Faith at Heuningnes

Heila started praying, “Dankie Liewe Jesus vir al die voëltjies en die diertjies, en dankie vir ‘n mamma en ‘n pappa, en Liewe Jesus wees asseblief met ouma en oupa en dat ouma se toon gou gesond raak. Wees ook met ander ouma en oupa, en laat dit asseblief reën”… She suddenly stopped praying, and a long uneasy pause followed.

I slowly opened my left eye to see if she didn’t fall asleep or something. But there she sat in a kneeled praying position, complete with her two hands together in front of her chest. By the frown on her forehead I could see that she was thinking, contemplating, grappling.

She then continued, “Laat dit asseblief reën, maar, eers volgende week, want more wil ons gaan vis vang. En laat ek asseblief ‘n groot vis vang! Amen”

We were in Struisbaai for the weekend and our mission for Saturday was to do some exploring of the De Mond Nature Reserve. Ok, ok, to do some fishing in the Heuningnes river while we have the odd glance at a bird or a flower that might come along on our walk towards the fishing hole.

When we arrived on the Friday evening it started raining and by the time we woke on Saturday morning it was pouring down. At around eight I saw Heila staring out of the window and I could see she was troubled. When I asked her what was wrong she broke down and murmured through the tears, “I asked that it should only rain next week”.

I said to her that she must have faith and that by the time we get to the river it should have stopped raining. Then, just in case, I added (low in faith myself, I saw the weather forecast…) that our will to go fishing is insignificant to the need for rain in the area and that we shouldn’t be selfish. But, I also tried to inspire her by raising my voice and bulging my fist, saying that if we have to we will fish in the rain!

When we got into the car I was hoping and praying myself.

We arrived at the De Mond gate with a slight drizzle coming down and with it being overcast, the prospects wasn’t great. But somehow by the time we had paid our daily entrance fee it had stopped raining.

We walked all along the pathway until we found a nice secluded little bay and decided that it would be our fishing spot for the day. Heila pointed excitedly to the sky and said, “kyk papa, son!” When I looked up it was a bright blue day with the odd little scattered white cloud. The warm sun rays were shining down on us.

I baited the hooks and made the casts. After a brief wait one of the rods jerked forward and line screamed off the reel. I picked up the rod and handed it to Heila. She fought the fish like a pro and after a couple of minutes a nice Steenie was flapping on the side. It was a small specimen but a BIG fish in any kids mind. Heilas prayers were answered!

It turned out to be an amasing day and as a bonus we even caught four more Steenies.

Sometimes, all you need is a little faith…

9 March 2019