What Have They Seen In My House?

I had just welcomed the serviceman into my home to assemble my new table when my phone rang, so I stepped out of the room to take the call.  When I returned, he stopped working and looked up at me curiously, “Are you a Christian?”

Wondering why he would be so direct in a country where Christians make up a closely monitored minority, I asked, “Why are you asking?”

“I see your Bible and songbook.  And those are Christian books,”  he nodded toward a stack on a nearby chair.  Isaiah’s words to Hezekiah came to my mind, “What have they seen in your house?”  (Isaiah 39:4).

I countered carefully, “How do you know those are Christian books?”

“I’m also a Christian,” he responded softly. “I’ve been in this country for four years and this is the first time I’ve seen a Bible in anyone’s home.”  He explained that he had grown up in a Christian family; his relatives were all Christians.  And, I thought, now he has been surrounded by non-Christians for four years.

With my phone still in my hand, I showed him Alwaad, the Arabic Hope Channel on Youtube.*  He grinned, pulled out his phone, and took a screen shot.  As he was tidying up, I thought of a gift for him.

His face lit up when I handed him a small New Testament.  “I’ve never had the rest of the Bible before!” he exclaimed.  As we were exchanging phone numbers, the doorbell rang.  He grinned, unworried, “That’s my coworker checking why I’m taking so long!”

It was a few brief moments, perhaps longer than allowed, but the most important ones in my day and, I pray, some of the most meaningful moments in his.  “Thank you, Jesus, for allowing me to reconnect a lonely young man with You–and without even leaving my home!”

* Hope Channel MENA also produces in Turkish, Kabyle, Sudanese Arabic, and Persian.