Challenge to evangelism & soul-winning, sharing our faith & telling the gospel & good news of Jesus' death & resurrection for our sins & providing eternal life.

The Dread Disease

The Dread Disease was taking its toll. Scores of people from neighboring villages were dying daily, but the Dread Disease had just begun to ravage our remote village.

Finally a vaccine had been developed. If the vaccine could reach us in time, our small mission team had a chance to save most of the natives in our area.

The vaccine was delivered on Tuesday morning. The administrator of our clinic immediately called an emergency meeting of our staff. The administrator told us that the vaccine had been tested in several other areas, and that without exception no one who had taken the vaccine had succumbed to the Dread Disease.

All of us cheered. We were anxious to receive our own vaccinations. It was agreed that this was a real breakthrough for our community.

One of the physicians offered to read the accompanying literature on administration and dosage. It was determined to have a staff meeting early the next morning to set up the process of administering the vaccine. Wednesday morning the doctor addressed the team members:

"This is a wonderful vaccine. It is simple to administer. With only one dose permanent immunity seems to be secured. There are no adverse effects.

"But it will take some time to plan a method by which we can inoculate everyone in our community. I propose that we all take our vaccinations this morning and set aside a time for a meeting early next week to discuss a plan for administering the vaccine to the community."

So we all took our vaccinations, and the next staff meeting was set for Monday afternoon.

Monday afternoon a couple of the nurses were unable to attend because the meeting conflicted with the monthly blood pressure screening. "We can't plan such an undertaking without these important team members," everyone agreed.

The rest of the week was tied up too, but the meeting was tentatively rescheduled for Friday. Friday's meeting was once again postponed because the administrative secretary always traveled to the closest metropolis on Fridays to buy imported chocolates, coffee, peanuts, popcorn, and other necessities for staff consumption.

More and more of the natives were brought to the clinic in the throes of the Dread Disease. The staff discussed frequently the urgency of the situation.

We each began to feel a bit guilty that we had taken the vaccine ourselves and were not providing it for the natives. "But it's not my responsibility anymore than it is anyone else's," we each rationalized. We soothed our consciences with the idea that we were willing to participate as soon as someone would develop a plan.

The administrator suggested that the doctors should formulate the plan since they were the medical leaders. Two of the doctors said that since the nurses were the ones to actually administer the vaccine, they should devise the plan. The other doctors maintained that planning this process was an administrative duty.

The nurses agreed that the medical and administrative secretaries, who did much of the paperwork and handled the scheduling, should be the ones to create a plan. The secretaries said this was not fair, since it was already almost impossible to keep up with the clerical duties of the mission.

No one thought of the idea of vaccinating the natives who came to the clinic each day with complaints other than the Dread Disease.

The administrator and the secretaries discussed the possibility of their going out into the community and inviting the natives to come into the clinic for free vaccinations. Some would be able to come right away and others would have farther to travel, so it was unlikely that the staff would have been overloaded with vaccinations at any one time.

But the duties at the clinic tied them down during the day and by the end of the day they were too tired to make community visits. On weekends they needed to get away from the stress of the week. They often traveled to a nearby river for a pleasant canoe trip on weekends.

The nurses and doctors considered the idea of their traveling through the community and administering the vaccine as they went. Each one had the ability to save some, and by a united effort they could save the entire community.

They did in fact set aside a day to do this, but it proved inconvenient for some, and the two who did go out on that day didn't find anyone at home at the first two huts they knocked at. So they turned around and headed back to the clinic.

Finally everyone agreed that the matter was extremely urgent. Almost five weeks had passed since the vaccine had arrived, and we were already seeing many fatalities as the Dread Disease reached our community. The administrator called an emergency meeting for the next morning.

As we sat around the conference table early that morning, it we agreed that today we would drop all other matters and somehow, some way begin administering the vaccine to every native we could reach. The crates of vaccine were placed on the table in front of us.

I began to feel the terrible weight and guilt of those who had already died without the vaccine because I was unwilling to put aside my own excuses and help these people. I should have shouldered my part of this responsibility whether anyone else shouldered his or her responsibility or not. I could have saved some of those people!

I was determined to begin today to help my community conquer the Dread Disease. I would begin immediately, and I would not stop until I had done everything I could. I would not stop as long as there was one person within my reach who had not had opportunity to be vaccinated against the Dread Disease.

I picked up the partially used vial of the vaccine from which we had all secured our immunity to the Dread Disease. It had a funny yellow color. It had been clear when we first received it -- when we had taken the vaccine ourselves. Suddenly horror clutched my heart.

"This vaccine expired two weeks ago!" I exclaimed in anguish as my eyes fell on the expiration date.

"Let me see that!" cried the doctor who had read the literature accompanying the vaccine and supervised our own vaccinations.

I picked up the box and shook it. Out fell a small white piece of paper with the following notation: "Important addendum to literature accompanying the vaccine enclosed. This is a very unstable vaccine and it has an extremely short shelf life. It is suggested that it be administered as soon as possible after receipt. Its effectiveness cannot be guaranteed past the expiration date. Once the vaccine turns yellow, it has deteriorated and it can no longer prevent the Dread Disease."

We quickly began scanning the other crates. All carried the same expiration date. On each crate was a label bearing the words "Warning - the effectiveness of this vaccine cannot be guaranteed unless it is administered promptly." We began tearing at the crates, piling the contents on the table. Yellow -- every vial had turned yellow.

No one said a word. We simply began dumping the vials back into the crates and carrying the crates of unused vaccine outside the building to be discarded.

We had been able to teach a few of the natives a little English, and some of them had even learned to read English enough to figure out what had happened. They discovered the partially used vial. They saw the dated receipt we had signed when the vaccine was delivered. They read the warnings.

Their questions haunted us over the next few months as we saw them one by one succumb to the Dread Disease. "Why?" they asked. "You saved yourselves. You could have saved us. Why?

"Why?" This is a fictional story, but still the question haunts us. "Why?"

People are dying daily of the Dread Disease of sin, yet the Antidote sits in the crate. Jesus is the Antidote. The time is now. When Jesus comes back, time will be no more. Only God knows the expiration date.

If we have received the Antidote ourselves, we have an urgent responsibility to our offer it to others. Why aren't we sharing our vials?

If you have never received Christ Jesus, the Antidote, into your life, read His Story here. This will open another browser and take you to a different website in a new window.