Angel Snuffs Out Tobacco Fire

Samuel stared in astonishment at the blackened, smoking hedge in Rwanda.

By Andrew McChesney

Eleven-year-old Samuel Ndagijimana saw that his cousins were growing tobacco on their farm in southern Rwanda.

The cousins were earning more money selling the tobacco than Samuel made selling potatoes, peas, beans, and maize from his farm.

He decided to plant tobacco in a corner of the field.

But Samuel didn’t tell Big Sister, and he planted the tobacco when she wasn’t at home. He knew that she wouldn’t approve of tobacco growing in their field.

Samuel lived with his 18-year-old sister in a small house on a plot of farmland. They had no parents after both Father and Mother had found new spouses and started new families. The land where they lived had once belonged to their parents. Their small house had been built by sympathetic relatives.

Weeks passed after Samuel secretly planted the tobacco, and the crop began to grow. Big Sister was unhappy when she saw the tobacco plants.

“What have you done?” she asked her little brother.

“I saw that our cousins were making lots of money selling tobacco,” Samuel said. “I decided to grow tobacco, so we also could have money.”

“My brother, life is never good when you do what God has forbidden,” she said. “Tobacco is from the devil. You can’t feel full when you smoke. You can’t quench your thirst when you smoke. It is from the devil.”

Burning the Crop

Big Sister gathered dry grass and scattered it among the tobacco plants. As Samuel watched, she struck a match, lighting the dry grass. Soon a fire was roaring through the tobacco plants.

But the fire didn’t stop there. A flame leaped from the tobacco plants and over to a hedge that divided the field from the small home. In a flash, the hedge was engulfed in flames.

Big Sister and Samuel watched in shock. They didn’t know what to do. Everything was happening so quickly.

Big Sister covered her eyes with her hands. The fire was so close to the house, and she couldn’t bear to see the house go up in flames. She and Samuel would lose everything.

At that moment, Samuel saw a shining man in a white robe appear in the sky. The man darted over to the burning hedge, raised his hands, and then lowered them over the fire. Immediately, the fire went out. Then the angel disappeared. Their home was saved.

Samuel just stared in astonishment at the blackened, smoking hedge. Not hearing the crackling of the fire, Big Sister cautiously peeked out from behind her hands. For a moment, nobody said anything. Samuel and Big Sister couldn’t believe their eyes.

‘God Protected Us’

Samuel finally spoke.

“God protected us,” he said.

He told Big Sister about the angel. She was so happy. She couldn’t believe that an angel of the Lord had camped at their home to deliver them.

Samuel and Big Sister talked for the rest of the day about God’s amazing protection.

That evening, they thanked God in prayer.

“Thank You for protecting us and our belongings and our house,” Samuel prayed.

“Thank You that we still have a house to live in even though the fire was about to consume it,” Big Sister prayed.

Nearly 50 years have passed, but Samuel still remembers the miracle as if it had just happened.

“I’ll never forget that day,” he said. “This was the moment when I understood that God protects.”

Samuel Ndagijimana says God protects in every problem. In English and Kinyarwanda. (Andrew McChesney / Adventist Mission)