Am I Faithful With One???

I had a reminder again today about something that God showed me in college. I remember one day after chapel, I was really excited. I was walking down the sidewalk thinking about the thousands of people that I would love to lead to Christ. Then God gave me this thought, or should I say that He hit me with this 2"x 4", "Why should I give you thousands to lead when I cannot trust you with one!?!"

Today I think that He wanted me to learn this truth again. Today is the end of Ramadan. That is the period of fasting that Muslims do, and it is very important to observe if they want to go to paradise. At the end of Ramadan, all Muslims go to the mosque and pray, then go home and feast, breaking their fast. Before I went visiting today I had to walk through a large Muslim community to see my mechanic. As I was going to his house I passed by one of the mosques. The scene was amazing. There were about 3,000 - 4,000 people outside. The mosque could not hold them all. There they were, mostly dressed in white, facing east, men in one group, head-covered women in another. They were bowing, heads pressing against the ground, and reciting the prayers as the Imam prayed into the microphone "Allah Ahk-bar..." I just stood there and watched for about 15 minutes. As I walked away before they dismissed I started to think how they needed to be reached. Oh, how great it would be to start a church in Aboabo (a large Muslim community).

After checking the mechanic (who was not home), I started visitation. From that point everything started to go wrong. My first few people were not at home or at work. I could not get cars because the taxi and tro-tro (mini-bus) drivers are Muslim and were not working. Let's just say that by the time I got to Anloga, I was not very Spirit-filled.

I finally made it to Inusah's house (this is a Muslim man that I have been working with for 7 months to lead to Christ), and when I got inside I found two Jehovah's Witnesses there. I decided to stay to make sure these men did not impart any false teaching to my friend. This is a good time to say that I was visiting by myself. My partner has started university classes and cannot go with me, so I just visit men on Tuesday. Well, here I am with two JW's and one man that I love, that I hope to see saved. They both speak Twi and English perfectly. I felt like a guy that comes to a gun fight with a knife and a bum leg. Inusah asked me to join in and asked what I thought about what they were saying. Basically I explained to Inusah that just like Islam and Christianity are different and that they both do not lead to Heaven, so also Jehovah's Witness teachings and Christianity are different (keep in mind that this guy does not know much about the Bible, to him a Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal, or Mormon are all the same). I told him that if he decided to follow their teaching, that it was a totally different faith. They were not going to Heaven.

To make a really long four hours of Bible discussion and debate short... it finally ended. I left, Inusah followed me out, and the JW's stayed. Inusah walked with me, and we chatted as we went. I told him that I loved him and just wanted him to know the truth. I told him that I would be praying for him. We said our goodbyes and then I took a taxi home.

As I was going home, this thought from the Word of God kept running through my mind... Colossians 4:6 Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

Then it hit me... here I was asking God for this great thing, but I had been careless in the things that He had already given me to do. He has given me one man, one of these Muslim souls. And when his time of need came, I needed to be Spirit-filled, full of grace so that I could know how to answer these men. I was not.

You never get today back when it is done, and you might not have tomorrow. You know, when you are young, you think life is made up of the big things, but the truth is that life is like lace. It is the small threads that make up the pattern and really make the thing beautiful. Today I am asking God to help me to do the small and do them well.

***(This reminds me of a story that I read in the Book of Virtues, but it is really long. Maybe I can type it out someday and put it in here, but for now I hope a word is enough for the wise. Let's just pray that this is one lesson learned quickly).***