A Testimony

Yesterday afternoon I had an opportunity to stand a bit and speak with Mohammad who has become a good friend to me while I was here. I will say this, I would be very pleased if my daughter were to find and marry a man like Mohammad as he at 25, is just a wonderful, responsible man. I often tell Mohammad that any girl in the United States would just love to find a guy like him because of his qualities.

We spoke awhile yesterday regarding what we will do after we leave Afgahanistan. I speak of completeing school and hopefully starting into Ministry and Mohammad talks of his plans. Yesterday as we watched some tent bases being built he spoke of the property that he has bought and the house he plans on having built for he and his family. Three stories, with his parents in the middle and he on top. His heart he said, now, is in making sure that his family is taken care of. By the race of Alha, he said, he will be able to do this.

If all goes well for him hae will have the house built by the fall of 2011 and then plans on returning home maybe by summer if he can find work. This lead us to discussing a possible visit by my family and I to India in the summer of 2012. He wouldn't hear anything of us possibly staying in a hotel, if his house is built then we would be welcome guest with his family. He knows how much I enjoy their culture and that would be a good way to experience it he said. He spoke then of the city in which he lives in and some of the things to see. His usual smile as he spoke.

He talked about his childhood in India and the things he used to enjoy. Cricket matches with his friends after school, football. He said also that he liked the rainy season as many of the teachers didn't show up to class so they would have time, all day, to sit and talk with their friends. Often, his mom would keep him home because she knew that he would be just sitting all day. He also liked riding the trains around the city, mostly so he would not be lost, all these memories.

He then asked me about something I had said once. That I was an angry man, and mean at times, a drinker. I told him only four years ago! He said Sir, what happened, you are not like that now? What made you change? I looked at him and said Jesus Christ Mohammad, I met Jesus. Now he knows me and knows that I am a Christian. He in fact helps me give the donations away to the men and has agreed to continue to do so even after I have left. But this is the first time he has asked me this. How did you change?

For me, this is the Gospel coming alive in my life. This is a moment of conformation to all that Jesus Christ teaches us. Be a light unto the world. A lamp on a lampstand. As our lives consistantly, not perfectly, but consistantly follow Jesus Christ the world will notice. This man is my friend and he neede to put two things together in his mind, what he knows of me now and what I was before. This is a testimony bore out of my life, of me living. It was not a tremendous oration of the work of the Holy Spirit in me just what I was, what happened to me and what I am now. A testimony!

I thank God for this opportunity. These moments make every minute of my time here worth it. These men, this man is my friend and part of my life and that would have never occurred if I hadn't come. We are willing to share our lives and hopefully our families lives later on and that would not have occurred if I had not come. I have been able to also share my Lord with Him in a way that is real and tangable to him, something that would have not happened unless I was here.

Glorify God in all that you do. Trust in Him wherever you are. Know that right where you are standing at this moment, the next moment, is the place where your opportunity is and where God wants you to be, as long as you are glorifing Him.

Lord, thank you for Mohammad and his friendship, thank you for all the men who I can now call friend. May I continue to give testimony in all that I do Lord. May I be your light and burn bright wherever you place me. Praise you Lord, and thank you, for the work of your hand in me and in my life. Amen.