Recently we posted the story of the Bible we found in the Arab refugee family's tent. One English bible, left to a family who couldn't read it and didn't know what it was, became the key to the healing of a man's hand and the subsequent open doors to sharing the gospel and permission for leaving Arabic bibles behind. Almost as awesome as the end result of the story (at least the end result we saw) was how the bible made it there in the first place.
Before we left the camp, I opened the front cover of the bible to search for an inscription. Sure enough there was a name and address. And as soon as we returned to the States I began the search for this person whose name found it's way into a Syrian refugee camp. After multiple address searches I found myself in reverse phone directories online. Unfortunately, none of them delivered a working number. However, Facebook brought me to some people with the same last names who seemed to be located close to the address on the listing. About an hour after sending a few messages through Facebook I got a reply.
"Jane is my wife," the message read. "She will contact you after she leaves work." I sent my phone number so she could call me directly.
I couldn't wait to tell the story of this bible to it's original owner. And later on that night I got one of the best phone calls of my life. A lady's voice greeted me with eager questions. "Are you ministering to refugees?" she asked. "Were you near the border? Do you share the gospel or do medical work?"
Together on speaker phone Nikki and I tried to answer Jane's questions and tell the story of the bible we found in the camp. In a few minutes we unloaded the testimony and were able to share how this man believed his hand was healed because someone told him to keep it tied to this bible. "Oh my goodness!" she shouted. "The bible!"
"John," she said, "I have to tell you how that bible ended up in the camp with me." The story went something like this:
Jane was the head of a large ethnic denominational group's medical mission. The team geared up to head to the Middle East in order to work in Syrian refugee camps bringing relief. No bibles. No evangelism. The risk for a large medical team was too great so their team's protocol was none of the above. Only medical assistance and prayer for people. Except on this trip Holy Spirit wanted to make an exception.
"John," she shared, "as I was leaving the house, I heard the Holy Spirit tell me to take a Bible that was on my bookshelf for years. I haven't used that bible in so many years. And I wanted to ignore Him because we don't take bibles on our missions." Jane went on to explain that she was almost out the door and on her way to the airport but Holy Spirit would not let her go. "I felt like He really wanted me to take the bible with me. And I was scared and frustrated because I didn't even have room. I wouldn't be able to explain to my team why I was breaking the rules. I argued with Him internally for a minute."
In the end Jane did the right thing. Obedience to the voice is always the right thing. She stuffed the bible in her purse and hoped for a moment to know she had done the right thing.
Jane explained to us that she worked in the very same camp a few months before us. Her team worked giving medical relief in a temporary clinic of sorts. Some time toward the end of her trip an older man approached her with a mangled and broken hand that she couldn't help. He probably needed surgeries that she couldn't provide. She didn't even have a splint. And then Holy Spirit gave her a picture of the bible tucked in her purse. "I ran to the car and pulled the bible out. It fit his hand perfectly!" She added, "I bound his hand to the book and told him not to take it off until God healed it. We prayed for it, and that was the last I knew."
Jane went on to tell us that in addition to the unction she felt when she left about taking the bible, she had a dream a little while before the trip where she was in a camp handing out fruit and felt the dream was a prophetic picture of her preaching. Of course, preaching wasn't part of their ministry at all. Like the bible, it was against protocol. "Now I can tell my team how the Lord used the bible! I'm so glad I was obedient to His voice!"
And so are we. And so is He. He leads us by His voice. Gently. Sometimes in ways that seem foolish. Often in ways we don't understand. Always in ways that have eternal purpose. In this case the Lord led Jane to do something totally out of her ordinary. Against conventional wisdom and even policy Jane obeyed God and it opened the door into a hurting family's heart. Not only were they ministered to but there were healings and open doors to the gospel. The administrator became part of the testimony. The missions team will share in part of this. We got to play a part. This is Kindgom at work. This is family on mission - God's family being the light Jesus empowers us to be. And any one missing piece changes the whole story.
This Christmas we can remember the reason He came to us. "Peace and goodwill towards men" wasn't just a thought we could put on cards and manger scenes and read as memorials to a legend of yesteryear. "Peace and goodwill towards men" was a statement made by the Creator and Judge of all time who bowed His knee and made us a way to enter an eternal conversation - a dynamic, living relationship - that offers that peace and life in the face of a suffering and dying world.
Don't be a spectator. Let this Christmas be the one where you stop attending religious memorial services and begin to listen to the voice. His voice will lead you to life and take others along for the ride.
Merry Christmas.
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