Michael Hindes, who runs the World Race made a comment at our January launch, “Every Christian should have a Paul, a Timothy, and a Barnabas in their life all the time.” As you all read these blogs, comment on them, and encourage me, you’re helping to play the role of Barnabas in my life. Likewise, the racers traveling with me play that same role.
In several of our countries, men have come alongside of me and poured their heart and soul into me.
This month, I met a man named Stephen. Stephen was born with the name Jamaal in Jamaica about thirty years ago. He hasn’t shared a ton of his story with me, but what he has shared is powerful. When he was a child, his father got in trouble with the law in Jamaica, and his family fled to Sierra Leone, (where his mother’s family was) when he was ten years old. This happened two years before the country erupted in a civil war that involved brutality very similar to the situation currently going on in Uganda with the Invisible Children.
In the civil war, his parents were murdered in front of him, and the boys in his town were lined up and asked to join the child army. When one boy refused, he had his arm cut off in the presence of the others to “encourage” them to fight. It wasn’t long until Jamaal fled the country and made his way about Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, and ultimately, Penang.
The first day I volunteered at one of the food pantries, I ran into Stephen. I didn’t know anything but his name, but as the weeks went on, we had more and more conversations. He had come to know the Lord a few years previous, and changed his name to one of his heroes from the New Testament, a man named Stephen. He talked about his desire to be bold like his namesake, and I did my best to encourage that boldness. He watched God answer prayer after prayer this month, and as God answered, Stephen asked more confidently and boldly. Prayer times with him were the highlight of my Wednesdays and days he would come to the Kawan center for meals.
As I prepared to leave, he approached me and asked me for a picture. I took it with him, and need to send it to him…hold me accountable to doing that. Anyway, as he left, I told him I loved him and called him brother, thinking it would be the last time I saw him. Twenty minutes later he came back and thanked me, telling me, “I needed a friend and a brother this month. You’re just one more answered prayer in my life.”
Pray for Stephen if you remember him. Print this picture out and hang it on your fridge. Each time you see it, pray for him, and remember that there is no background from which God cannot redeem people. His life was as difficult, and still is as difficult as any I’ve heard of…but he understands the key – when God gets His glory, Stephen gets his joy.
