It was nine at night, and the military police were banging on our front door again! “Stay in your rooms!” I whispered to our student missionaries as I raced to the door and opened it. The captain’s familiar face met me. He greeted me like an old friend, slapping me on the back. I reciprocated in a jovial way, though I felt like a mouse who had won the affection of a tomcat. This was one friend I would rather not see too often.

The captain pointed to a young man and women standing behind him in the moonlight. “These be American’s,” he said in English. Then in Turkish he continued, “We found them camping in the forest. They can’t stay there, so we’re bringing them to you.”

I was stunned. The military police were asking me for a favor! They couldn’t let these foreigners sleep in the forest, so they wanted me to house them. Esther and I quickly agreed, shook hands with the travelers, took in their bags, and brought tea out for the soldiers. The warmhearted young couple was greatly relieved to be freed from police custody and quite embarrassed to be a burden to us. They had been backpacking through India and Turkey for two months. We sat together at our kitchen table laughed together for a good hour, exchanging funny travel stories. The next morning, Esther prepared a lavish breakfast and treated the road-worn travelers like royalty.

They were secular people with no real interest in religion. The man’s name was Daniel—a perfect springboard for us to explain our convictions of Christ’s imminent return and to plant seeds of curiosity. They were headed to Istanbul, so I told them a bit about Constantine. I also told them I would give them an intriguing book that would help them unravel Daniel’s mysteries and tie together the legacy of Constantine.

Later that morning as we waved goodbye, I marveled at how God had used the Muslim Turkish military police to plant a copy of The Great Controversy in the backpack of a secular American couple!

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