After hiking up 3 mountains, while carrying 87lbs (almost 40 kilos) on our backs (between the 2 of us), sleeping on the ground that night and then hiking through a mountain village to do ministry hut to hut all day, we were finally just a 2 min walk away from our campsite, when those words pierced through the evening air...
"I WANT TO BE FREE! I WANT TO REPENT! PRAY WITH ME!"
At a hut, where over 20 people sat gathered together, a lone man stood up in the midst of them yelling to us. Not caring about the crowd observing his desperate display, he hurried to the edge of the property, screaming the same words over and over again. As we welcomed him to come over to us and talk, it was impossible to miss the condition of his soul, expressed through eyes so heavy that they themselves told us a story without needing words.
He shared that he couldn't live a life ruled by his addiction to alcohol anymore, and he needed us to pray to God that he would be set free. We shared with him that only Jesus could change his life- it has nothing to do with our power or his own. We told him, that with his own words, he could invite Jesus into His life to guide Him and give him the strength to make the daily decision to never be the person he once was. Falling to his knees, he cried out to God and after a few minutes, stood up as a man with new purpose. We told him that we will not always be around, but now, he had accepted the ONLY ONE into his life who will never leave him and will be able to give him the strength to stand in the midst of life's pain.
Walking away from that man, my heart was so overwhelmed.
He chased us down.
Not us, but the One living inside of us... and his destiny was restored to him- the life he was truly meant to live.
We had only been in his village for one day, and yet, Jesus was walking through the village, drawing hearts like the one belonging to this broken man. We read multiple times in scripture that, as Jesus walked, there were divine appointments waiting for Him along the way. People pursued Him, grabbed the hem of His cloak and met Him where they had only heard that He might be going. This desperate man was no different.
We have the Unseen Guest, who walked the dusty roads 2,000 years ago, healing as He went and restoring true life to the dying, walking alongside of us through each village and past every hut. Back then, His feet were in sandals; ours are in hiking boots. He walked the dusty roads of the Middle East; we tread on red-dirt paths of Tanzania. The sick flocked to Him everywhere He went; not a expedition goes by without a sick mother, son, daughter or neighbor being brought to us for help. The Gospel has remained the same these 2,000 years. Our venues may have changed, but His love never has.
May we never forget that we live in a world where the lost are still chasing Him down- whether they realize it or not. Every desperate attempt at self-preservation and self-inspired happiness is yet another lost child chasing after their Daddy. May we not miss our appointments along the dusty roads, red-dirt paths and sidewalks of our cities. He is the Unseen Guest accompanying us, and He is still in the business of changing lives.
