Pavel Clipa

 

Pavel Clipa – Paul - was our translator in Suceava.  He was one of several children who lived at home with his mother.  His older brothers had a trucking company.  He was helping us as we were out distributing New Testaments one afternoon in 1993.  We stopped our van and gave several New Testaments to eager people along a long country road.  Collective farms stretched out on both sides of the road as far as the eye could see.  I saw several workers hoeing corn off in the distance.  They had stopped to watch us but could not make out what we were doing.  I held up four black New Testaments high above my head and made an exaggerated pointing motion to the New Testaments for the curious workers to see.  Then I put the Scriptures down on a large rock beside the road as the workers watched.  They understood, dropped their hoes, and began to hurry to retrieve the roadside gift. But Paul was disturbed that I had put the New Testaments down on the ground.  He got out of the van, picked them up, and walked to meet the coming workers.  It took several minutes to finish the delivery and Paul returned with muddy feet.  Pastor Viorel Candreanu later explained Paul’s story to me.  Years earlier, Paul’s father had smuggled Bibles into Russia.  One night, the Russian authorities had caught a courier and had gotten the names of his compatriots.  Paul remembered the night that the Romanian police had broken down the family’s door and had dragged his father away to prison.  Paul’s father was tortured and died in that prison.  You see, I was handing out New Testaments, but those copies of God’s Word meant more to Paul than they did to me.  Paul’s father had paid for that precious Book with his life.  And Paul was not about to leave those New Testaments there on the ground.  Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 15:16, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart ...”  Hey, is God’s Word precious to you?  Did you read it this morning?