The phone rang at about 8 p.m. It was our friend Ahmed inviting us over for watermelon. In this culture, visiting someone’s home is a ritual. First you drink tea, then you eat sweets, then you drink tea again and finally you eat watermelon before you can leave.

We haven’t seen Ahmed’s family for a while. We have been feeling some resistance from one of the family members. The devil has been trying to get us out of the picture. The wives of the two brothers had not spoken to each other in almost five years.

We invited both families to our home separately and suggested that they make peace, as life is too short for broken relationships and regret. A week later, they made peace, and ever since then the family had been going out together. We kept our distance, letting them heal their relationships.

We were very happy to receive Ahmed’s invitation. Over their previous two visits to our home we’d had a three-hour discussion on the state of the dead. Beyan, Ahmed’s wife, had many questions about what happens after death. This evening the conversation turned to the Bible after the first cup of tea. Beyan said that she had read a story about a doctor who had died for three minutes, and after he was revived he told people that he had been flying around outside of his body and saw all the people whose lives he had saved. I asked her, “What do you think of that story?”

She replied, “I am afraid! You said that when we die, we sleep, so why is this man lying?” I said that I cannot speak for someone else, but if she wants, I can show her multiple verses in the Bible that tell us exactly what happens when we die. “You must show me next time I visit you!” she exclaimed. “I must know this!”

The next moment, Ahmed came into the living area with a notebook. He had written neatly in his own language at least five pages of notes. He started to share, in front of other family members, how he has been studying the Bible. He had all the books of the Bible written down and even told James the complete story of Esther. He had been trying to prove to us that the Bible is corrupt, and he said that the Torah was not written by Moses. We did research earlier about the subject and were ready with some answers. What made the evening interesting was that, for the first time ever, he agreed that we need forgiveness for our sins.

During our previous visit James shared a short, humorous story with them about a man who went to a tea shop and ordered some tea. A moment after the waiter set the cup of tea before the man, a bird flew overhead and soiled the tea. “I need a new cup of tea!” the man called to the waiter. “This one is ruined.”

“There you go, all good!” said the waiter, pouring sugar into the tainted tea.

“No!” The man said. “You don’t understand. It is spoiled.”

The waiter added some cream to the tea. “There you go!”

Our friends listened to the story attentively. The message was clear: sin cannot be covered by good works as Islam teaches. We cannot fix our own sin. In their response to this story we saw the working of the Holy Spirit. Our oldest son had sent us that story out of the blue. God knew we would need it to explain His gospel to our friends. God is truly amazing!
That night we also discussed purgatory, heaven, hell and pagan worship.

Beyan wanted to know why bad things happen to good people. We suggested a book we had read earlier. She suggested that we read the book together so that we could explain any words she didn’t understand.

As I reflect on that evening, I recall a sermon by Dr. Dwight Nelson about a man walking the streets of New York City. He was despondent and felt far away from God. But when he lifted his downcast eyes, he saw a young man wearing a T-shirt with the words “Don’t stop believing!” He knew at that moment that God was with him. This message was so encouraging to us. Sometimes we go weeks without a glimmer of hope, and then God gives us fresh courage through interactions like that evening with our friends. We realized again that, without a doubt, God is working. We should be prepared to answer questions, tell stories, show the authenticity of the Bible, read books, plant seeds, and most of all, never stop believing.

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