Living Water Flows

Ok, so I was one of the guys who was out with Isaac that night that nothing happened. After several dead ends, we were so desperate that at 11 PM we decided to head out into the desert and find some Arabs in tents. The desert is literally littered with tents this time of year—it is common for Arab men to spend their evenings with their friends out in the desert, so we were just going to crash in on one uninvited. I kinda decided that we’d drive twenty minutes out into the desert and then turn off the highway and stop at the first place we find. The only thing is that apparently we found the only stretch of the desert were there were no tents what-so-ever. We headed straight for the only visible lights of any kind assuming that it was a camp. It turned out to be the office for a landfill. There were some Asian expats working there and a steady stream of Arab drivers dumping loads of rock and dirt. As Isaac mentioned in his post we (he) gave out several wrong words and basically the whole adventure was turning up nothing. We did visit with these guys for a while but none of us speak any Nepalese or Tagalog so the conversation was rather limited. We were able to talk with one Syrian driver for a bit who bore a striking resemblance to Sacha Baron Cohen of Borat fame. From here on this guy will be known simply as Sacha. Sacha lived in town and asked for my cell phone number which I gave him. It was hard to put a positive spin on the evening’s events as we were making the drive back to the city. I could at least chalk up some good language time, but that didn’t really justify the trip.

Well, who should call me on the day after Christmas but Sacha. We agreed to get together for coffee today at a coffee shop near my house. I gave Isaac a ring to see if he was interested. He was game and asked, “So are we just going to ask this guy why he wants to become a Christian?” So, the bar was set.

So tonight we meet at the coffee shop. And while Sacha and I are making small talk, Isaac is getting a download from Jesus. So we try out the words on Sacha. After like a dozen spot on words, I say to myself, “Batter up!” See, in the Glory I have this gift of Apostolic preaching, so it was time to bring it on. So, I asked Sacha if he understood why Isaac knew all these things about him. And he said, “Yes, it is a great gift from God.” I said, “Right!” And I told him that God was drawing him to Himself. That he loved him and that he wanted to bless his life. I explained that all the prophets were dead—all of them except Jesus. That Jesus had a job while he was on this earth and that right now he was alive and still at work. His work was to give life and give it abundantly. I explained that if he wanted to experience this life it was available. We have this commission and authority to overturn the works of the devil and release the Kingdom of God. If he was willing he could experience that right now. He was willing to receive prayer—he had a number of afflictions from difficulty sleeping to disturbing dreams to frequent headaches. Isaac prayed first in English and then I prayed in Arabic. We prayed for God’s peace to come on him and for him to experience freedom and God’s blessings. We prayed that he’d sleep well and without troubling dreams. The whole while we were praying, he was kinda fiddling with the paper wrapper from a drinking straw. I’m thinking to myself, “This guy’s getting nothing. His jacket is too thick—nothing’s getting through.” He was wearing one of those downy winter coats and we were laying our hands on his arms.

So, afterwards, I ask, “Did you feel anything?” And he says, “Yeah, just as soon as that guy (Isaac) placed his hand on me, this lightness kinda bubbled up from my feet to my head. And my head cleared up.” I’m thinking, “That’s great, but what about when I prayed?” He went on, “When you placed your hand on me it was like water was trickling into me from your hand up my arm and into my chest.” Isaac and I are like good thing we asked ‘cuz we’d have never known from looking at you.

I explained that we Christians have the Spirit of God living in us and that he springs up from our lives and flows out of our lives like a river and that was what he felt. Sacha happily received a New Testament in Arabic and we are looking forward to an update from him on how well he sleeps tonight.