It had been a blazing hot day and I was tired and ready to send Ahamed away for the day when he asked if I would take him to see his grandfather who was sick and dying. I did not want to make the 70-mile trip out into the desert, but I allowed myself to be persuaded to go.

Early the next morning we made the three-hour trip out to a nomad camp that I had never seen before. Upon arriving, we found Ahamed’s grandfather to be very sick with a high fever. I went into the goatskin tent where he lay on the ground and attempted to talk to him. He did not seem to understand what I was saying, so I held his hand and prayed for him. When I finished praying, his eyes opened and he told his son to make tea. By the time we finished drinking the hot tea, the old man was sitting up and talking rationally. His grandson told him who I was and that I was a man with the message of “Yesua” i.e., Jesus. This opened the door for me to give him the Gospel of Christ.

As I told the story, he never took his eyes off of me. In a very simple way I explained the death, burial and resurrection of Christ to the old man. When I finished he said, “I have waited all of my life for someone to tell me that message again. I heard it when I was just a small boy, five or six-years old, and my father was a guard for a company in Nigeria.” Then to my utter surprise he said, “I believe it with my heart for I have asked God many times to help me to know more about Him because I knew there was more that I did not understand.” We talked on for a while and I was convinced that he had truly believed on Christ for salvation. As the day wore on, the old man’s fever returned. By the time I left, he was too sick to talk, so we left and I did not expect the man to live.

About three months later, Ahamed, who had gone to work for someone else, came and asked if I would take him to see his grandfather again. I was surprised to learn that his grandfather had survived, so I agreed to take him out again.

As often happens, when we arrived the next day they were expecting us. The old man, whose name was also Ahamed, had gathered all the people of the camp together for me to give them the message of Christ! This side of eternity we will never know how many lives were changed because someone gave a five or six-year old nomad boy the message of Christ, and he in return responded to the light that he received!

Terry Arp has pastored Emmanuel Baptist Church in Newnan, GA since 1998. He served for 29 years with BIMI. He was in the Niger Republic for 16 years before serving for 12 years in France.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

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