You know what’s crazy? Some of the things I see and hear in India. You know what’s crazier is I’m used to it now. I’m used to the village treating us like celebrities, to cows on the highway, and random power outages.
But, I don’t get used to the stories I hear about the things God does in a person’s life. Going around the world, you meet people and come across ordinary looking people, only to discover they are actually a testament to the extraordinary work of God.
The last two weeks we had a driver who was taking us to ministry. He goes home on the weekends, but during the week he sleeps in the room with the guys. I’d not spoken to him much because I never sat in front where he drives and there are so many things to think about when we are heading out. There also isn’t a translator around and it’s not that appropriate to be 1-on-1 with a man who isn’t your husband. He was unassuming, kind and smiled often, and I started noticing after a week how much he looked out for our team’s safety as we went from place to place. Then, I found out he was actually a pastor and had come to serve us this way.
One day, we were waiting around and our translator and driver were talking to each other. So, I turn to our driver and start talking to him, asking him about how he came to faith. While he was telling our translator, he laughed and looked a bit sheepish as we all waited to hear the story. The last thing I expected him to begin with was,
Well, I used to be a terrorist…
He and his organization would blow up police stations and try to take down the Indian government. As my eyes widened, he went on to say the police had caught him, but one had compassion and let him go. This moment would later show him that God had a plan and purpose for his life. Something I’ve seen pastors in India do often is visit peoples’ homes and offer to pray. There was one who knew his family and used to visit who told him to hide by going to Bible College, secretly praying that in the meanwhile he would get saved. So he went to Bible College and there came to know Jesus, and it transformed his life. After that he turned himself in, showing how he had changed and they let him go. He went on to grow in the Lord and is now a pastor. His parents have disowned him because of it, but he smiles and says now God is my Father.
I realize that sometimes I think there are people that God can’t reach and get through to, but then I meet a man like him who bears no trace of his former life and see how God does things that I could never have imagined to effectively bring someone home.
I’m so grateful that all around the world are unremarkable looking men and women who are displays of the mercy of God, and that He lets me in on the treasure within someone when I take the time to ask someone to share their story.
