A Divine Choreography in real time.

Hey, y'all.....

About 4 yrs. ago, I invited a man from the A country who spoke almost no English to trade language lessons. (For safety, I'll call him R but that isn't even his initial.) The forever THEME is KINGDOM but my custom is to always follow my friends as they initiate/stop spiritual dialogue. R gradually revealed a curiosity about Jesus. Then he revealed that he often listened Gospel radio while living temporarily as a refugee in the country next door! Matt. 11:15

Fast forwarding to the night before the anti-democratic movement took over his country, R told me that he was flat broke after all of his bills & that he had no $ to send his brother (whom I will call S......also not his initial) & his family......(this is a real source of shame for people in that religion who live here.....as their relatives often presume they're rich). Like so many in his country, S had lost his job & was soon to face hunger due to imminent food shortages. I volunteered $100. Then, R determined to stretch his budget & match that. He wired $200 that night. The family had enough to eat for quite a while!

In early July, R asked me to teach him the Bible! (We've been getting together w/another American friend for DMM studies & help w/his citizenship test q's.) Then, a few weeks later, he told me that S (who'd recently fled to the country next door), had "taken a bath"! Recently, I was able to find them a safer place to stay through a Christian org. We will keep sending him what he needs as long as needed. I'm a tightwad & want to get bang for my Kingdom buck. My level of generosity is not astonishing......but very strategic. I'll never claim that the $100 was THE thing that brought this man into the Kingdom, but I love being part of the Lord's ongoing story! 

Below is a photo of S "taking a bath"! His wife also took a bath! R is waiting on his visa to visit his bro in that host country. Wouldn't it be awesome if S gives R a bath when he visits???  S's host country is also a hard place for believers.   

In memory of Ali: 

A brother in the Lord, Ali, suddenly passed on September 6. He'd left that "other Abrahamic religion"  5 or 6 yrs. ago. Providentially, I was in the middle of a DMM study w/R on my back porch when I got the call. Breaking my rule, I seized the rare opp & initiated questions. I asked him if he were ready to meet God.....He said, "I'm 80% sure because of my good works". R is a very good man by human standards, even housing & feeding a recent arrival in his basement free of charge for 2 months. I asked him to imagine what would happen if S came here w/o exchanging the currency he's been using into dollars.......& then trying to pay for something in a store w/it....I said, "In America, you have to use dollars, right?" He agreed. I told him that God also has a diff currency for entering heaven & does not accept our good works in place of it. We then read Isaiah 64:6 (....our righteousness is like filthy rags) & Isaiah 55:8-9.....(For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.....etc.) 

I also told him, "Just as you want me to remove my dirty shoes when I come into your house (their custom), God wants us to take off our dirty shoes when we come into His. But, it's actually much worse. We're 100% dirty!" He said, "I think about 50%".....I said, "Ok....50%. So, can I come into your house w/one clean & one dirty shoe? If I have money for your brother & insist on putting it on the kitchen table....without taking off my shoes when I come in......that would insult you, right?" Pray for R. So close to the Kingdom. 


Below is a video of Ali's testimony. He was eulogized by an odd but compelling assortment......A couple of well-groomed people who looked like nice Church folk & a former heroin addict in a t-shirt (who's also now a nice Church folk!) got up to speak. There were maybe 125 in attendance & the pastor asked people to raise their hands if Ali had ever shared the Gospel w/them. About 40 hands went up. Later, the pastor told me that his sister had requested that nothing be said against his former religion......but that when Ali "took a bath" in front of the Church, he went off script & boldly RENOUNCED his former religion!!!!! 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PDxlgwhGicF_YsDNuyrYXzFikihmCxy_/view
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For more English lessons, spiritual baths, redeeming sorrow.....and the nations.....

​......Just another witness to His Glory

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