We have come to visit Faissam. He calls to his wife and she brings up a tree stump for me to sit on. He offers a flat rock to Avava. At the head of his plastic mat is a semi-flat rock that he lays his head on. His shirt has a couple buttons at the top. It gapes open at the bottom revealing his stomach mass. He notices and pulls the edges together, to hide the reality. We do the usual greeting, which consists of asking how he is doing, how is his health, how is his family and relatives. Like in the US everything is “fine” even though in reality you know it isn’t. Isn’t it kind of bizarre that we show concern for one another in such a superficial way, but rarely ever go beyond that to reality, or a deeper level of friendship. It’s often just to keep up appearances and not let others know how things are really going. It’s sad that we don’t support each other as real friends more often and share how things are really going. True concern for others is definitely a true Christian attribute.
A couple of teenage boys come sauntering up to see why a white guy is at Faissam’s house. They greet us all and then sit down under a near by tree. We sit in the hot sunshine with a slight breeze. I pray internally to know how to start with him. He says it’s a good time for him too. So I started before creation. “Before there was a world God existed. He, Jesus, angels and a perfect environment. God and Jesus decided to make the universe that we know. He made the sun, moon and our planet. (I try to keep this as simple as possible, so that everyone present can understand) After the world was created God made plants, animals, and humans. He made a special garden to put the first humans in. This was a perfect place. There was no sickness, no pain, no death. All types of plants, trees, fruits and vegetables grew there. Humans could walk and talk with God during that time. About that time the most important angel started thinking thoughts against God. He thought it unfair that God and Jesus had created a world without his help. He became jealous and wanted to be like God. He convinced 1/3 of the angels of his opinion. They could not be like God so he had to remove them from the perfect place. That is when he started to be called by the name devil. It was then that he came to earth and lied to the first humans and they believed him. This is how pain and suffering entered the first perfect garden. Because before that everything was perfect. Because humans had believed the devil and his lie, and disobeyed God, they had live outside the perfect garden. The and because they did not obey God they had the consequences of difficulty in life, birth and growing food. That’s why there are thorns, death, drought and people are not nice to each other. They steal, cheat, and kill each other.” A couple more little boys and girls ran up to see what was happening. An old woman with a cane walked up and sat down too. We talked of how Christ was born to a virgin in a way that assured that His birth was not normal like ours. “He did have a mother and father but He was born before they “knew” each other. He learned about God like you and I. He studied nature and talked to God. He saw the miraculous things, like how a little seed becomes a huge tree. He noticed how male and female animals can create life, babies. He saw how birds fly and probably thought it amazing how our eyes can see different colors, see clearly close and at a distance, and see dark things and light things. He grew up with his parents and learned his fathers work, carpentry. He wasn’t like normal children. He was respectful, kind and loving to everyone, even those who made fun of him. His parents knew he was the savior because an angel had told them so. So as he grew they were not surprised, and they noticed the differences.”
It was getting dark so I told him I guessed that we must go. I asked him if we should come back again to talk. He said that would be great and we could stay into the night if we wanted to. I don’t know how to tell some with his beliefs about God but he seems to be very open and interested in knowing. Please pray that I will be inspired with the right words that will help him to understand and want a relationship with God. Greg
Shanksteps #145B