For those of you who haven’t read my last blog, go back and read it for context. It shows how God orchestrated for us to end up with the Airbnb host we ended up with. From the moment we arrived at this Airbnb, we were able to see why God had directed our paths here. Our Airbnb host Joseph was a brand new believer who did not know the Bible very well and he had just started reading it on his own. He asked us if we would be willing to do a bible study with him every morning. For those of you who don’t know, doing bible studies with people is one of my favorite ministries to do. Because he was very new in his faith and he came from a catholic background which often teaches that good deeds give you salvation, I chose to do the Bible study on Romans. The book of Romans dispels any possibility of pleasing God by doing good works and it provides a basis for the fundamentals. It also happens to be my favorite book of the Bible.
Both him and his friend would meet every morning to talk about deep theological truths and spend time in prayer that God would reveal his truth to them so they may know him in a deeper way. Knowing the hassle it was to find a place to stay and how much things needed to line up for us to stay where we did, I can say with certainty that God orchestrated our steps in order for us to meet with this man. One of the last nights we were there, he took us out to have dinner and personally thanked us for the impact we had on his life. God not only used us to impact Joseph and his understanding of Christianity, but he used Joseph and his hunger for the truth and for knowledge to reveal to me more of my calling. I enjoyed every minute of discipling him and teaching him the basics and fundamentals of Christianity. Diving into God’s word with people is one of my favorite ministries and I truly believe a big part of my calling in ministry is going to be teaching and discipleship.
There are several other people that we met that month in divine encounters. Another example occurred during the last week we spent in Uganda. My friend Will from the beginning of the month felt a calling to minister out on lake Victoria to some fishermen. He loves fishing and has a passion to teach and disciple fishermen how to fish for men as Jesus taught his disciples. One day him and I just headed to a dock on the lake. When we arrived it was very evident that we did not belong. Our driver dropped us off in the middle of an extremely dirty marketplace where people were selling all sorts of fruits and vegetables as well as fish and other groceries. However it smelled rancid and all the old rotten food was just thrown out all over the ground. We looked around and didn’t really see any boats out on the water and for a moment I wondered what we were going to do. Until this random man came out of the middle of nowhere and asked us if we wanted a ride out into the lake and we told him we just wanted to meet up with some fishermen and fish with them. After trying to get us out deep into the lake for a hefty price, he then offered to take us to a fishing village on the other side of the bay on the lake. We agreed and were greeted by a fleet of fishermen, most of whom were Muslim. However, some were Christian but no one in the whole village had ever owned a bible. Churches did not meet anywhere near there area. So after Will shared a bit of his testimony, they gave us a tour of the village and we talked for a while, we told them we would return with bibles. On our last day of ministry, we came back and gave 4 of them including the chairman of the village a bible. They were ecstatic. We had a mini church service/ bible study and then we dedicated the Bible’s to the chairman. We told them that the church wasn’t a building, rather it was a body of believers who love God with all of their heart. We told them that they could have church right there in their home and they showed us a place that they intended to meet to read God’s word. They were so excited to get the Bible that they were reading aloud as they worked. I know that although we may never have an opportunity to go back to see them that the Word of God will not return void and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a full blown church there teaching the word of God because God through his Spirit and the Word can build his church himself without any outside help. It’s just crazy how out of our way we ended up in the middle of nowhere to share the gospel and bibles with people who had never owned bibles and to see their hunger for the truth was truly amazing. I had never seen people so hungry to read what God says. I left that experience feeling encouraged and emboldened to share what God has done in my life with anyone I see because I know his power to transform and even in the most unlikely places, God moves in powerful ways.
The fishermen from the village having a bible study with my buddy Will.
In both examples, we only met the people we met by walking in obedience the voice of God despite adversity. When it came to our Airbnb host Joseph, God literally closed all the other doors in order for us to stay with him and even though I was tempted to opt out of what I heard him tell me, it was only through obedience that I would have ever encountered him. The same thing happened for Will in the fishing village. The first time we went to the fishing village was not the first Will had tried to go fishing for ministr. Every time he tried the plans would fall through it they would arrive and it would be an empty beach. After awhile of not getting the results he wan most people would have given up, howeve, Will knew he had heard from the Lord to do fishing ministry and so he pursued it until the final few days that we were there when finally we were able to go.
