“Pray for Dan” God told us. It was during our first few days together as a new team in Istanbul, Turkey. We didn’t know exactly what God meant at the time, so we just did as He said. We prayed for “Dan”.
After about a week from this time we moved to a different hostel, ready to start our work as ethnographers. Almost as soon as we got there, we met a very nice and outgoing, friendly man. And guess what his name was? His name was Dan!
As the days went on we would talk here and there with him, just about life and the things to do in Istanbul. One day we said a quick hello to Dan and his friend ,who were sitting outside, as we were walking into the hostel. As we walked in I heard Dan and his friend talking about how were were the happiest people that they had met in all of Istanbul.
This became our new name: The happy people!
They asked one of my team members, Lauren, why we were always so happy? She didn’t have enough time to explain it then, so she told him it was a secret. She told them she would be willing to share it with them later if they asked again.
Over the next two days they asked a few of us again, we could see there curiosity building. We really felt like Lauren was supossed to share, so we told them they would have to wait.
Finally the moment came when Lauren and I sat down with Dan and his friend and shared with them that our secret was simply Jesus! We also told them the story of how God had told us to pray for them before we ever even met them.
This is not the end of the story, it is only the end of what has merely taken place. I have full confidence in the fact that the future ending of this story will be “And they all lived happily ever after forever.” But this is not for me to say just yet.
I tell you this story because I want to encourage you in the fact that in the every day things that you do, you are making an impact on someone else’s life… whether you mean to or not.
“Always be the Gospel, and when necessary, use words” ~ Francis of Assissi
