Boy Grapples With Sabbath and Death — and Stays Faithful

How a boy accepted Jesus and then clung to Him during a trial.

By Andrew McChesney, Adventist Mission

Adults may speak about the difficulties of adjusting their lives for the biblical Sabbath after being baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church. But what about an 11-year-old boy?

Baptism brought an end to Saturday morning cartoons for Ronnel Nurse, who lives in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It also meant telling his beloved grandmother that he could no longer run errands to the grocery store or do other chores.

Nurse, now a 25-year-old IT consultant for Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of National Security, requested baptism during a week of prayer program at Maracas Seventh-day Adventist Primary School on the campus of the University of the South Caribbean. His single mother, a nominal Adventist, had enrolled him in the school. But his knowledge about God had come from his grandmother, a devoted Christian who took him to her church every Sunday.

“In those week-of-prayer sessions, I found a thirst, or an emptiness, that I never really knew existed until then,” Nurse said. “When the speaker made the call for baptism, I had a visceral nudge that told me I should step forward. So I did.”

The speaker, pastor David Murphy, led Bible study classes with all the children who had expressed interest in baptism. Nurse learned about Adventism and its central doctrines, including the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath. He grew increasingly convicted that he needed to be baptized.

“With each lesson it became more evident that this was something I knew I had to do,” he said. “But this would mean no more Sunday school classes or church with granny. I would now have to incorporate the Sabbath into my life and make that day my main day of worship.”

Nurse was baptized and began attending the university church.

The adjustment wasn’t easy, starting with the Saturday morning cartoons.

“My entire life started to change from that time,” he said. “I had to get into the routine of Sabbath-keeping. No more grocery shopping, market runs, or normal errands.”

Around this time, his grandmother fell seriously ill. She spent most nights in the hospital. Her grandson visited her, encouraged her, and let her know that he was praying for her healing. On Sabbaths, the boy learned in Sabbath School class about David and Goliath, Moses and the parting of the Red Sea, and other Bible stories illustrating God’s miraculous work for His people. He believed Jesus would take care of his grandmother.

“So it came as a complete shock one day when I came home from school and my aunt called to tell me that granny had passed away,” he said. “I still remember her voice on the phone, how my room looked in that moment, how everything seemed completely ordinary but a big part of my world was gone.”

Nurse was 12, and he felt that God had let him down. He faced a major test of his faith.

But as he reflected on his grandmother’s godly life, he realized that the gospel did not culminate with Jesus’ death but with His resurrection, and that all who sleep in Jesus will also be raised one day.

“My grandmother’s passing was my first real sting of death, and every death after hers — of friends and family — still stings a lot,” Nurse said. “But Romans 8:18 is my hope: that a greater joy is coming.”

Romans 8:18 reads, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (NKJV).

Nurse, who went on to graduate with a degree in computer science from the University of the South Caribbean, said it can be difficult to understand how Jesus answers prayers sometimes. But he is convinced that Jesus cares and that human grief touches His heart.

“We can rest assured that despite what we face, we have a Savior who cares,” he said.

Nurse still misses his grandmother.

“But my faith is strong after being in this university and in this church,” he said. “The pastor and church members have really encouraged me.”

A portion of the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering in first quarter 2018 will go toward a new church for the University of the South Caribbean, which has never owned a church building and worships in an auditorium.