by an Alliance international worker serving in the North and Central Asia Region
Too late? Or just in time?
To be honest, we sometimes have a hard time knowing which it is in our work with north and central Asian migrants.
Segue to the Savior
Take this past week with Jesus, for example. (No, not that Jesus!) This one is a young migrant I met at the market whose name in his language translates to “Jesus”—a pretty rare moniker for the majority faith he’s from.
In my initial conversation with him, I concluded that Jesus wasn’t a believer, since he referred to our Lord as a prophet. We exchanged numbers, and I had hopes of following up, using his name as an open door to talk about the Savior.
Too Late?
Well, two days later Jesus texted me. (You don’t get to write that sentence every day!) He had lost his job and housing and was living outside. And he hadn’t eaten in two days.
Bear in mind that the temperature here was hovering at 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
I was in the middle of a meeting when I got the text, but I agreed to meet Jesus two hours later to provide him some food and discuss options—and hopefully talk about our Jesus!
He texted that he was excited that I would meet him and said he’d try to sleep and forget about his hunger for a bit while he waited.
But, before I got to meet up with Jesus, a contact of his from outside the city invited him to stay at his apartment. So Jesus hopped on a bus and was gone.
Don’t Forget Your Name
He texted me a final “thank you” but added a line that was overwhelmingly sad to me: “I have Allah.”
I felt in that moment that I was just a little too late. So I replied with all I that I knew to say in that moment, “Don’t forget your name! Jesus loves you so much.”
Perhaps, from God’s perspective, He arranged my meeting this young man just in time to inject our Savior’s name into his life during a moment of crisis.
What You Can Do
“Please pray that the name of Jesus will continue to ring in my new friend’s ears and that he will be granted the grace to seek and find our Savior,” the author urges.
Use the weekly Alliance Prayer Requests to join the Alliance family in interceding for our global teams, who often serve in challenging circumstances requiring Holy Spirit–inspired wisdom to demonstrate God’s love to those who don’t yet know Him.