My husband and I conducted a series of gospel meetings on the shores of Lake Victoria. After our presentation on “The Cost of Discipleship,” a leader of the local church told me a story of commitment that brought tears to my eyes.

Amina was a 12-year-old girl who had never heard about Jesus. This lay leader conducted some gospel meetings near her home. The singing and the preaching coming through the address system aroused Amina’s curiosity. She wanted to know what was going on. So, the next afternoon she went to the meeting. The liveliness of the program overwhelmed her. On reaching home, she excitedly told her family about it. But her father sternly warned her not to attend those meetings again.

However, neither warning nor threat could erase what Amina had seen or heard. The following day she decided to quietly steal away from home and go to the meeting again. The message that day so touched her that when the appeal was made, she gave her heart to Christ. Amina’s parents had noticed her absence. When she got home, she was beaten severely, tied to a tree, and left exposed to the cold and to the bites of ants. Some youth from the church passed near her home and saw her. They sneaked into the compound, untied her, and took her away.

When Amina’s father discovered that she had escaped, he was filled with fury. The next day he went to the meeting place and found Amina, but because the place was filled with people, he could do nothing. He told her never to step foot back into his home, and he warned that if she made the mistake of being baptized as a Christian, he would kill her at any cost.

The pastor feared that the man’s anger might lead to. He told Amina that it might be wise for her not to be baptized just then, that she should wait until her father’s fury diminished. But at the pastor’s words, Amina looked up at him and said, “Pastor, are you afraid of death? Even if you are afraid to die, please baptize me. I am not afraid to die for Jesus!” Tears started rolling down the pastor’s face. He had never seen such faith. He replied, “Amina, I will baptize you – in your father’s own words, ‘at any cost!’”

On the day when those who had become believers were to be baptized, they and those who had come to observe, lined up on the shore of the lake, singing beautiful praises to God. Amina stood with the other baptismal candidates, waiting her turn; the pastor had decided to baptize her last. As she entered the water, her father, who had been watching from a distance, drew closer to the group. He was carrying a gun.

The pastor prayed for Amina then dipped her into the water. As he did so, Amina’s father pointed his gun into the air and fired, sending the vast assembly that had come to watch running everywhere. Then, as the pastor raised Amina up from the water her father fired repeatedly at her. Amina didn’t rise out of the water to live a new life in Christ. Instead, the church members pulled her dead body out of the bloody water as a witness to all, the cost of discipleship.

Amina was buried on the shore where she gave her life for Christ. When the trumpet shall sound at Christ’s return, the first face that she will see will not be that of the pastor who was baptizing her when she was martyred, but the face of Him who laid down His life for her. Then she will hear those beautiful words, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your Master’s happiness!”

The Christian journey is not just a red-carpet walk to Heaven. Sometime the path leads to difficult situations. But wherever that path may meander, Jesus is there. May the Lord help us to be faithful in our path of duty until He comes! Matthew 25:21

Written by Jerusha Muga, Nairobi Kenya, Signs of the Times, February 2002