If you've been around me a while you know that everything I do somehow ends up as a crazy, this doesn't happen to "normal " people story. When I travel is usually no exception and I tend to meet the most random, interesting people.
Last summer we were headed on vacation to Mexico and I was reading a book about persecuted Christians around the world. I'm not much of a plane talker but the gentleman next to me was cordial and we talked about how he lived in Charlotte but had relatives in Columbia and he'd gone to college in Charleston. We chatted a while and then I read. Taking a break to process the last story he asked what I was reading. I'm ashamed to admit that I hesitated for a second. He was obviously of Middle East descent and I wasn't sure what to say but I trudged ahead and he began asking more questions and confirmed he was Pakistani but grew up in Kuwait. Then he very pointedly said to me, "So, you are a Christian?" And, I answered that yes, yes I'm a Christian then asked about his faith. From there came one of the most interesting plane conversations of my life. He was a former Muslim who came to know Jesus and had been instrumental in leading family members to Jesus and is now the pastor of Mosaic church in Charlotte. Whoa! He finished with recommending that I read his story, "Ex Muslim" and now, a year later, I'm being so blessed by his honest, insightful, faith filled memoir.
Tonight, this quote just struck me, "Following Jesus involves wholehearted, everyday repentance to which He responds every single time with grace." What a great reminder that "following Jesus" isn't just that one time prayer, or while at church. Or when we feel like it. It is every single day. It is a lifestyle. It is a way of living. It is loving Jesus first and then others. It's on the good days and the bad days. It is pulling and stretching with everything we have in us to be more like Him. Every day.
His story is even more timely as when I met him I'd just returned from a mission in Uganda. Now, I'm reading as I prepare to leave next week on another mission to Uganda. His views as a new Christian, especially from another faith have led me to consider how I speak about Jesus to others both on my trip and here at home. I must put aside "Church-ese" ( those terms that make us Christians part of the "club") and focus on letting my life as a Jesus follower speak for Him through me.
I'm sure this plane conversation is long forgotten in his mind. But, nothing is coincidental and God arranges the quirkiest ways to ensure His plans. Without that meeting and conversation I'd probably not be reading this book right now. And, maybe not contemplating how I can be more like Jesus as I follow Him each day and share Him with others.
(I'd hoped to share a link to the book but it's not going through. It is "Ex-Muslim" by Naeem Fazal
