Now, 12 hours into this time of prayer and evangelism and things
did not slowdown, rather they picked-up in pace. How? You might ask, does it pick-up after fire twirling? While
talking with a man named Mohamed, from Iraq, my watch alarm went off, reminding
me that it was now morning in Minnesota and we had planned to pray for my
Grandma’s heart surgery at Mayo Clinic. Our leader, Liz, asked Mohamed if we
could take a break in the conversation to pray. He in turn asked if he could
join us. We said, “sure.” He then took the woven cord off his neck that held a
white stone about the size of a quarter. He then proceeded to tell us, with
large eyes, how this was a powerful stone that could channel healing
powers. We sat in stunned silence for a moment until Liz, quite frankly,
asked him if he could put it back on his neck. He had no problem with it and
put the necklace back on before we prayed.
After our prayer we continued our conversation and he kept
saying to me that there was something in my eyes. I asked him what he meant and
his response was, “It’s in there! There
is something special in there. I feel like I can see into your soul and it is
beautiful.” I used this as an opportunity to share how it was Christ in me
that he was seeing. He smiles and
says, “I love your work.,” which was his candid response every time we brought
up Jesus or the Bible. Mohamed did not like labels, but called himself a Muslim
who thought Jesus was a holy prophet. I was excited to be able to use the “Liar, Lunatic, or Lord” argument (thanks Professor Kapsner). Again,
he could not argue with the Truth and his response was, “I love your work.”
Around this time we were getting a bit tired and decided to
start a dance party in the park.
God’s timing is perfect and as we danced joyfully, two drunken men joined in
with the small crowd that had gathered. One ended-up challenging Liz to the
most hilarious dance-off I have ever witnessed. It ended with the belly-up caterpillar. After the dancing settled a bit,
Kendall and I were talking to these men who shared, with welling eyes, that
their best friend had just committed suicide.
They had been kicked out of the bar (due to them causing arguments) and were
headed to another bar across the park to get even more drunk and most likely
end the night in “heaps of trouble“.
Instead, they were drawn in and spent nearly 4 hours talking with us. One
debated with at least 4 of us about the validity of the Bible and how it could
have not changed over so many years. The other shared a ton about Australian
history and his time spent teaching
English to some aboriginal children in Northern Australia. I related to his passion and connection
to children in a similar setting to the one I had teaching at Rift Valley
Academy, in Kenya for the past 2 years. I wish I could have recorded everything he told me about Australia. Even
though he had been drinking, he was able to give me an insider’s look at
Australian history and so far nothing he said has been contradicted by other
sources. The other highlight of my night was sharing my testimony with these two men, who were captivated and curious. When we
finished talking it was around 4 am and they went home to go to bed.
We had a peaceful,
silent moment of reflection and prayer between 4 and 5 am. I walked to the
beach to watch the sun rise and then the morning bustle began. I was so
encouraged by “N” squad members who came and prayed with us. Their support was
uplifting and rejuvenated me. We finished the 24 hours holding hands and
praying in the park.
