By: Cale Colby
I first met Bennie Gaskins in 2012 when he called me to visit his home and talk about mission work in Haiti. I expected this to be a good story for the newspaper, but I did not expect to hear the extraordinary accounts of numerous miracles and supernatural events that Mr. Gaskins would soon lay on me during our two-hour encounter.
Mr. Gaskins first visited the Island of Haiti in 1995 after a cousin purchased a new four-wheel-drive truck and had it shipped down for the Haitians to use as they saw fit. Then, He told me he had been diagnosed with lung cancer in 2011, and God compelled him to visit Haiti one last time. He had been led to Haiti through a series of strange occurrences involving other cancer survivors who felt similarly compelled to give their time, energy, and often money to help the third world island nation.
He explained to me that he and his son and his grandson all travelled to Haiti one last time, and they were all blessed again in unimaginable ways. So, the family started the Bennie Gaskins Foundation to continue the work in Haiti. Because, as the first missionary to inspire Mr. Bennie stated, he knew the Lord wanted him to be in Haiti, but he also knew he would never see the fruits of his labor in his lifetime.
Nevertheless, Mr. Gaskins did not stop. His mission was to not “waste” his cancer. He wanted to use the illness as a means and an excuse to glorify God. He was determined not to waste his remaining time on Earth. So, he began planting seeds.
Beyond his work in Haiti, he was a man of conviction. Many South Georgians would find his views peculiar, I think. He called himself a Republican. He admitted that he didn’t vote for Obama, but he agreed with many of the president’s decisions concerning the war, and he scrutinized the previous president for putting Christians in harm’s way.
I suppose the reality was Mr. Gaskins loved his country, but he put God and his brothers in Christ first. Anyway, he asked me to write two letters for him to be published in the Albany Herald last year. Though I submitted them both, the second was never printed. A copy of his words, which I think are perhaps more relevant today can be found on page 5.
For more information, or to help in this great man’s cause, please visit www.benniegaskinsfoundation.org