A Hindu high priest, a German agnostic, a Swiss Buddhist, and two Christian girls hang out at a hostel
What. The. Heck.
I think I just had my most interesting/”what the heck”/”oh my gosh Jesus!!” moment of the race so far.
Let me tell you about it.
Before heading to Langkawi island we met some tourists in Penang who recommended a specific hostel to us in Langkawi. Not really having plans, we decided to stay there for two nights and then re-evaluate where to stay later. At the end of night two we had already met some beautiful new friends from our hostel who we knew we had to stay longer for. So we stayed two more nights – the beauty of ATL month.
At the end of the fourth night, we again decided “there are cool people here, let’s stay another night”. And so our 2-night stay turned into a 5-night stay, and let me tell you, Jesus totally knew what He was doing when He told us to head to Langkawi!!
On our last night at the hostel, I came home at 1am ready to go straight to bed so I could get up early and pack. As I walked towards the door I found my teammate, Stella, sitting with two of our hostel mates (one German, and one Swiss), and a new friend, Kash from India, sitting in front of the hostel, enjoying a couple of beers, and talking about life.
I sat down and the evening began.
The five of us talked about lucid dreaming, metaphysics, the complexity of our DNA, the book titled Animal Farm, our past travels, and what our lives looked like at home.
Kash, our newest friend, explained to us that he was from India and that he was a Hindu high priest. This meant that he was at the highest cast level. But much more than that it meant that he was of the only Hindu cast level that could talk to God.
Kash then went on to explain that as a Hindu high priest he has familiarized himself with other faiths by reading their holy scriptures. He’s not just read the Quran and the Bible, in addition to his own holy Hindu scriptures, he’s studied them.
Kash asked each of us what we believed. Our Swiss friend answered that he had no idea – he had grown up Buddhist, but his grandparents were Christians, and science was a rabbit hole that you would never reach the end point of, it just lead to more questions. So, he concluded that he had no idea.
Our German friend answered that he too wasn’t sure. He believed that there was something out there, but he didn’t know if it was energy or God, or who that God was if a God did exist.
Then Stella and I shared that we were Christians – we followed Christ, and that’s actually why we were travelling now – to have conversations like these around the world and get people thinking about who God might be.
As we spoke, Kash’s eyes brightened with excitement. “Oh you’re Christians?! I love the Bible – I love Mark and Colossians and the other letters from Paul. Yes that is a very good way. That is the right way.” He then proceeded to PREACH THE GOSPEL to our two other friends telling them that Jesus was the only one who could take on our sins and make us clean – that it was His sacrifice that allowed for this to be true.
He, a HINDU HIGH PRIEST, was literally telling our agnostic and semi-Buddhist friends “no no, not that way. This is the way. I like Christianity very much, it is good, it makes you clean before God”.
Stella and I looked at each other, jaws dropped – WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING? Is a Hindu high priest really sharing the gospel right now???
Kash THEN proceeded to tell us that he’s had many dreams of Jesus.
JESUS IS IN THE HINDU HIGH PRIEST’S DREAMS, GUYS.
He THEN went on to tell us that he’s literally seen people with unclean spirits in them (because crazy shiz like that is normal outside of the western world), placed his hand on them, and seen them leave when he said the name Jesus. This HINDU HIGH PRIEST literally told us that he was able to set people free because he declared the name Jesus. GUYS. HE UNDERSTOOD THAT EVERYTHING SUBMITS TO THE NAME OF JESUS. WOW.
THEN he told us about a time in India when he was speaking to a crowd of people (oh yeah, by the way, Kash is a apparently a huge deal in India, is a millionaire, and has over 100,000 people following him on Facebook – you know, no big deal). As he was speaking to them he read Colossians 3. What caused him to do that, I have no idea. But it happened. And THREE HUNDRED PEOPLE GAVE THEIR LIVES TO THE LORD AND GOT BAPTIZED THAT NIGHT.
Literally Kash was like “I’m not even a Christian but they became Christians”.
WOW. WOWWWWW. WOWWWWWWWW!!!
Our two friends were confused as to how Kash could be so sure that there was a god. Kash just told them “I talk to Him! Everyone can talk to Him! We’re all the same to Him, all equal.” One more time Kash reminded us that Jesus is the way, that He loves us, and that He’s always there reaching for us. More than that Kash – a 22 year old millionaire and Hindu high priest – cuddled up in his chair and told us about how he just rests in Jesus and cuddles and gets kisses on the cheek.
Wow. He gets it. This man understood that if anything, He is loved by God and that’s why Christ came. That’s why He gets to know and talk with God.
So now, here I sit at 4:30am attempting to process everything that I just heard. If I’ve learned anything from tonight, it’s that God will use anyone and everyone to let his kids know that He’s there.
And who knows, maybe what our friends needed to hear was someone from an entirely different faith sharing with them that the God of the Bible is true, good, and loves them dearly.
If you’re reading this, know that He wants you to know that too. He wants you to know that He’s there. He wants you to know that He’s thought of you and reached for you since before you were even born. He wants you to know that He’s God. He wants you to know that Jesus is the way to know Him. He wants you to know that no matter what, He calls you clean. He calls you pure. He calls you good. He calls you worthy. He calls you His. And all of this is because He loves you.
You just have to let Him.
All that said, keep your eyes open, friends, He’s there and He’s just waiting for you to see Him.
