Throughout our days on this trip, God continued to allow me to engage in conversations with Muslims. I have had conversations with Muslim men often in my travels, but never so often or at this level. My last two days in the bush gave me the opportunity to sit down with the retired Imam of the village. (An Imam is the Muslim leader of the village.) It was a first for me to be able to talk with someone so schooled in Islam and so influential in the culture. He was forced into retirement due to the deterioration of his eye sight.
Our meeting came as a result of what happened in his grandchild's life in November. When the GPC team was in K-village in November, his grandson became a believer. Each night while our Jan team was there, the little boy sat with us every night around the the camp fire as we told stories from God's Word. He listened intently. Other children slept and others played. He was listened.
I believe it was the little boy's hunger for the message of Christ and the change that it made in his life that stirred the grandfather to explore the Christian faith. The grandfather came one night to greet us and hear our stories, but before we got started he needed to be led by the hand home.
I told the Imam that I was willing to come to his hut and tell him the stories of Jesus. He said he would like it very much. The first morning Sara and I went. I shared the story from John 1 and how Jesus is God and is our connection to God. Sara went back later in the afternoon and told the story of the "Creation to the Cross" with his wife and the Imam. By the time Sara got to the Imam's home he was able to recite a verse from the morning lesson.
Our time in the village was closing. I was able to go back the morning before we left. This was my second visit with him. I simply built on the foundation Sara and I had laid the first day. We talked and shared about how Nicodemus was a religious man, much like the Imam was a religious man. We also shared how in John 3 Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be born again. We told the Imam he would also have to be "born again."
All mankind, if they want to know God and be with Him forever must be born again. I had to be born again, Nicodemus had to be born again, and the Imam has to be born again. After some discussion and deliberation. He stated he knew he had a big decision to make. He said the teaching was very good, but he didn't know what he was going to do yet.
Pray for one blind Imam in K-village that he would spiritually see more than he has ever seen physically. May the light and truth of Christ become abundantly clear to him and may he choose to accept Christ.
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