Go Where the Apostle Paul Went, Do What He Did . . .

As we drove near the top of mountain peaks, we passed many sheep walking down the side of the road with no shepherd in sight. On down the road, a shepherd popped out of the scrubby brush carrying a sheep. We stopped and asked if we were on the right road and if the sheep were his. He affirmed. We asked how many sheep he had, and he said 100, but the one he carried was seriously lame.
Immediately our memories took us to the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15 where a shepherd had ninety-nine out of 100 sheep and went into the wilderness to find the lost one. We showed the shepherd the parable in the New Testament which he found very peculiar. We asked him about the odds and he said it was unfathomable. He agreed that we did not meet by accident and that God arranged this time. We explained why. God is a God of redemption and wants all to repent and come to know Him. This shepherd met the Good Shepherd that day under very unusual circumstances.
If that was not enough, we asked where he lived, and he said in a village called “Shepherd Jesus.” We were astounded. We went to the distant village to even find it had a sign called “Shepherd Jesus” which surely is rooted from the Byzantine time when Greeks dwelt there. Muslims do not think of Jesus as a Shepherd and would not name their village such. It is sad to think that most people live life without good guidance or shepherding and end up lost in the wilderness of life. May it not be so. Let’s us go proclaiming this message of redemption and life eternal.

We had just left the ruins of Nicaea where the famous Early Church Council took place and were headed southwest through the region of Bithynia toward Pergamum near where the Apostle Paul had his Macedonian call. Monumental snow-capped mountains with ski resorts towered to our east with ancient bazaars from Silk Road days nestled at the mountain’s base. After an hour we decided on a brief break at a roadside tea shop with everybody’s consent.
Our waiter was young and serious in demeanor. We ordered tea and placed a Good News packet with NT, DVD, etc. on the table. Our tea was served, and I told him that we were going to Ephesus to see Christian ruins and would like to offer him, free of charge, something that was extremely precious to us. He looked in the sack and angrily said, “Who sent you here?” I said we only stopped for tea. Twice more he asked and twice more I repeated. I said these books were not forced on anyone. He was not obligated to take anything from us. “I just wanted to offer you something good. I’m sorry you are so upset”.
He said, “I’m not really upset but in shock”. He explained himself as follows: “Last night after work I went home and watched TV. A documentary program about Christians was playing and I viewed it. It was so biased against Christians that I looked toward heaven and said, ‘God, so many Christians in the world can’t be as stupid as this program makes them seem. Can you get me that book, so I can read this for myself? How can I find such a book in Turkish?’”
We showed up as an answer to this appeal to God. Omer was not saved then but I’m sure God’s providence never acts in vain or by happenstance.

Everyone has stories that influenced or even directed one’s life from childhood through adulthood. These mega-narratives can be historical or fictional. The Bible is historical, but what about personal experiences that transcend hard facts? Here is a tale for the history books.
We met a lady who quickly became a believer in Jesus Christ once the Gospel was presented to her. We were surprised at her responsiveness. Our curiosity led us to ask what her thinking was concerning Jesus now.
As a little girl, she had a dream of the Armenian cemetery on the hill above their village. In the dream, a bearded man with a white robe asked her what she had brought him. She responded that she brought nothing since she did not know he would be there. The man took white ash from a nearby rock and made the sign of the cross on her palms. She woke up and told her mother of the dream.
Being poor villagers, they decided to offer a rooster to Allah and distribute it in the village as a vow of dedication and devotion. Later she told her teachers in grade school about the dream. Everyone was curious since nobody knew what the cross represented and thought it must be the letter “t” only. Years later now she is a believer and is influential in the community. Was this dream just to show she would be saved?

We were at the base of the mountains near a national park, when we stopped to ask directions from some women baking bread and roasting meat in terra cotta tandoor ovens outside. While we were asking questions, one of the ladies noticed a New Testament in the seat of the vehicle. She literally crawled in the window over a man, a theology teacher from a Bible college, to grab the book. I, she, and he--all of us were surprised. She said she had always wondered about the Bible but had never seen one. We shared the Good News and literature with numerous others.
It is hard to say that people are hungry for the Gospel as we often hear. How can people hunger for something of which they know nothing? When the Good News is explained, only then do people realize the absolute truth, the spiritual need, the logical nature, and the moral reason Jesus had to die.