When Reini Coetzee wheeled his wooden cross over the Beit Bridge accompanied by supporters who had driven 2 000km from Cape Town to bless him as he entered Zimbabwe, he had no idea what lay ahead of him.
Then God sent two “angels” to meet him on the other side – in the form of two men who sensed God prompting them to support Reini by serving as his backup team, driving behind him throughout the Zimbabwe leg of his Cross Walk Africa mission, carrying his provisions and providing logistical support.
“God made a way. He opened the Red Sea,” said Reini, who had booked a night in a lodge in the Zimbabwean border town of Beitbridge, not knowing how he was going to continue his trek into the unknown.
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“As I look at the logistics, the distance between towns, I realise I wouldn’t have been able to do this by myself. And the Lord knew it and He just made a way.” he said in a telephone interview yesterday, eight months after setting out from Cape Town on a mission to wheel a cross to Jerusalem.
Yesterday I also got to speak to the two men who are so selflessly supporting him. Pastor Cleverton Kunjuta, who leads a small church in a rural area near Beitbridge, said he had connected with Reini “by the grace of God”. He said that on November 3 a woman phoned him, telling him there was a man carrying a cross at the border post. She asked whether he would be able to assist him.
Cleverton said he went to the border post, where some men who were helping Reini with some bags “handed him over to me”.
He hosted Reini at his home for 10 days, from his second night in Zimbabwe. He also decided to organise a vehicle to transport Reini’s provisions during his time in the country. He said he witnessed with Reini’s prayer and evangelism mission and God put it in his heart to accompany him during his Zimbabwe ministry “until he meets the right people”.
I also spoke to Chaplain Brian Teputepu of Beitbridge, who founded and leads the Association of Christian Truckers of Southern Africa – an outreach to truckers which he said is touching truck drivers in Southern Africa but which he believes “will go into Africa in a big way”.
Brian said he had been aware of Reini’s Cross Walk Africa trek through social media, and had hoped to take a selfie with him when he was in Zimbabwe. So, he was delighted when Cleverton invited him to meet Reini. Thereafter, he gladly agreed when the pastor asked him to join him on the road providing support to Reini through Zimbabwe.
Brian said he has a heart for the kind of mission that Reini is undertaking. In 2012 he was the only black member of a Campus Crusade for Christ long-distance cycling campaign to take the Gospel across South Africa. He said he is focusing on making connections for Reini, including arranging accommodation along the route to Harare, via Masvingo, and then on to Nyamapanda, on the border with Mozambique. He has also reached out to a cellular network to try and ensure that Reini will have data throughout his time in Zimbabwe.
Reini said he honoured “these two men of God who just stepped up and were obedient to help with this part of the journey.” He said: “I’m not sure what’s going to happen in Mozambique, but, God is already there like he’s here with us now.”
He said he was also aware that police in the country were aware of his mission and were keeping an eye on his safety.
He said that he is currently experiencing new things every day including new eating habits . “This is very different. I’m having to adapt. Sometimes it’s difficult.”
But he said: “It’s the greatest adventure that anybody can be on – walking with this cross, changing lives and seeing people coming to repentance and just coming to Christ. I believe there are a lot of people that we don’t even know about that gave their hearts to the Lord just diving past.”
He asked for prayer that the 30-day visa he had been granted to stay in Zimbabwe would be extended as he needed more time in the country.
He said that after Zimbabwe, he plans to walk with his cross through Mozambique, Malawi Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt and Israel.
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