As I pinched the Indian flat bread around the other dishes prepared before me, I asked about their Christian heritage. Seventeen years in America but native to a country where less than 3% of the population professes Christ.
"We consider ourselves very blessed to have been raised in Christian homes. We are both the products of missionaries."
You see in America we view Christianity much differently than they do in many other countries. In Tanzania for example when we witnessed to devout Muslims - the decision for Christ was weighed heavily on their hearts. For if they were to choose Christ, it would mean being cast out of their villages and shunned from their families. While I'm not brave enough to pray for persecution - I must admit - it doesn't leave room for middle ground. You are either sold out for Christ...or you are not. For you are not going to profess something that you 'kind of' believe in. No...either Jesus Christ is the son of the Living God and therefore worth the sacrifice...or He isn't.
She went on to share her story...her great, great, [maybe another great] grandfather was part of a village that had stoned a missionary to death for the message he taught. Her grandfather was so intrigued by this man who willingly gave up his life, out of love, for the people in his village that he begin reading one of the Bibles this strange missionary had left behind. And in that Bible...he met Jesus. He gave his life to the Lord and while enduring his own persecution spread the message.
A few generations later - there I was not only sharing an Indian meal in America with his granddaughter but also a heart for missions and a love of the Lord.
I can't begin to keep up with God and His goodness...His faithfulness or His plan. I just commit to following it.
“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.” Philippians 2:1-2
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