two tales

I heard two very thought-provoking personal anecdotes today. I will try to reproduce them here as faithfully as possible.

An old friend Za was on the MRT, carrying out her daily routine of listening to mp3s and writing in her journal. As the Malaysian PM's wife had just passed away, the thought that came to mind was how the Muslims, being so closed to Christianity, would every have the chance to hear the gospel?

Hey musings were interrupted when she happened to overhead the girl across the carriage on her mobile phone. She was asking what was the holy trinity? What followed was obscured by the rumblings as the train entered the tunnel, but the next question Za caught was what are the ten commandments? Apparently this girl had an exam on cross-cultural communication in two hours, and she had no idea what these things were.

Za's mind was racing, because this seemed like a perfect invitation to share God's word. After all, we are called to be witnesses for God in season and out of season. But how do you start a conversation with someone by explaining that you were eavesdropping? Furthermore, at the next stop she had to change to the westbound line, and she really couldn't be late for the next appointment. So she prayed and told God that if the girl were to switch to the same line too, she would approach her.

Of course she did, and so Za had to stalk her across the platform, trying to catch up with her and desperately floudering to find the right words. She even made sure she approached from the side where the ear was vacant of earphones. Finally, she tapped her on the shoulder, admitted that she had overheard her questions, and offered her assistance. The response was extremely positive, and the girl was very welcoming of anything that would rescue her from the dreaded exam. So Za explained how the trinity was God in three persons, and even flipped through her bible to locate the ten commandments for her (so she could read it for herself and remember for the exam). The girl was extremely impressed that she could locate the right passage in such a thick volume, but Za explained it is one of the most important passages to Christians.

I lost the next few sentences because I was flipping through my own bible, ashamed that I didn't know where the ten commandments was. But I focussed my attention just in time to catch the punchline. Apparently this girl was a Muslim, although Za would never have guessed from her external appearance. She was in shock; in shock at the immediate answer that God had given to her earlier question, and glorifying God in the divine way in which he can make anything possible.

I can never do justice to the animated account that Za gave to the whole congregation in church today. But I'm sure everyone in the room was praising God. The next account is much shorter, shared during the sermon.

The speaker, M, related how she once had a conversation with her part-time helper, a Chinese national as they happened to be cleaning the house together. The helper commented that she had observed a very close relationship between M and her mother-in-law, which was something very rare among the other homes in which she worked. She also commented that M's family in general seemed to be very close and happy, and that she had seen similar patterns in other homes that she assumed to be Christian, because they had the cross somewhere on their walls.

At this open invitation, M went on to tell her more about Christianity, and gave her some Mandarin tracts to read. But to the rest of us, she told how encouraged she was that even someone as seemingly peripheral as a part-time helper could recognise a difference between Christians and others. And are you living a life that glows with the likeness of Christ, for all to see and wonder?