IN ORDER TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THE DISCIPLE-MAKERS, MINOR DETAILS OF THE FOLLOWING STORY HAVE BEEN EDITED.
We want to introduce you to “Bashir”. Bashir is an underground disciple-maker serving in a majority Muslim region. This is his remarkable story of trusting in God.
I grew up in the South; NASCAR, fishing with my dad, church on Sunday, and Krispy Kreme donuts. But I did not grow up working on cars. I did, however, have that MacGyver spirit. (Cue the theme music.)
Over the past 10 years living overseas, I have learned many new things, and one of them is how to work on cars. At least I attempt to. About two years ago, I met a guy in the desert.
God Orchestrated Divine Appointment
We went camping in the winter and made a new friend, as we often do. We will call him Arun. Arun and I have met on and off, and it is always usually in a group of people.
Arun comes from a place of privilege, a family of importance, we could say. He is the youngest brother, so he has a lot of privilege and not much responsibility. Arun always has something going on in life. He is on to the next project all the time.
I have reconnected with Arun in the past few months, I have really discerned that there is a longing and a loneliness on the outside of him. But every time we connect, there’s always other people hanging around, and it is hard to get to the deeper things, the places where God wants to show up.
I have really felt God’s given me a desire to pursue after him as he is relationally pursued after me and has been open. Arun was talking about how his latest project is not working. He has a snowplow truck that he is turning into an off-road camper. It is the equivalent of an F650. It has a big diesel engine in it, and he has done a lot of work on it, but it just will not run right.
Wisdom From God
I was praying one day, and the Lord gave me a word of wisdom about how to fix this truck. I have never worked on a diesel before. I messaged Arun and said, hey, I know what is wrong with it. We agreed to meet up one night at the shop.
I was excited because I was like, rather than sitting face to face across from a coffee we can work side by side. With men, oftentimes the real things come out when you are walking shoulder to shoulder versus one-on-one face to face. We went up there, hung out, started talking, and another guy showed up.
It was not all that I hoped for the evening, but it made a massive relational deposit. So, the end of the night came after several hours of getting covered in diesel and greasy, it worked. And the truck ran and what the Lord had told me was true.
Trust God
The point of this story is not about the outcome yet. What do diesels have to do with disciple-making? I am not exactly sure. What I do know is God works in fun and unique ways and His ways are not our ways. We have to be willing to get outside of our comfort zone, do things that are new, and not so much scary, but different and step out in faith and then see what God does.
What I do know is I have gotten more thanks and gratitude from Arun, and it has deepened our relational connection. I believe it will lead to more opportunities for the kingdom of God to show up in his life and in his family and a people that are really closed off and really hard soil. And so, we keep working. So, we will see what chapter two is of the story.
Be the Underground Church
