Our amazing God loves to use ordinary means to bring about extraordinary results.
In my nation, evangelism is illegal. Foreigners can only live here if they are working in some capacity. I do part-time field research for companies looking to expand into our region. It’s fun work because I get to explore interesting places in our city and meet fascinating people along the way.
During one such outing in a rural area, I passed a magnificent old broken-down house. It was three stories tall, each level built in different styles. The first level was mostly natural rock, the second mostly mud bricks, and the third a modern-looking concrete. Intrigued, I stopped to see if I could meet the owner. Nobody answered my knock, but as I was leaving a man who worked for the owner met me next to my car. I gave him my phone number and asked him to let the homeowner know I wanted to meet him. I got in my car and drove away, not expecting much, but God had a plan.
Thirty minutes later I got a call. It was the owner earnestly inviting me over for coffee and a chat. I smiled and thanked the Lord as I headed back to meet him.
When I arrived he gave me a full tour and I was amazed. This wasn’t just some house, it had been the headquarters of his tribe for generations and told a story. The owner, whom I’ll call CastleKeeper2, was from the ruling family of the tribe. This was the very building where the tribe voted to join the modern version of the nation. This building had been the strategic meeting spot in times of war, and the gathering place for generations of holidays, harvests, famines, and tribal disputes.
We sat together for hours in his beautiful little flower garden, watching the sunset over the hills and fields his family and their slaves had farmed and herded cattle on for centuries until the wells dried up, slavery was outlawed, and farming became impossible. The scene of the sun setting over the hills reminded me so much of my family’s farm back home that I understood why he remained so determined to keep and maintain it.
Suddenly, he stood up and announced that it was time for Maghrib, the Islamic prayer at sunset each day. He invited me to join him assuming that I, too, was Muslim. I was wearing his culture’s clothes and speaking his language, so he naturally concluded I had converted, probably years ago. I responded that I am a follower of Jesus and that he was more than welcome to pray his way while I stayed seated where I was and prayed in my way. He was shocked to hear I was a Christian, never having met one like me. I had shattered his misconceptions about Christians in my manners and speech during the hours we had spent together in story.
I sat and listened to him pray through the recitations for Maghrib, watching him bow towards Mecca. I quietly prayed to the Lord, thanking him for this amazing day, this very kind man, and the rich history of this place and tribe. I then asked the Lord to save CastleKeeper2 and his family and read a Psalm quietly to myself. When he finished, he came back to the mat where we had been sitting, and I asked him if he would like to see how I prayed. I opened Psalm 23 on my phone in Arabic and showed it to him.
I explained to him that we believe in one God and pray every day with similar prayers to that Psalm to dispel common misconceptions about our faith that Muslims often have—that we worship three gods and don’t pray. I told him about how we follow 40 different prophets (the authors of the Bible) and have hundreds of prayers from the Bible that we use. He was surprised but clearly didn’t want to push the issue, so I dropped it. He ended by saying he felt like we had so much in common, and I agreed. We also have some massive differences, but those would have to wait for later meetings.
CastleKeeper2 assured me that I was welcome back anytime and that, if possible, he would like to host more visitors in his family’s historic home. I hope that I can arrange that very thing with God’s help. It would make a fascinating tourist destination, and I told him as much.
I drove away very tired from speaking so much of my second language but overjoyed for the chance to meet such a kind and genuine person and learn so much about the history of this area and its people. May the Lord have mercy on them all, and may He give me more meetings with CastleKeeper2 and his family, and more opportunities to share God’s true word with them.
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