A cool moment to share...on Wednesday last week Ashley and Melissa started a Bible memorization/study club at the school we're involved with. They bought like 60 bibles from Nairobi that are very nice and new-which compared to what the school has, is quite incredible. The club went really well for the first meeting, and we packed up the bibles for safe keeping and took them to the teachers lounge to number and store away.

Unfortunately the teachers got excited and thought we were giving them out! They all wanted one and we had to say no-they're for the club, I'm sorry! Also, all of these teachers are believers and are fully capable of getting a Bible; it was the fact that we're us (white, American, etc...) and the Bibles looked so fancy that made them want one, not that they can't get one themselves.

So they were all looking at them and saying how nice they were when one of the teachers who is a Muslim, who I'll call Ken here, came up next to me and said "You know i don't have one of these." I was like...well that would make sense seeing as you're a Muslim...but i didn't say it haha! I just said something like “Oh really?” Then he was like "I think I would like to read one." Whoa. Ok, most people are like dying for Muslims to ask for a Bible to read and this guy walks right up to me and asks for one?!?! Honestly the abruptness made me suspicious, but I decided to go along.

I said, "Well I'm sure we can find one for you to read." He responded, "Can you give me one of these?" Which confirmed what I suspected, he liked the way they looked like everyone else! But hey, it's better than nothing, right? So i said “No, they're not mine to give away, but I can look for one that you can have.”

A little background info, I'd heard Ken say very loaded things like “I wish that I could be a Christian, but I just can't,” to other teachers before. It was strange every time because NO ONE took the bait. Not one person responded with anything that would encourage a discussion or even a simple “Yeah, you should be a Christian!” I asked my supervisor about this and he mentioned that the previous team had experienced similar things, and that the teachers may think he's just saying those things because we're around and so they stopped reacting to him. So with this in mind, I'd steered clear of debating him since we'd started hanging out there, not only to avoid arguing uselessly but also because he's a Muslim guy and typically there's not a whole lot of cross-gender interaction in Islam. But you know, when God opens a big ol' door and says “GO!”, you can't really say no, at least I can't!

I was helping another teacher grade papers when he and Ken started discussing the differences between the Christian and Muslim Religious Education classes. Since the school is not a 'Christian' school, they must by law provide both classes for the students. Ken's argument was. “You know they're basically the same. It's just faith” The other teacher responded, “Yes but they are different. They are not the same religion.”

Then Ken asked me what I thought, so i said “Yes, it is about faith but there are differences between Islam and Christianity, right?” He agreed but said they are just small things, which is becoming a popular argument no matter where I go! Post Modernism is already infecting Africa for crying out loud! Anyway, I pointed out the the identity of Jesus is a pretty big difference, which he actually agreed to so maybe someone had already convinced him of that one. But still, he kept saying they are just based on faith and stuff like that.

I said, “But they cannot both be right. Right? Only one of them is true.” He got a little squirmy in his chair so I backed off a bit and asked “Do you agree?” He didn't really answer, but the other teacher agreed and was like “They cannot both be true, so we have to decide which one it is.” I said, “Yes and it is so important for us to know what the truth is, and I believe that if we ask God he will tell us which is true. I believe he wants us to know the truth; why would he not answer us and show us what to believe? Because if we do not know what to believe about him, our faith will be useless.”

I realized that idea might be a bit confusing, the whole faith being in vain concept, so I stood up and whipped out the classic chair demonstration. “Do you see this chair? When I sit down, I believe that it will hold me. I have faith that it will not break when I sit. I believe, but if I am wrong...” I paused and made a crashing sound like the chair broke. “I'll be on the floor! If the chair cannot hold me and I sit, I will not end up in the chair where I wanted to be, but on the floor!” He was just kind of smiling and nodding, but I could tell his mind was running a thousand miles an hour. I finished with, “So it is important that we have faith in the right thing; it is important for us to know the truth.”

To his credit, he started to argue that having faith in a chair was quite different than faith in God, but we were supposed to be catching the bus home so I didn't argue that one out with him! As we were walking away he said, "You see, this is why I need a bible!” I was so shocked that he actually asked again after I made it clear it wouldn't be one of the fancy ones and that he seemed to actually want to read it. So I agreed to look for a Bible for him, and went away shaking with the adrenaline rush!

My supervisor has a Bible for him and, to avoid confusion between genders and any of the other myriad of things that could be miscommunicated in the transaction, Jason will give him the Bible. Whether he really wanted it or not, he's going to have the Living Word of God in his hands and I doubt he'll be able to resist reading it for long. :) Even if only to have ammo to argue with, at least he'll be reading it. And if any of you are unfamiliar with the power of the Word, you should go ask God to show you, then read it!