Remember Nathan

For those who don't know, we have a chaokidars [guards] that are here at the house 24/7. Their names are Nick and Nathan. We're thankful for them for many reasons. First off, they help keep potential intruders away from the house. And, especially for me [Keith], I get free langauge practice and a friendship.

One day, I noticed that Nathan had been gone for a few days. I eventually found out that his mother had been really sick. Since coming back to work, I have been asking how his mother has been feeling. The answers have been somewhere between "there isn't much time left" to "she's getting better."

Today, I asked again and he said "she is getting better." However, I noticed that he looked very concerned. The Father put it on my heart that it was time to try and tell Nathan some things about Him. There hadn't been much so far because he speaks hardly any English and I am only five months in to learning the local language.

I tried to go over in my head many times about what to say and how to say it. After all, death is a difficult topic because the people here have seen so much of it and they are fiercely afraid of it. I went back to the room and asked the Father for help. I went to His Word and opened the Book to exactly Jn11. It is a chapter about the death of one of His close friends, and about how He is the "Re$urrection and the Life."

I went and got the Book in the local language and made a copy of this chapter. Julie and I talked with the Father for a few moments and then I went out to the guard house. After some brief chatting, I gave the copies to him and said something along these lines:

"When I heard about your mother, I became very sad. I was thinking to myself, 'What can I say?' I asked [the Father] and He helped me. This story if from my Book. I think you will like it. Many people are afraid of death, but my family and I are not. We have two [celebrations]. The first is when [the Redeemer] came into the world. The second is when, after He was crucified, He came back to life. Because we believe in Him, we do not fear death. I think this story will help you."

He proceeded to read the story up to the part where it talks about someone being very sick. Then he stopped and said, "This is very interesting." He did not read further, but I explained to him that, if he wanted, he could keep it. He said he wanted to keep it. We proceeded to chat for another hour about many things, but not the story.

We are thankful for this opportunity that the Father gave. My language was broken and my efforts imperfect, but the Father was our help in time of need. Now, Nathan has a copy of a very important section of the Father's Word. And, he has heard that belief in Him means that there is no fear of death because He rose from the dead.

Please, remember Nathan and his family before the Father:

1. Ask that he would read the story many times.
   
2. Ask that the Father would help him to understand it.
   
3. Ask for his sick mother, that she would be healed. But, also ask that she would hear of the Father's victory over death, before she dies.
   
4. Ask for Nathan's entire family, that their hearts would be soft to the Father's truth during this humbling time of sickness and near-death.
5. Ask for this [from Jn11:25-26] to become truth in their lives: "I am the Re$urrection and the Life. He who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die."