But they don’t return without watering the earth that produces seeds to plant and grain to eat.
That’s how it is with my words. They don’t return to me without doing everything I send them to do.”
Greetings to all of you, my friends and co-laborers!
Last week, my neighbor came to me to tell me he would be leaving to go to his father’s village. He has been living next door to me studying with to be an Imam under the leadership of the Imam that lives beside me. G0d has allowed me to build a good relationship with these two men, their wives, and their children. We laugh together, we share food with each other, and we spend time talking together. Many times they have been sick and have allowed me to pr@y in the name of Jss. Our G0d responded with healing when they were embracing death. We walked together through the difficulty of losing the son of the Imam…a tough time for all of us, yet G0d’s compassion and love was expressed in real ways. We have rejoiced over the arrival of a son in the life of this man who came to me last week.
When I went home, I told him that I was going to spend some time with my parents. I explained it had been a long time since I had seen them, and I told them their ages. He was so moved by the fact that my Father was almost 80 years old. From that day on and since my return, there has not been a morning or an evening that he did not greet me and ask about my father. He always gives me this blessing for my father… “May God give him good health and life until he is102.”
We talked a lot about his going to the village, what he would be doing there, who was going with him, and when he would come back. I must admit my eyes filled with tears and still do as I think about it. After I had expressed my sorrow in his leaving, my giving him the road to go, and after I had blessed his journey, an amazing thing happened. He knocked on my door again. When I opened the door, with tears in his eyes he placed a coin in my hand and asked me to give it to my father. I had the hardest time keeping it together in that moment. It was not the moment to cry but my eyes and emotions, even now, were difficult to control. I told him my father would receive it and I thanked him so much!! The coin was approximately $1 in monetary value, but its true worth is incomparable in this world. For some unknown reason at this point, G0d has connected this man to my father in a way that probably none of us can really know or understand. He has never seen him or met him, yet he considers him every time he sees me.
When I shared this story with my father, he asked me if i could give this young man one of the mp3 radio players that has God’s Word and songs of Truth on it. He wanted to give him a gift that would give him an opportunity to hear more about Jss and understand G0d’s great gift to us through Jss. I told him,”Yes, I can do that!” You have to know also that my dad is a Gideon and giving G0d’s Word to someone is part of who he is.
After talking with my dad, I went the next day with D@n to give the mp3 player to him and to express my father’s gratitude for his gift and his continual blessing of health and life until he was 102. He was so happy to receive it and he could not wait to begin listening. He went with a huge smile on his face into the house to listen with his teacher. I don’t know how long they listened that night, but when I went out the next morning they were listening. His first words of greeting were “Thank your father for me! The words and songs on this radio taste so good!” He left that afternoon and I was not sure when I would see him again. To my surprise, this past Monday evening when I came home, my father’s unknown son, Sole, was sitting outside my house along with about 10 other men, his teacher,
the 3 women of the house and all the children. He and his older brother had come back before heading to their father’s village. They were listening to the radio and talking with one another. I don’t know what G0d has planned for this gift from a father to an unknown son, but I know the words and songs he is listening to on that radio have power to bring life and salvation.
Please pr@y for Sole, his teacher, and all those who may listen to G0d’s Words with him. Pr@y specifically for G0d’s Sp!r!t to be poured out every time the radio is turned on and for understanding to be given to those who listen. Pr@y for The Truth to be revealed, for courage to walk in The Way, and for The Life to be place in the hearts of Sole, his teacher, and all who listen with them. Please pr@y for the s@lvat!on of these brothers and sisters of mine!!