New Life with Christ!

Shadow Cross, Taken in Camp Hicks Kandahar Afghanistan.

Last night the Billetting office moved all of the men out of my tent into other tents. They were all DFAC workers and the Company wanted them along with the DFAC workers from other tents all in the same area. It was sad to walk in and see them all packing. they explained what was happening and i began to say my so longs to all of them. Maan, Gopaul, BK, Hom each man came to me to say goodbye, I hugged each and gave them all an open invetation to come visit whenever they liked. We also discussed, that they needed to keep me informed of their contract as it still has not been signed.

During all of this Chandel walked in. Chandel was the man who came to Christ a few days ago while working with Robert. He had his Bible in his and was very anxious to sit and talk with me. As I was saying good bye to the other men, I asked that he just wait down by my bed. "Sir I really have questions for to ask you". He was so excited.

Eventually the tent cleared out of all the other men and Chandel and I could sit together. "Sir I want to be moved to this tent, this bed here near you, so I can speak to you every night about Jesus and the Bible". Well I said, I will have to see wha... "sir they will listen to you, and I then can move here". It took me a minute to get past this and start to speak to him about the questions he had.

We sat down and he began to speak. "Sir, I have so many questions. I feel so good. I have been reading and I want you to explain things to me." Ok Chandel, lets pray! Wow, what excitement this man had. He was beeming with anticipation of what was to come. As I finished praying he sat and looked at me with a tear in his eye. He said "sir when I go on R&R can you give me another Bible like this so I can bring it to my wife? I want her to also read the Bible and I want to learn so I can teach her this also." Wow again!

I explained to him how now he had the Holy Spirit dwelling within him and that the Spirt was guiding him now. That his thirst was so that he was getting watered and would have growth. He asked when he would know everything he would need. Now remember I am trying also to overcome the language gap.

My voice is slow and steady and I am holding back my own excitement so that he will understand what I am saying. I explained that he was now on a long journey that will not end. that he will grow and mature until the day he passes to heaven and joins the Father. That he only needs to keep drinking the living water that was the word of God, through reading the word, praying and fellowship and discipleship. That these things would facilitate his growth.

He then "Sir, I had a dream last night. I was sleeping and a man in white came and woke me. He took me by the hand and I sat up. He said to me sir, that he would guide me to heaven. That I needed to stay with him and I would be ok." I was astonished. He looked at me to see if I was surprised with what he said. I told Him that the Spirit was speaking with him and that it was quite alright that this had happened. He smiled.

We discussed many aspects of the Spirit, why He dwelt within us, what Christ had said about sending the Counselor for us and that the Spirit will continually point us in the direction of Jesus as we learn to listen to Him more and more. He finally asked about sin and losing this the Holy Spirit. I explained to him now by drawing a picture of us, the Cross and God, stick figures of course. We were to the left of the Cross and God to the right. I explained about the attonment of our sins and how Christ was sinnless and therefore His death made payment for us. That now He stood before God for us and continues to do so. That God does not see our sin, that He sees Christ in our place.

The conversation was great. Within a half hour we had covered so much. I could see in his face that he was churning with thoughts. I remember when I was first saved, out of the box I went like a thoughbred. Running as hard as I could, across cloud nine.

"Sir, I will come here every night at 8:00 and you can explain to me more. If I stay in that bed there we can speak as often as we can." I accepted his invetation, of sorts, knowing that I was being asked to help this man move forward. I did think for a moment about my own studies and reading but realized that I had reviewed more of the Gospel in a half hour than I have read in a week. This was an opportunity for me to Disciple in the name of Jesus.

This morning I asked about having Chandel moved into my tent and found out that I am being moved out to a new location. After explaining to that Chandel was a new beilever in Christ and that he wanted to be able to talk with me about the Bible, Billeting will move Chandel to the new tent and he will be my bunk mate. He will now be with me as he had wished and we will have plenty of opportunity to Disciple. I also found out this morning from Robert that a Muslim man attempted to convince Chandel that he should not leave his faith yesterday. Chandels response was "No I am a child of God and I will remain a Christain".

I am thankful to the Lord for this opportunity to Disciple a new believer. I am even more thankful that Chandel is so on fire and anticipating going home to India to wittness to his wife. Gods Glory is so fantastic as a week ago this man was sitting in a tent waiting for a chance to work and now He has accepted Jesus and is already a strong wittness to others.

Remebr back if you can to your arrival into the Glory of the lord Jesus Christ. Remmber if you can the emotions of knowing the assurance of your salvation. Rember if you can the thirst that you had as each Word of the Gospel brought new life to your heart. Remember your dreams of Angels and God. Rember that you can still feel that way, just trust in the Lord and Follow Him. Be a strong wittness. Open your heart and allow the Spirit to guide your steps as you speak the Gospel to the World.

Lord I pray for Chandel today that he may become a strong wittness and that he will be a beeken of light to the his family and friends. I pray for those who read this that do know Jesus that they may be drawn closer to Him. I pray for those that do know Him that they grow stronger and remember those things that brought them closer to you.