Pastor Randy Hoskins

​Senior Pastor - First Congregational, Ashland, NE

.​November 28, 2024

​I recently read the story of how God brought His saving grace to the country of Zaire, which is now predominantly a Christian nation. The Evangelical Christian Missionary Alliance was largely responsible for spreading the Word there. They held a one hundred year anniversary event to commemorate their first coming to Zaire. During the celebration, an old man stood up and said, "I must speak. I am one hundred and three years old, I am the last person who was alive in those days when your missionaries first came to our land. I have knowledge of the story which will be lost if I don't share it." He continued speaking. "When your missionaries came, they told us how to live. We thought their message was strange. We wanted to know if what they said was true, and we knew the only way to find out was to see how they would die. So we began poisoning them and their children one by one." Historically what he said was true, because within the first twelve years of the ministry, every single one of the original missionaries had died of mysterious illnesses. "When the last one died, we held a council meeting and determined that there was something real about your faith, something real about your God. Not because the missionaries told us how to live, but because we saw the way their faith remained strong even in death."

I would tell you the same is true in our lives, from the moment we accept Christ until our deaths, our lives are a testimony about our God. Not only what we say and do, but also how we die. I don't necessarily mean our physical deaths, but how we manage disappointment, tragedy, unemployment, financial upheaval, illness and all the other problems that plague us from time to time. God allows our troubles to be an example of how faithful believers keep on keeping on, continuing to proclaim victory, even though our personal situation is less than ideal. This really hit home to me when my son-in-law died at the age of 35 after battling ALS for five years. The way he maintained his faith through his entire illness was amazingly inspiring.


So I'll ask you - have you ever wondered, "God, why is this happening?" Could it be that it is for the people who are watching you and waiting to see how you handle trouble when it comes your way? What does the way you manage disappointment in your life say about your faith? Is God glorified through it?

Pastor Randy
402-450-4447

PASTOR RANDY HOSKINS

After serving as part-time pastor, Pastor Randy was called to full-time ministry in February of 2020.
​He and Velvet now live in Ashland.