Tyranny of the "to do" list

(Listen to an audio version of this post at http://media1.imbresources.org/files/119/11973/11973-66255.mp3)

I love “to do” lists.

I’ve got a pocket calendar for home and personal reminders, a desk calendar for work-related tasks and several notebooks for longer-range stuff. I employ the prehistoric pen-to-paper variety, but I’m sure all the digital gizmos on the market help their forgetful users, too.

To be honest, I’d get little accomplished without “to do” lists. My brain no longer seems to retain or organize practical information, although I can recite the roster of the 1982-83 Los Angeles Lakers on command. They had the greatest fast break ever, by the way: Magic Johnson racing down the middle, whipping no-look passes to James Worthy or Michael Cooper, who levitated to the hoop for vicious dunks over the hated Celtics. If the break wasn’t available, Magic tossed the ball to the big guy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who casually launched his unblockable “skyhook” from almost anywhere on the court.

Wait … I’m getting off task again. Got to focus. That’s why I need “to do” lists. They bring order to the chaos of life — or at least create the illusion of doing so.

But “to do” lists have a dark side. Getting things done doesn’t mean you are living a productive life. Marking items off the list feels great. Failing to mark them off, however, induces frustration, guilt, a sense of failure — almost as if you are still living under the law.

The list grants no grace, no mercy. If you allow it to take over, it becomes a little tyrant, taking the joy and spontaneity out of your life. It can even become an idol, taking the place of God’s daily direction.

I imagine the priest who hurried by the wounded man on the side of the road (Luke 10:30-37) had an early version of the “to do” list. The Good Samaritan might have had one, too, but he didn’t let it keep him from stopping to minister to an injured stranger.

The digital zombies who walk down the street these days, slavishly reading their text messages, wouldn’t notice the stranger if they tripped over him.

The challenge of daily life for a follower of Christ is balancing the legitimate demands of your “to do” list — written or mental — with His divine “to do” list. If you don’t pay spiritual attention, you won’t even notice His list, much less make yourself available to respond to it.

I find it comforting that a wiser servant encounters the same struggle I do with conflicting lists.

“The past two weeks have been frustrating,” writes Guy Muse, a Southern Baptist missionary to Ecuador for more than 20 years, in his Oct. 17 blog post (see http://guymuse.blogspot.com/2010/10/interruptions-are-my-ministry.html).

“For every item I am able to cross off on my ‘to do’ list, two or three more are added. Calls needing to be made, reports overdue, projects waiting attention, documents needing translation, individuals needing counseling … . Why am I getting so little accomplished these days? One word. Interruptions! People dropping by the house, calls, meetings, requests from individuals … . Night and day, it never lets up. …

“But what if God also has ‘to do’ lists? What if God has on His list for Juan to call me and see about our getting together for coffee at 2:15 today and talk about his problems? When I seriously pray, ‘Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done ...’ am I not in effect saying, ‘Lord, your list has priority. Your agenda is more important than my own’? …

“(P)eople often hide behind the excuse of thinking, ‘I am too busy with real ministry. I simply do not have time for unplanned, spontaneous ministry from people interrupting my busy schedule.’ … Was that Christ’s attitude, who left the crowds and made time to go eat at Zacchaeus’ house (Luke 19:1-10)? To heal blind beggar Bartimaeus (Luke 18:35-43)? Stopping in His tracks … when an unknown woman touched the hem of His robe (Luke 8:43-48)? Taking time for children while leaving the crowds to wait?

“Ninety percent of ministry happens when we seize those spontaneous opportunities that come disguised as detours or interruptions.”

Missionary surgeon Martha Myers, who died at the hands of a disturbed gunman in Yemen in 2002, had a similar perspective. Her motto: “Things don't matter, people do.”

For Myers, “things” included not only possessions but schedules — the stuff, in other words, on her “to do” list (if she had one). She alternated marathon days and nights treating patients with unscheduled “house calls,” extended excursions into far-flung mountain villages to visit Yemeni families no one else cared about. The long talks around teacups, the love she expressed, were even more important than the medical care she provided or the new surgical procedures she pioneered.

If Jesus had the time, we have the time. Don’t submit to the tyranny of your “to do” list. He has a more important one.

Miriam's story

Listen to an audio version of this post at
http://media1.imbresources.org/files/118/11834/11834-65448.mp3

“Leave!” her father shouted.

Just like that. Thrown out of her house, out of her family, out of her world as she had known it. She had nowhere to go, nowhere to find shelter, no immediate way to survive.

Miriam* is 20, but that’s more like 17 in the Muslim country of her birth, where most girls and women depend on their fathers or husbands for everything — even their identity.

What angered her father enough to cast his own daughter out?
Miriam had always been intrigued by stories about Jesus Christ. A certain TV channel occasionally featured programs about Jesus’ life. She would sit and watch for hours as a young girl. Her father noticed her fascination with the programs and canceled the channel.

Sometimes Miriam would wonder, “Could I be a Christian? No, no, of course not. I’m a Muslim. But maybe ... .”

She tried to put the idea out of her mind. But she couldn’t forget about Jesus. There was something about Him, something pure and loving, something she wanted.

About two years ago, Miriam’s mother met an American woman where she worked. The American visited their home for a few meals and soon became a family friend. Miriam asked the woman if she believed in Christ. Yes, she replied. Miriam was doubtful; she had heard a lot about Americans who claim to be Christians but live immoral lives. With time, however, she saw the woman was a true follower of Christ. One day, the woman gave Miriam a Bible in her own language.

Miriam drank in the Word like a parched wanderer in the desert. About a year ago, she befriended another believer from her own country. Under her guidance, Miriam decided to follow Christ as her Lord.

Eager to share the truth she had discovered, she began to tell her classmates about what she had read in the Bible. One day she received a letter threatening her because of her new beliefs and her connection with Christians. Scared, she hid at home for a time — and started doubting her faith.

The doubts lasted for a few months. Then Miriam’s mother was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. Her Christian friends heard little from Miriam during her mother’s illness. They began to wonder if she had abandoned her faith. When they arrived at her home to join other mourners the day her mother died, Miriam calmly told them, “God is with me. I’ll be OK.”

Her mother’s death marked a major turning point for Miriam.

“I’m not sure what was going on inside of her, but after her mom passed, she got very serious about studying the Word, serious about wanting her family to know and serious about being in fellowship with other national believers,” says a Christian friend.

Miriam pored over the New Testament Book of Acts, which recounts the rapid growth of the early church in a hostile environment.

“She was interested and eager about the idea of multiplication,” says her friend. “She noted one of the major themes of Acts is that the people didn’t just hear God’s Word; they did it. She wanted to do it.”

That’s when her father discovered the many hours she spent reading the Bible. He demanded to know if she had become a Christian. She told him the truth, almost relieved she no longer had to hide her faith from him.
“Leave!” he said. It could have been worse; at least he didn’t kill her for the “shame” she had brought upon the family.

Homeless and alone, Miriam sought out local believers who had lived through similar circumstances. She moved in with another female friend.
“As far as I know, she’s still living with her,” says her Christian friend. “Apparently, her father now lets her back into his house so she can have contact with her younger sister. They are the only two children, so you can guess how incredibly traumatic this last year has been for her.

“It has been difficult for me to get in touch with her recently. I think she is afraid to show me when she’s not doing well. Perhaps she’s doubting things as she counts the cost in a new way and she’s ashamed. I’m not sure.”

Miriam’s story doesn’t necessarily have a “happy” ending. It’s still unfolding. Will she stay faithful to Christ, no matter the cost? Will her father relent and allow her to come home? Will she renounce Jesus in order to win back her father’s approval and protection?

These wrenching choices are common for young Muslims who decide to follow Christ. Pray for Miriam — and many others facing similar challenges — to be strong in faith. Pray that the reality that they are blessed when they are “persecuted for the sake of righteousness” (Matthew 5:10, NASB) will lift their hearts and comfort them in difficulties.

Pray for the many Muslims who, like Miriam, want to know more about Jesus but fear the consequences if they act on their desire. They need to know that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5: 6) are also blessed — and will be satisfied.

* (Name changed)

The 'jobless recovery' and missions

Listen to an audio version of this post at http://media1.imbresources.org/files/118/11801/11801-65109.mp3

News flash: The Great Recession ended more than a year ago.

That cheery announcement came Sept. 20 from the National Bureau of Economic Research. The 18-month downturn, longest since World War II, ended in June 2009, according to the bureau.

You could’ve fooled me. You could’ve fooled a lot of folks who have lost their jobs (or can’t find one), lost their savings and lost their homes. For them, the economic crisis continues with no end in sight.

The economic recovery, if you want to call it that, has been weak. Hiring — the overwhelming concern of millions looking for work — remains stalled. Businesses won’t take on new workers until they’re convinced a growing economy will return their investment, economists say. So, nearly 15 million workers are unemployed — not counting those who have given up looking.

Many people who do have jobs fear losing them. Many older workers who have lost jobs fear they might never work again at anywhere near the salary they once commanded. Many young adults entering the job market face a long search.

Meanwhile, 4 million people fell below the poverty line in 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That brings the total count of those in poverty to 44 million — or one of every seven Americans (the poverty line as defined by the government for 2009 was $10,830 in pretax income for a single adult and $22,050 for a family of four).

These realities pose many challenges for Christians. How can we most effectively help the hurting, inside and outside the church? Food pantries and soup kitchens? Job counseling and training? Partnering with Christian and secular charities and social agencies? All of the above?

Many churches are asking those questions at the same time they deal with the painful process of cutting their own local ministry budgets. A LifeWay Research survey of 1,002 Protestant pastors conducted last November revealed some trends that probably continue today:

* Two-thirds of the pastors surveyed said giving in their churches was flat or down compared to the same period in 2008. Nearly half reported they had frozen staff salaries for 2009.

* More than half the pastors reported higher unemployment in their churches. Seventy percent reported receiving more requests for financial assistance from people outside the congregation; 38 percent said they were receiving more requests for assistance from church members.

* Despite tough economic times, more than 40 percent said their churches had responded by increasing spending on behalf of needy families. One in four said their churches had launched new ministries to help needy people. Nearly half said more church members had become involved in volunteer service to their communities.

“The economic downturn is forcing many churches to become more volunteer-driven organizations focused on helping the hurting in times of need,” said Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research, when the survey results were released early this year.

That’s a good thing. But if the “jobless recovery” drags on, how will church support for national and international mission work beyond local communities be affected?

“In a tough economy we have to make some hard decisions, and it’s easier to cut the ministries and people we’re not looking at eyeball to eyeball every day,” admits Southern Baptist minister Richard Mark Lee, lead pastor of Sugar Hill (Ga.) Church.

Sugar Hill, northeast of Atlanta, is home to about 15,500 people. Up to 1,600 of them attend Lee’s church weekly. The town — and the church — took a major hit when the economy stalled.

“A lot of our folks are in the construction industry, so when that bubble burst, it certainly affected us,” Lee reports. “About 18 percent of our church members are either unemployed or significantly underemployed.”
But the church has no intention of backing away from active involvement in international missions. Sugar Hill is featured in Get Connected: Mobilizing Your Church for God’s Mission (imb.org/GetConnectedBook), the new book by Lee’s ministry mentor, Johnny Hunt, former Southern Baptist Convention president.

“If we cut off the lost of the world because of economics, woe to us for being disobedient to Christ’s command,” Lee says. “I can’t stand before God or my people with integrity and say, ‘We need to ignore these and take care of our own.’”

Sugar Hill Church takes care of its own. But it also intends to continue reaching beyond U.S. borders with its dollars and its people — regardless of the ups and downs of the economy.

Five myths Christians believe

Listen to an audio version of this post at http://media1.imbresources.org/files/116/11668/11668-64117.mp3

I used to believe that as long as I was “doing the Lord’s work,” God would protect me from physical harm with some kind of magic force field whenever I visited overseas mission fields.

Historical ignoramus that I was, it didn’t dawn on me until years later that countless faithful believers have died through the ages from sickness, accidents, attacks or persecution while serving the Lord. Was I supposed to get a special exemption when they didn’t?

I still occasionally rely on the magic force field idea to help me get through turbulent plane flights. It’s not faith; it’s a mental trick to keep me from running up and down the aisle screaming, “We’re all gonna die!”

Lots of otherwise reasonable Christians depend on various shortcuts, myths and spiritual distortions to get through the day. Often we buy into such counterfeits to avoid trusting God and obeying Him. California pastor/author Larry Osborne addresses some of them in his book, “10 Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe” (Multnomah, 2009).

At least five of the myths Osborne identifies affect how we respond to God’s call to take the Gospel to the world:

* “Faith can fix anything.”

Faith in an ever-faithful God sustains us moment by moment as we follow Him. But it doesn’t “fix” everything the way we want it fixed. Nor does God. He is concerned with accomplishing His will, not ours.

Faith is not “an impenetrable shield that protects us from life’s hardships and trials,” Osborne writes. “It’s not a magic potion that removes every mess. It’s a map we follow. … It’s designed to guide us on a path called righteousness. Along the way, it doesn’t promise to fix every flat tire.”

That applies to daily life — and to missions. Missionaries get a lot of flat tires. Cross-cultural ministry entails endless frustrations, hassles, confusion, misunderstanding and discouragement. The payoff might not come for years, even generations. But it will come. The Word of God does not return void.

* “God has a blueprint for my life.”

A blueprint contains detailed instructions for building an entire structure (i.e., life). God gives us guidance for today and asks us to trust Him for tomorrow. Thinking too far beyond that brings little but anxiety.

“The starting place for finding God’s will is obeying the commands and instructions we already know” from His Word, Osborne reminds his readers. “The pathway of obedience always leads to further light.”

If God tells you to go to a strange, possibly hostile place or culture with no guarantee of success or safe return — no blueprint, in other words — how will you respond?

* “Christians shouldn’t judge.”

How convenient. If we redefine Christ’s command not to condemn sinners (when we are sinners ourselves) to mean that we cannot call good and evil what they are, we have surrendered to evil.

Osborne: “Underlying the idea that we have no right to judge the beliefs and moral standards of others is another widely held belief. It’s the dogma that truth and morality are relative. … If we refuse to label the behaviors Jesus called sin, sin, we’re disagreeing with Jesus, not following Jesus.”

We’re also undermining His mandate to make disciples among all peoples. If the world isn’t lost in sin, what’s the point of preaching the Gospel of salvation?

* “A valley means a wrong turn.”

“Most of us understand that hardships (even long-term hardships) are a natural part of life,” Osborne acknowledges. “But something fundamentally changes when the deep and lengthy valley is our valley. The truths we so easily accept in theory and so quickly apply to others become difficult to fathom in our own life.”

Valleys, especially ones that pass through the shadow of death, force us to trust God or despair. In missions, deep valleys often come before mountaintop breakthroughs.

* “Dead people go to a better place.”

Really? All of them? Jesus spoke of the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth for those who reject God. He spoke of the narrow path to heaven and the wide highway to hell.

“To our modern-day sensibilities, the exclusivity of Christ, the reality of hell, and the need for salvation that includes personal piety have all become passé, if not downright offensive,” Osborne says. “And it’s not just our culture that rejects these ideas; so do many Christians. …

“The cross and salvation are central to the Gospel. Once we lose any real concept of hell, the natural consequence is more than just putting us at odds with Scripture; it eventually devalues the cross, redefines salvation, and turns obedience into an extra-credit spiritual add-on.”

The Bible is a hard book to read in our day. It contains judgments, absolutes and non-negotiable commands — as well as the words of the Lord’s abounding grace, love and mercy.

It’s not the message we want to hear. It’s what we need to hear.

Meeting Jesus for coffee

Listen to an audio version of this post at http://media1.imbresources.org/files/116/11606/11606-63700.mp3

A young guy rushes into a coffee shop and joins Jesus Christ at a table. Jesus has been waiting for Him — apparently for quite a while.

Jesus breaks into a smile, but as He rises to offer a greeting, the young man says, “Hey, Jesus, sorry I’m late. Work was crazy today. No, don’t get up. I just got a little behind.”

“That’s no problem, Chuck,” Jesus replies. “I’m just glad that …”
,
“I’m glad I made it, too,” Chuck interjects, pulling a legal pad from his briefcase. “Listen, let’s get down to business. I have a lot of work here, lotta requests, OK?”

Jesus, used to the drill, hides His disappointment. He dutifully listens as His distracted friend races through page after page of petitions, peeves and random thoughts. When Chuck finally finishes, Jesus leans forward to respond. Before He can speak, Chuck looks at his watch and blurts, “Hey, look at the time! Gotta get going, Jesus. I’m just gonna wrap this up and say amen. It’s been a pleasure praying with You. I’ll be in touch. Have a good day!” He grabs his stuff and takes off, leaving Jesus alone at the table, sipping coffee.

That’s the storyline of “Coffee with Jesus,” a funny video produced by Church Fuel that you can find at GodTube.com (http://www.godtube.com/featured/video/coffee-jesus). Funny, but sad.

In an age of continuous, pointless distraction, we approach the Lord the way Chuck does more than we want to admit — to ourselves or to Him. Would you treat your friends this way? Not if you want to keep them. We rely on God’s patience, but how must His heart hurt over each little (and large) rejection?

At His last meal with the disciples, Jesus said, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22:15b, NASB). The King James Version translates the first part of the verse this way: “With desire I have desired … .” We’ll never understand the magnitude of His yearning at that moment, but it was deeper than tears. During His lonely agony in Gethsemane later that night, when He needed Peter and John the most, they fell asleep. He asked them, “What, could ye not watch with me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40b, KJV).

It’s a mystery to think that God, the Creator of all things, intensely desires the love of such as us. Yet it is why He created us. Every once in a while, we need to remember why we are here.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5, NASB) is God’s great commandment, repeated again and again in Scripture. All the rest of the Law and the prophets depend upon it, Jesus said, along with loving our neighbor (Matthew 23:40).

When Israel chased after idols, it not only angered the Lord, it broke His heart. The Book of Hosea recounts the tragic story of a prophet who marries a harlot. He briefly feels the ongoing pain God experiences over the unfaithfulness of His people.

Returning to God means seeking Him alone — and no other. “When You said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your face, O Lord, I shall seek,’” David prayed (Psalm 27:8, NASB). When we seek Him, He confronts the selfishness that permeates even our faith. We are not here just to enjoy His blessings, but to bless Him with our thoughts, words and actions.

“Do you love Me?” Jesus asks us daily, repeatedly, just as He asked Peter after His resurrection. Love of God in action is obedience. Love of God expressed is worship. And God wants worship to rise toward Him from every nation and people.

No one has explained the relationship of worship to missions for the contemporary church better than pastor/writer John Piper:

“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever. Worship, therefore, is the fuel and goal of mission … . The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God … . ‘Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy’” (Psalm 67:3-4a, KJV).

What about evangelism, sending missionaries, preaching the Gospel to the ends of the earth, making disciples, starting churches? These are all means to an end. The end is that His name shall be exalted, that every tongue shall confess Jesus Christ to the glory of God the Father.

Some folks like to think about the heavenly mansions and the streets of gold. But the true joy of eternity with God will be seeing Him face to face and singing praises to Him forever.

Messing with our minds

Listen to an audio version of this post at http://media1.imbresources.org/files/115/11561/11561-63403.mp3

Suppose you could plant an idea in someone else’s mind — and make them think it was their own.

That’s the premise of Inception, one of the most interesting summer blockbusters of recent years. The sci-fi movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb, a mental thief-for-hire who specializes in “extraction” of ideas from people’s brains via their dreams. When a high-powered corporate chief offers him an irresistible payoff to do the reverse — to sneak an idea into a competitor’s mind — Cobb organizes an elite team of dream commandos and springs into action. Lots of cool special effects ensue.

But the film isn’t just another collection of digital gimmicks. It raises serious questions about the nature of reality. Are there different levels of reality, or different realities altogether, in our minds? Are they so “real” that we can become trapped in them? If consciousness and reality are malleable, what about truth? These questions have been asked for ages by mystics, theologians and philosophers — not to mention computer gamers.

Postmodernism questions the existence of all absolutes. So Inception plays to popular culture’s ambivalent relationship with truth. My beef with the movie, however, is its suggestion that planting an idea in someone’s mind is more difficult than removing one. In the real world, the opposite is true.

Getting an idea, especially a false one, out of some folks’ minds is almost impossible. Ignorance often plays a role. But plenty of well-informed people don’t let facts interfere with their views, as several recent studies confirm. One such study, by University of California researcher Jonas Kaplan, analyzed the centers of the brain that stimulate emotion. He found that people tend to form political opinions first, then invest all their mental and emotional energy “making themselves feel good about their decision” — regardless of the conflicting data presented to them.

Two Stony Brook (N.Y.) University scholars discovered that highly educated people are even less open than others to new facts that challenge their existing perceptions. Their factual knowledge in some areas “makes it nearly impossible to correct [other areas] on which they’re totally wrong,” according to an article on the findings in The Boston Globe.

You can see this phenomenon demonstrated daily (and loudly) by TV talking heads, political bloggers and the like. You probably see it around your kitchen table or the office water cooler.

Planting an idea in someone’s mind, on the other hand, is relatively easy — for good or ill. Good parents and teachers use methods as old as Socrates to encourage young people to “discover” the right answers for themselves. Advertisers convince people every day that they can’t live without things they don’t even need. Propagandists and gossips entice people into believing lies by constant repetition.

The unsurpassed master of mental manipulation has been at it for a very long time. He convinced Adam and Eve that they didn’t need to heed God’s tiresome commands, that they could become “… like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5, NASB). Humankind’s long history of self-deception and self-destruction began with an insidious idea planted in our minds: If we can be like God, we can be God. Then we don’t need to obey or worship Him. As a practical matter, He no longer exists.

The devil plants plenty of bad ideas, but this might be the worst: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1a, NASB). A lot of really smart people believe that one. If there is no God, the saying goes, all things are permissible — murder, genocide, you name it. Recent history gives many blood-soaked examples of godlessness as state policy.

Sin, the process of rebellion against God and worship of self, is an act of the will. But it begins in the mind. Only one idea is more powerful: the Gospel.

That an all-powerful God would enter our reality, live among us, die at our hands and rise again — all to express His love and mercy to those who rejected Him — is the most revolutionary idea in history. If it is believed, if it is accepted and acted upon, it changes everything. God uses it to renew our darkened minds so we can worship Him in spirit and truth. Then we can transmit this great idea to others, which is the mission of the church in the world.

Plant the Gospel idea in a few minds — and see what happens.

Three 'evangelical lies' about reaching Muslims

Listen to an audio version at http://media1.imbresources.org/files/113/11355/11355-62029.mp3

Karim* grew up in an Arab Christian family in a Middle Eastern country — part of the “1 percent of Christians among the 99 percent Muslims,” as he describes it.

When you’re part of a tiny, historically persecuted minority, you tend to keep your head down and your mouth closed. You also tend to believe what your elders tell you about the majority, whether it’s true or not. Karim did — for a time.

Now an evangelical pastor in the Middle East, Karim fervently believes the Christians of the region “are responsible for reaching the 99 percent.” But too many still accept three “evangelical lies” that prevent them from sharing Jesus with their Muslim neighbors:

* A spirit of fear. “Most Christians are afraid to go and reach Muslims because of fear,” Karim declares. “We [Christians] say, ‘They will kill us. They will kill our family, our children.’”

* Muslims won’t believe. “Many, many Christians say that Muslims will not follow Christ” — ever. End of story.

* Christians lack the resources to evangelize Muslims. “We say we don’t have the money,” Karim says. “This is another lie, because if I have the heart to reach Muslims, I can go out and reach 1,000 people and share Christ with them. Maybe I need $5 to put gas in my car. If I go walking, I don’t need any money at all.”

But it took Karim a long time to reject the lies.

As a young man he wandered in the spiritual wilderness. He worked in a nightclub (“I was a big sinner,” he confesses). Weary of cultural Christianity, he even converted to Islam for several years. When he returned to Christ with his whole heart, a Muslim friend quickly noticed the change in his life.

“I was so excited about what happened to me, so the first thing I did was to share it with one of my best friends,” Karim recounts. “He said, ‘Karim, if Jesus did that in your life, I want to follow Him.’ I said, ‘No, no, no.’ You see, the fear is there inside us. He said, ‘But I want to follow Christ as you did because it is very good.’ I said, ‘OK, think about it, and we can talk tomorrow.’ The next morning at 8:30 he came to me and said, ‘I decided to give my life to Jesus and to follow Him with no conditions.’”

A second friend believed, and a third, and a fourth. All were Muslims. Not all decided to follow Christ as quickly as the first, but Karim could no longer deny Muslims wanted the priceless gift he had to share.

He began to sense what a Saudi friend later put into words: “We Muslims are beloved people, but we are cheated” — cheated out of knowing about the One who loves them because other followers of Christ are too timid or indifferent to tell them about Him.

“You know the difference between leading a Christian-background person to Christ or a Muslim?” Karim asks. “The first is like a tree planted in your backyard, and in six months you start to get fruit. But to lead a Muslim to Christ, you are digging in a mine. You may spend years, but what you find there is not fruit. It is diamonds!”

What keeps him digging? Every day he hears about — or personally witnesses — a Muslim coming to Christ.

“This is the fuel I’m getting from the Lord.”

*(Name changed)