I have this sweet set of three birds, clay painted turquoise, one of those purchases I didn’t even have to think about when I spotted them years ago in a little shop. Birds. Turquoise. Perfectly imperfect in the hand-crafted design and paint.
This morning I went to add water to a vase of flowers, and I somehow knocked one of the birds – barely – but it fell over and part of the tail broke off. My disappointment deepened when I saw that it was the same little bird who has been knocked around already. Bless it. This is the second tail recovery, broken now in a different spot, and it’s missing it’s nose completely. The other two birdies, somehow, have escaped visible damage. It’s always this one little particular bird receiving the blows.
I recently read Christ My Only Hope, and my little bird made me think of Cyprien. I don’t know anyone else who has endured hardships like Cyprian. He is a rarity whose story makes it difficult to reconcile how one who has endured so much can overflow with such radiant joy.
We met Cyprien earlier this year through my parents. Mom and Dad were anxious for us to meet this friend they’d come to know through church, a man from Rwanda who had found a home right here in Fort Worth. But even more that us, they wanted to introduce him to our friends, Todd and Jessica, who spent several years living in Rwanda and maintain friendships there. One weekend when the Brogdons were in town, Mom set things up, and she wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Friday evening found us gathered around a few tables at Whole Foods engaging with Cyprien, listening to his story. We literally sat spellbound. I am not often at a loss for words. But as Cyprien’s eyes met ours, brimming with life and excitement and joy, sharing the horrors of his life through the lens of a gracious God, it was just too much. The huge lump in my throat threatened sobs but I fortunately kept them at bay throughout our time together.
Cyprien shared that he was born in a small Rwandan village with significant deformities and with disabilities. His appearance brought immediate fear and confusion to his family and villagers, who thought he was dangerous and a bad omen for the village. Most villagers believed that he should be immediately killed. His father gave him the name him “Yamuragiye” which means “unknown” (he now goes by a name given him by an Italian Catholic priest, Cyprien). Rejected by his own people and homeless by the age of three, Cyprian miraculously survived his childhood which included the Rwandan genocide. Over the years and through an unlikely string of sources (a Muslim prostitute, a Catholic priest, a poor Pentacostal woman in a Rwanadan hospital, a Jewish attorney in Israel…the list goes on) the Lord drew this injured child to Himself, and protected him during years of rejection, imprisonment, beatings, threats, running for his life, homelessness and more.
Leaving Whole Foods that Friday evening, Jessica looked at me and said, “That’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.”
. 
Around that same time, Dr. Carrol Marr, Cyprien’s pastor (and my parents’ good friend) at Southcliff Baptist Church, had just written Cyprian’s story in Christ My Only Hope. When you read this book, start with the end, “A word from the writer:”
I will never forget that first meeting. This man walks into my office with the assistance of crutches, sits down, and with a joy I have never witnessed began to tell me a shorter version of the story you have just read. At the conclusion of our time I was speechless. In over 45 years of pastoring I had never had an encounter like this. The pure joy Cyprien has and the deep and personal relationship he has with God was apparent. As he left, I felt like I had been in the presence of someone different than any I have known.
Dr. Marr shares that many details did not make it into the book. Cyprien was firm in his decisions to include only what will help the reader know that God loves them and has a plan for their life.
When Cyprien spoke at Southcliff Baptist Church one Sunday morning, our oldest son Branson drove in from Dallas to meet us for the service. Cyprien shared his story, visited patiently with many churchgoers after, and we were all the last to leave. As we said our goodbyes and headed to the car, Branson shook Cyprien’s hand and started to thank him for sharing. About two words in, Bran’s emotion choked out his words, but he was able to express incredulous amazement that Cyprien would choose to see his challenges as gifts. And choose to live a life glorifying, testifying to God’s goodness instead of resentment.
Back to my sweet turquoise bird. I don’t know why this little particular one of the three is the continued target of breaks and falls. Compared to the other two, it looks wounded. It strikes me as a little sad and just not fair. And when I think of Cyprian, obviously on completely different scale, the absolute rejection and abuse he experienced throughout his childhood and adolescence hurts me. It just does not feel fair.
Cyrpian describes his initial response to hearing about God’s unconditional love from a woman, whose son was in a Rwandan hospital alongside him, as she would often come to his hospital room to share:
Look at my ugly hands and legs. I am living proof that God is not loving. I have been cursed by God. What kind of loving God would allow a child to be born crippled and disfigured into a family that hated him and would try to kill him? What kind of God would abandon him in the middle of a genocide to be hacked by a machete and be left to die? What kind of God would allow a child to be snatched by a safe place in Italy and thrust back into homelessness in a place where he is hated? Pg 32
And then in that same hospital, through the Holy Spirit’s work and Bible study with a group of Christian patients and visitors:
Even though my arms and legs looked the same, I knew that in Jesus I was an entirely new man. For the first time in my life, I was KNOWN. I had been all along, before the foundation of the world. I was not a curse, not a mistake, a freak or some unknown animal; I was fearfully and wonderfully made! I am a child of the Most High God, the Ruler of the Universe, the King of Creation, the Savior of the World. I am KNOWN and I KNOW Him. Pg 36
The truth about Cyprien, of course, is that God created him on purpose, truly knit him together in his mother’s womb perfectly to His exact specifications. And allowed him to endure a harrowing childhood and years of total rejection. And yet perfectly placed His people in the exact situations to demonstrate His love and character in His time. And then gave Cyprien the grace to repent, trust and believe. And still does, daily, give him that grace. Throughout his book, Cyprien states that he counts his suffering a privilege.
I began to realize that the nature of my birth and my physical deformities became a tool in the Hand of God to enable me to share a story of His great love. I began to see that every experience was being used to give me credibility that allowed others to see and believe in Jesus. I now know that God did not cause me to be born the way I was and did not cause all the horrible things that happened to me. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.” That verse does not say God causes everything that happens, but He will use everything… God was now using all the bad things that had happened to me for the good of His kingdom.” Pg 43
AND THEN the Lord brought Cyprien to Fort Worth, Texas, what a gift to us!
Thank you, Lord, for Cyprien’s life, and his message of going from “unknown” to KNOWN in Christ Jesus – and that Dr. Marr would take the time and effort to frame this story in Christ my Only Hope ~ a message full of power and truth and encouragement.