So I have a cool story that I want to share with you…
This past Monday, I went down to the beach park to meet with Leandre, one of the guys that I’ve been mentoring over the last several months. Unsurprisingly, he never showed up and his phone wasn’t working when I tried to call. Go figure… I mean this is Africa. No big deal. So I sat there on the bench wondering what I was going to do to salvage my morning because I didn’t really want to head back home.
There was a guy sitting on the bench behind me, who was probably a little surprised to see a white guy hanging out down at the park. I turned around just to see what he was working on, and as I did he turned towards me as well. In this culture, that’s all that’s needed in order for a conversation to begin, or for the other person to think that you want to talk to him. (Love that about this culture. Well, I do sometimes.) So that’s exactly what we did. Started talking…
I learned that his name is Fitanjaha, and after talking to him and learning a little more about him, I asked him where he prayed (translation: “where do you go to church?”). This question usually leads to an opportunity to share the gospel, and that was the case this time as well. He shared with me a little bit about his background and where he was from, and then told me that he didn’t pray. He told me that there were no churches near his home village. So then I asked him, What are your thoughts about the gospel?” He replied, “I don’t have any.” A little surprised by his answer, I asked him, “Have you ever heard the story about Jesus?” His answer: “No.”
So for the next 45 minutes to an hour, I shared with him a summarized narrative of the Bible and we talked about the gospel. Throughout our conversation I could tell that Fitanjaha was very interested in all that I was sharing and he had a lot of good, solid questions. Most of his questions centered around the reason/purpose of suffering, poverty, and death, which are very common questions for people in this place and culture.
At one point he asked me, “So if I don’t have money to buy food, according to God’s Word, is it ok for me to steal or take other’s food?” I replied, “No.” He immediately asked, “So how would I survive or eat?” Whew… I lead him to Matthew 6, where Jesus encourages his followers, as well as the poor and needy, to not worry about their lives, but to trust that God will provide for their needs. How easy it was for me to direct him to that, yet I have never worried about where the next meal would come from. This was a present reality for him in his own life.
I also shared with him John 16:33 where Jesus tells his disciples that trouble will come, but to take heart for he had already overcome the world. I was honest with him in that I told him that being a Christian does not remove suffering from your life, but Jesus promises that we will overcome those struggles in Him. I then encouraged him that a time is coming when Jesus will return for his people, and take them to a place where there is no suffering, no poverty, no murder, no hurt, no pain, no sin, but eternal peace and life with the Father, and that this gift will come to all those who have a relationship with Jesus.
I then explained God’s grace, Jesus atoning sacrifice, and our appropriate response to the gospel — repentance from sin and belief in Jesus’ death and resurrection. I explained to him that each person has a decision to make: to follow Jesus or turn away from him. After sharing Romans 10:9-10 with him, he clearly understood how to respond to the gospel. He was very open about his own life and told me that he needed some time to think about following Jesus. I was ok with that. I told him that I wasn’t there to force him in any way and that I did want to him to count the cost of following Jesus, instead of easily accepting or believing because the white man said he should.
Before leaving, he asked if we could meet again on Saturday and continue our talk. I told him to go and begin reading the Gospel of John and that we would discuss it next time.
Please join me in praying for Fitanjaha. Pray that the Holy Spirit would lead him to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Pray for our time on Saturday; that my words would be clear and that he would respond in faith to the gospel.
This situation was so cool in so many ways and it reminded me that God is so faithful — ALL THE TIME! I went from having plans, to no plans, then to having an awesome conversation with a guy that I didn’t even know existed when I woke up that morning. I’ve been reading in 2 Timothy lately and this verse came to my mind:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful —
for he cannot deny himself. (2 Timothy 2:11-13)
God is so faithful to provide me with opportunities to share the gospel, to live by His grace, to be called according to His purpose, to be His holy vessel, and to experience His love and mercy daily. Even when I don’t remain faithful to Him, He remains faithful to me.
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