The Gas Man

 “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” 1 Corinthians 1:27, NIV.

Life’s difficulties seemed as etched into John’s* face as the scars covering his body from the many knife fights he’d experienced. You could not ask for a less likely candidate as a person of peace, but God specializes in the unlikely.

While John came from a Christian background, this 26 year old was following anything but Jesus. Fighting was a daily activity, until he happened to get a Muslim girl pregnant. John was forced to marry her, and when she gave birth to their son, it occurred to him that he didn’t want his son to grow up like him. So he decided that he should try harder to follow Jesus.

At this crossroad in John’s life, God brought him into contact with a Southern Baptist living in Southeast Asia as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher. John worked for the local gas company and had been sent to check the meter. After talking with this foreigner, he began attending his ESL class.

While taking ESL John was invited to study the Bible. He jumped at the opportunity and began meeting with his teacher two or three times a week. One of the challenges he faced was to share what he learned with others. He began by sharing with his wife, but her family moved her and their son back to their home so that the child would be raised Muslim. He then shared with a Muslim background co-worker, but he was transferred just a short while later. John was very discouraged by these rejections.

John’s work causes him to travel through rough jungle. On one of these trips he met a group of sixteen plantation workers, and he decided to share with them what he’d learned about Jesus. For the next two hours he talked with these men about what God’s Word had to say. At the end he asked if any of them wanted to meet with him to find out more. Two responded positively to his invitation. As he started to leave, the two followed him.

They said, “Please don’t forget us. Bring us a Bible so we can know God’s Word.”

As soon as John was alone he fell to his knees and wept. He was so grateful that God would actually use someone like him to bring His Word to these two men. But isn’t it just like God to use the unlikely to reach out to the spiritually hungry?

*Names are changed for security reasons

Pray that:

God would continue to call believers like John to share His word boldly within a predominately Muslim culture.

Christians in John’s country would be so in more than name, but in deed and truth.

Rapidly multiplying churches would grow within this diverse Southeast Asian country with its more than 140 unreached people groups.

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.