hey guys! writing on a blog on a friday, how weird haha.
so this last week we had the incredible opportunity to listen to an alumni World Racer named Patrick. patrick talked about a lot of things, but one of the ones that stuck out to me was a teaching about Arabic peoples and the religion of Islam. this teaching completely changed my idea of what other cultures look like, and how us Americans and Christians can sometimes put them in a box. not just them, but everyone whom isn’t the same as us.
I have always been intrigued by different people and their living styles. their religion, their lifestyle, and how they live. I’ve had the privilege of going to Mexico a few years back to see some of that for myself, and I absolutely loved it. traveling had suddenly become a new passion for me and what God was really calling me to do.
learning about the Islamic faith and who they are, has really changed my view. I am no expert on this by any means, but I encourage you to read this blog with an open heart and a heart for other people as I write it. I also ask that you give me grace for what I’m about to write because like I said, I’m no expert. this is just something that has been on my heart, and information that I got the opportunity to receive from the teaching.
okay, so when you think about the Islamic religion, what do you think of? you might know some things about what they believe in or about how they dress or sort them with a certain group of people, but do you actually know about the religion and what they believe in? do you know about all of the hard things they have to go through and their faith walk? I don’t know, and no one does.
one thing I learned about religion and relationship, is that they’re all different for each and every person. my relationship with the Lord isn’t going to look the same as yours, or the person sitting across from you. we each have a different impersonation of the Lord, and that is mighty fine. I encourage that, actually. we are all different and have different experiences, so of course we aren’t going to look the same as others and worship the Lord the same as others. and that’s okay 🙂
I don’t want to make this too long, so tomorrow I will have a pt. 2 explaining some about the Islamic culture and how it differ’s from Christianity. I just think it’s extremely important to know about other’s cultures and faith before we go and try to explain the Gospel to them. knowing others and how we can help them the most is most important. it isn’t our job to go and change them in any way. the Holy Spirit is already working within them. we just need to partner with the Holy Spirit and be the first step to helping them FIND JESUS. that is ultimately our job and I think that’s the most beautiful thing 🙂
I’m going to (hopefully) finish another blog tomorrow about digging deeper into the Islamic faith, and why it’s important to know others and how they live. everyone here is a Child of God, and I think that’s also extremely important to remember 🙂 thanks for reading!!! I love you all!! <3
