Encountering the Story

The past few weeks in our ministry to the Bhutanese refugees at Southern Hills I have been a bit discouraged. I have struggled to keep a consistent reader since my first reader that I helped find a job. It was a bitter sweet thing. He needed a job so badly to provide for his family but simply couldn’t find work. When he did we were so thankful. However, it meant that his Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings were rarely available. We would get together from time to time outside of these occasions to spend time with one another. He has had Ellen and I over for a meal a few times, and we’ve done the same. It had been a while since I had seen him, though.

So last night I prayed just before the reading session, very half-heartedly since I was ready to quit, that God would encourage me in this last ditch effort. It wasn’t a moment later that I saw him walk around the corner. It was my old reader! I hadn’t seen him in a month or more. His face lit up and mine was even brighter I’m sure. What an answer to my prayers! I couldn’t believe that he was there. He should have been at work.

We had some time to catch up before we started reading. Since I had seen him last he has started a new job. The new job is very difficult for him but is allowing him the hours he prefers. He is currently free on Wednesday evenings! Also, he has a drivers license and a car! I was in disbelief!

We headed off to a table of our own to begin reading the Gospel of Luke together. It had been weeks since I had done this since the other readers I have been with were at a more beginner level. With them we were doing grammar booster worksheets. Very helpful but not nearly as exciting as encountering the story of Jesus. His English had improved since I saw him last so we jumped right into the NIV and the birth of Jesus in Luke 2. My heart gets pumping just reminiscing. It was so good to walk with him through these early stories. To witness him working hard to comprehend this story in English and feel accomplished brought me joy. To witness him encounter this unbelievably powerful story that has shaped me and is shaping him made my heart nearly leap out of my chest.

God is so good! Thank you, Lord, for encouraging me and bringing my reader back last night.

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September Newsletter

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September 2010

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Not So Christian

I accidentally left my cell phone at home today. Ellen dropped me off at a local university so that I could go to the spanish class I’m auditing. Those that know us well enough will recognize that it is odd that Ellen dropped me off. Well, my car is still malfunctioning. So anyways, my phone is at home, and I needed to give her a call to have her pick me up after her errands and to let her know that I am unreachable by phone.

You’ve probably been in my shoes before. It is annoying when we are without the lifeline that is our cell phone. I thought, “No big deal.” I can get myself out of this pinch by wandering over to the library where I needed to do a few things anyways and borrow one of the phones over there. So I headed over. I ventured over to one of the “Help Desks” and asked to borrow a phone. This is where the story gets good. . .maybe. I was informed by the three young ladies in earshot that it is library policy to only loan the phone if there is an emergency. The example was actually given, “Like if someone has died.” I was caught off guard by this extremely inconvenient policy and these rule keepers. I go by a policy of my own, “If you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all.” So I walked away before I changed my mind. I uttered a less than halfhearted, “Thanks.”

As I headed out of the library, still fuming, I stumbled on a friend that I thought surely had no such policy and would loan me his phone for this 30 second conversation. I described my situation, as if it would have mattered, and told him of the recent encounter I had at the not so helpful “Help Desk”. He graciously loaned me his phone so that I could give Ellen a call. I told him that I was offended by the policy and that it didn’t seem very Christian. He responded, “The Man is an institution, not a Christian.” To which I responded, “Well, I assumed the young ladies considered themselves Christians and had phones of their own.”

As frustrated as I am with this situation, the university, and the young ladies, I’ve done the same countless times. I’ve kept rules or judged intentions which could have only hindered someone. I’ve left people in need.

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