“Give me love”-the guy that wanted to marry me from Burundi
“ALL creation groans and waits for the sons and daughters of God to be revealed.” Romans 8:19
It’s crazy sometimes the encounters you have. Today we took public transport for the first time in Rwanda with our friend/translator Moses. I found some pretty amazing stuff and was so happy with my purchases and my book bag stuffed with MASSIVE MANGOS. That’s not a part of the story, I just wanted y’all to know how much I love mangos. Anywayssssss, we find ourselves waaaaay past our stop and when we finally got off, it looked like a long walk ahead of us.
My teammates/sisters Shara and Heather accompanied me as we walked to the store for a cold drink and to get motos (motorcycles) that would take us home. Not long after we start walking, we were a little startled by a man that was walking not far behind us. We quickly said sorry and kept moving forward. However; instead of him walking around us, I find him to the right of me asking us the typical questions such as “are you from India” and all that good jazz. Africa is the only place people have a hard time believing I’m truly from the states.
Okay back to the point. I’m currently typing this at 10:55 pm on Thursday February 16, 2017. I just want to let the raw thought of all of this flow.
After walking for a little, I get the question if I am married. Of course that question is met with a nervous laugh and the obvious answer of “no not yet, and I can’t get married right now anyways.” Usually that stops the conversation from furthering but not with this guy. He seemed nice and was actually pretty attractive. His English was eh and he is a “Muslim man” in his words. As conversation continued and I kept trying to dart the questions he was asking, I began to realize something.
He continually said “give me love” and a bunch of other stuff. Shara and Heather were great with letting him know that I couldn’t get married and they want to keep me. Aren’t they amazing?!
With Him continuously saying that he was in love with me and wanting to marry me and have my love, I realized a few things. I’d often times like to say that things are just “at random” but I honestly think meeting him was a divine appointment. Don’t worry y’all, I’m not getting married. But the conversation turned to Jesus rather quickly. He would say “I want you to give me love for the rest of my life”, and I would reply “well I can’t do that, but Jesus can; His love lasts beyond death.” Heather quickly jumped in and took control as best as she could by asking simple questions and the telling him about King Jesus. His English wasn’t the best so understanding us was hard, but the most amazing/surprising thing happened in this conversation.
After revealing to us that he was a Muslim man, he quickly found out that I love Jesus and that can’t work. I don’t love him as just “a good man” but as the one who laid heaven and it’s glory aside to come and make a way for me. I’m often humbled by the reality that he didn’t HAVE to do this, but he WANTED to. He wanted to lay it all down for me. Us. That’s incredible.
And here I am in Rwanda being proposed to by a Muslim man from Burundi that has known me all of 5 minutes as I’m walking down the street. He said many things but something stuck out when he found out that I was a Christian. It wasn’t “convert to Islam” or anything of the like. Instead he says “because I love her so much, I will become a Christian.” Yeah, crazy right?! I don’t know how devout in his faith he is, but for a man who just introduced himself as a Muslim to proudly say that he would convert to another religion for the sake of love isn’t a light thing.
This ordeal lasted for maybe 15 minutes, but at the end of it all I just laughed a little a shook his hand and he continued on to wherever he was headed. It wasn’t until I laid down for the night that I realized what happened.
I found myself remembering the times of where I looked for love in all the wrong places. Whether it was in friendships or relationships or even materialistic things, I know what it’s like to have something in sight but so far out of reach. To be established and doing good things even and never feeling satisfied. His cry outwardly might have been for him to love me and marry me, but his soul was crying out for an encounter with the purest form of love there is, Jesus Christ.
It doesn’t surprise me that today I wore my “King Jesus” shirt and he approached me. He wanted marriage, but not from my hand truly. He wanted love, but not from my heart. I firmly believe more than a wife and children, he wants to be loved. I didn’t get to hear his story or ask any in depth questions, but I can’t help thinking that this man is so desperate to be loved, he’d do anything for it. He’d deny his religion. He’d leave his home. He’d drop everything. Seems to me he’s the perfect person to get encountered by the living, breathing, and loving King Jesus.
It never hit me until now the magnitude of the verse above. He wasn’t literally groaning outwardly, but you could clearly tell he wants an encounter with tangible love that won’t fail. Its not just the people in bars and nightclubs and brothels that are waiting for us to witness to them. It’s also the nagging boss at work that never says thank you, the person you see often walking alone on campus, the good stay at home mom that looks like if she has to change another diaper she’s going to lose it, the coworker that never smiles, the people you see come to church on holidays only and the list goes on.
It’s time to stop being the judge of who deserves love, mercy, and grace. The guy buying girls in Thailand needs Jesus just as much as your coworker who annoys the crap out of you. The woman who strips for a living needs love just as much as the cashier that might not smile at you because to her/him there isn’t anything worth smiling about. All of us continuously need love, mercy, and grace.
Jesus left His disciples with many great tidbits, but I love that He said “freely you’ve received, freely give”.
So let’s love like Jesus. Let’s meet people where they are at. Their groans might not be audible but I can guarantee you that they are waiting for us.
Sir from Burundi, I’m not sure you’ll ever read this and that’s okay. I just want to say thank you for accompanying us on our walk back to town and for teaching me a lesson. Although I’m not going to marry you and show you that love you are desperately seeking, I pray that Jesus, King Jesus to be specific, would encounter you and overwhelm you with more love than you have room enough to receive. I pray that you’d come to know him as more than a mere man, but as the lover of your soul, as the one who desires to walk life with you and call you His son. I don’t know if we’ll ever see each other again on God’s green earth, but I’d like to let you know there is a seat at His table for you. There is love that never ends and is contingent on nothing other than you choosing love and to be loved. I pray we meet in heaven and have a good laugh about how you asked me to marry you 5 minutes after meeting me, as flattering as that was. You’re a pretty cool guy.
So guys, go. Go reveal yourself to someone today. It might not look like you expected, but it will be just what they need.
