so I was unable to see his face, but I was certain it was Segatashya.

I first heard him speak when I was 12 years old, and nothing in the world will ever erase from my memory the rich character of his voice or the miraculous content of his messages. In fact, I’m certain beyond a doubt that anyone who ever heard Segatashya speak, feels the same way—for once his loving words have touched your heart, they are part of it forever.

[bron]