He lived his entire life in Syria. He was a respected member of his community and had a strong family support system. He is a proud father of six children. Mohammad was an Arabic literature teacher; he loved his students and enjoyed the conversations he was able to facilitate in his classroom. He encouraged his students to ask hard questions. He is patriotic and loves his country. He was happy and content with his life and had plans of growing old and watching his family flourish around him. He is a devout muslim. He has done everything right; but it all seems to be going wrong.
Mohammad has been in Lebanon for 5 years now. He made the tough decision to flee the country he loves for the safety of his family. Unfortunately not all of his family was able to escape. His two oldest daughters, their husbands and children are still in danger. He and his wife worry about them constantly. Despite his education and the job he had for years at home he is jobless here. In the summers he is sometimes able to find work on a neighboring farm. His family lives in a tent crowded on leased farm land with other people running for their lives . Despite the close quarters his new neighbors cannot replace the community he has lost. In a culture where community is everything this impacts every aspect of life. He was an educator and loved molding and challenging minds. In his new home there is no school for his children or their friends in the camp and no way to get them to the closest public school. He is full of questions. And no one seems to be able to answer them. In fact, no one seems to even want to listen. Why are countries around the world not responding? Why are the people of the world not calling their leaders to act? He feels hopeless in this place. He feels his only hope is to wait out the danger and get back to his war-torn home to rebuild his life. One day.
We had the opportunity to share with Mohammad about the one true hope, Jesus. We listened. As he shared and asked hard questions I was able to sit with his wife and hold his youngest son, Mohammad. I prayed over his home and his family, especially the little one in my arms, and for the hearts of the people hearing the gospel for the first time. Afterwards I felt the Lord ask me, “Is this enough for you? What if I brought you all this way to pray for this baby and this home? What if it’s little Mohammad who’s heart will be softened? What if you were just meant to listen?”. This is what I’m doing here.
