“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:111
Horns of Destruction
Grumpy by nature, cape buffalos are the most fearsome of beasts on the Maasai Mara in Kenya,2 and they don’t need a reason to attack. The ill-tempered brutes just beat up on someone when they feel like it.
On a school day, one of the mammoth creatures had its eye laser-focused on the young boy Branson. He seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time—or was he?
A Purposeful Encounter
In April 2023, the Mara Vision team, including the Mara Vision president from the United States and the Kenyan directors, conducted some business in Narok, the county seat of the Maasai Mara. There, one of Mara Vision Outreach’s (MVO) pastors saw the group in the city.
The leadership inquired why the pastor traveled into town from such a great distance from Ripoi, near the eastern fringes of the famed Maasai Mara National Game Reserve. He relayed the information about an emergency that had taken place the day before. He was visiting a young boy who had been admitted to the hospital.
MVO Pastor Dennis, who had survived an elephant attack himself several years prior, sat down with the team to explain what happened to young Branson, now age 13, and his two school friends. Since their tuition had not been paid, they were sent home to get the money. The three of them walked the routine route home along a path filled with so much wildlife—the kinds of animals that tourists pay thousands of dollars to see.
Often, at some distance from students’ homes, the route to school is fraught with danger every step of the way, no matter how many times they walk it. On this particular day, the boys encountered an easily agitated cape buffalo. The boys scattered in three different directions.
The buffalo pursued only Branson, goring him through his abdomen. One of the horns entered his torso through the back and came out the front side, spilling his internal organs to the ground.
Never losing consciousness in the assault, Branson remembered what Pastor Dennis had taught him, and he lifted his heart in prayer to His Father in heaven. With that, he picked up his innards and proceeded to walk to the nearest clinic.
When the community heard about the incident, and before the hyenas and other scavengers began to feed on him, they went in search of what they expected to be a lifeless body. They found him—miraculously alive. From the clinic, he was rushed to one hospital and then another.
The doctors inserted his intestines and other organs into his abdominal cavity and stitched him together. In June 2023, when the team visited him, he still endured incredible pain. By the time I, along with the mission team, visited with him at the Ripoi Primary School in November 2023, much of the pain had been alleviated. His only source of discomfort was when he ate because his insides had not been adequately restored.
The Boy Who Would Not Die
Because of the surgery and a resulting hernia, Branson’s belly distended. His bowels protruded outside the abdominal wall and herniated because the medical procedure actually went awry. From around the world, prayers ascended to the great Healer on Branson’s behalf.
While we were visiting the Ripoi school, Branson shared his testimony with us. His great desire is to become a pastor when he grows up. Showing much bravery, he concluded by declaring, “I rebuked death!”
On February 1, 2024, Branson underwent another surgery to correct the hernia and other issues. As is common practice to repair a rupture of that nature, during the procedure, they inserted a mesh to keep the internal organs in place. In Branson’s situation, the rupture was very large.
He was kept for observation and discharged a week later since no infection was detected. Shortly after he went home, the incision began to leak. Again, prayer warriors petitioned the God of the heavens for his physical restoration.
On February 21, he returned to the surgeon for a check-up to ensure things were progressing normally. A specialist assessed Branson’s condition and seemingly, the leaking had stopped. Thus, Branson was given a last treatment, the stitches were removed, and the doctor sent him home because he was doing so well.
Just a few days later, we received the news that a small hole had opened in Branson’s abdominal wall, revealing the mesh and very likely an infection, indicating another probable surgery. More petitions went before the almighty God for his complete healing. The all-powerful Lord heard the pleadings of His people and repaired the boy without further intervention from surgeons.
God’s Agents of Hope
The honor of being God’s helping hand is the highest privilege we can possess on this earth. Since he has experienced God’s power firsthand, Branson craves to be an instrument of God dispensing the blessed hope. He understands that even though he is whole once again, he is still a broken, earthen vessel. He also knows that God can use him best because he is damaged. Branson resonates with people because they are broken, too.
One Bible commentator wrote, “The priceless treasure is placed in earthen vessels. Through men His blessings are to be conveyed to the world. Through them His glory is to shine forth into the darkness of sin.”3
Call to Action
Did you know that you could also generate hope in what has become a hopeless society? Imagine that. You do not need to travel to a foreign land to reveal God’s love. Your neighbors need to learn of the gift of salvation just as much as those in far-flung mission lands. In Matthew 28:18–20, God commissioned us to do what He could have used the angels to do. Instead, He chose us, fallen human beings, to be a beacon of hope in our dying world.
Though broken, will you be an earthen
vessel to give that “priceless treasure,” delivering God’s blessings to your
small corner of the world?
- The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
- “Kenya’s Most Dangerous Animal Species,” https://www.eastafricasafaristours.com/kenyas-most-dangerous-animal-species/, accessed February 19, 2024.
- Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Mountain View, California: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1911), 330.
