How I followed God into an Unexpected Friendship
How I followed God into an Unexpected Friendship
Guest post by Kiefer Anderson.
When I first met Abdi, I immediately noticed how welcoming and excited he was. He is from Ethiopia, he is a practicing Muslim, and he works at a Somalian diner off Lake Street in Minneapolis. About 25 of us had gone out to the streets to encourage and pray for whoever was out that night. On Lake street after 8:30pm on a cold night…
Many of people out are prostitutes.
Abdi was insistent on giving us a place to warm up, enjoy a hot delicious meal, and feel safe. What was ironic, is that’s exactly what our plan was to do for anyone we came into contact with on the streets, and yet, here we were the ones being served. A group of us called Captives Free felt like God led us to share his love on Lake Street after dark even though we didn’t know exactly why we were supposed to be there.
Abdi was quick to share about his faith and the 5 pillars of Islam that he adheres to. He was even quicker to tell us how much he loved Jesus and that “you can’t be a Muslin and not love Jesus.” I had never met a Muslim before who told me that. I was taken aback on how open he was to share his faith.
What surprises me the most, and this moment I’ll remember for the rest of my life, was his eagerness to know about our faith.
He had multiple questions about the God we serve, what the trinity is, and who Jesus is to us. He was so excited, asking us these questions and wanting to learn more.
Our entire group left that night feeling rocked, discussing how that night turned out completely different than what we had been expecting it to look. We knew that God was inviting us into something bigger, something that he wants us to join in with him in.
The next couple of weeks, I knew God wanted me to pursue a friendship with Abdi. I’ve never pursued a relationship with someone of a different religion before. God showed me I have so much to learn from this young man, in regards to openly sharing my own faith, giving unconditionally like he did for us, and embodying peace like he does. Abdi told me that I should read the Qur’an, specifically the chapter that discusses Mary, Mother of Jesus.
To be frank, I was terrified.
I questioned if that would be disrespectful to Jesus to do something like that. After seeing how eager he was to know about Christianity, and more importantly, who we know Jesus Christ to be, I knew that I couldn’t be afraid anymore. If Abdi was so willing to educate himself, I knew that God would allow me to do the same. If he was willing to listen to me, I knew that I had to listen as well.
In Luke 10, Jesus calls us to “go out in pairs” and so me and my friend Drew felt like God invited us to educate ourselves about Islam. Drew bought a translated Qur’an and I was able to find the chapter on Mary online. We both had a strong sense that God was calling us to be friends with Abdi, which means fulfilling his request of reading just one chapter out of it.
As we asked God what he was doing in and through us in this new friendship, we felt like we heard God telling us to buy Abdi a Bible. We weren’t sure if that was right, but we trusted what we felt like God was saying. We decided the book of John would be a fantastic introduction to our Jesus. I gave him the book, scared of his reaction, scared that he might not want it or that he might be offended. Yet, when he received it, he gave me a huge hug and said it was beautiful and displayed such a grateful heart.
God has been telling me that there is nothing to fear about pursuing something of a different religion.
I have seen so clearly that this is what the kingdom is; embracing all of God’s children and loving them, serving them, praying for them, and building a relationship with them.
As we have asked God for direction, he has told me that this isn’t really merely about conversion. The first step it to love Abdi in the name of Jesus, and pray that God would work through us. I believe Jesus pursues us ALL in relationship, and calls us to do the same with people around us.
God is the one who is working in Abdi’s life, we just get to be a part of it!
We exchanged numbers after we met with him and that night Abdi was texting us how he wants us to come back soon so we can discuss the book of John. My prayer is that God will use the two of us to be a physical representations of Jesus to him and love him the way our Jesus loves us. We followed God into an unexpected friendship that night and I’m so excited to see what’s in store!
Have you found yourself in a friendship you didn’t expect?
How I followed God into an Unexpected Friendship
Guest post by Kiefer Anderson.
When I first met Abdi, I immediately noticed how welcoming and excited he was. He is from Ethiopia, he is a practicing Muslim, and he works at a Somalian diner off Lake Street in Minneapolis. About 25 of us had gone out to the streets to encourage and pray for whoever was out that night. On Lake street after 8:30pm on a cold night…
Many of people out are prostitutes.
Abdi was insistent on giving us a place to warm up, enjoy a hot delicious meal, and feel safe. What was ironic, is that’s exactly what our plan was to do for anyone we came into contact with on the streets, and yet, here we were the ones being served. A group of us called Captives Free felt like God led us to share his love on Lake Street after dark even though we didn’t know exactly why we were supposed to be there.
Abdi was quick to share about his faith and the 5 pillars of Islam that he adheres to. He was even quicker to tell us how much he loved Jesus and that “you can’t be a Muslin and not love Jesus.” I had never met a Muslim before who told me that. I was taken aback on how open he was to share his faith.
What surprises me the most, and this moment I’ll remember for the rest of my life, was his eagerness to know about our faith.
He had multiple questions about the God we serve, what the trinity is, and who Jesus is to us. He was so excited, asking us these questions and wanting to learn more.
Our entire group left that night feeling rocked, discussing how that night turned out completely different than what we had been expecting it to look. We knew that God was inviting us into something bigger, something that he wants us to join in with him in.
The next couple of weeks, I knew God wanted me to pursue a friendship with Abdi. I’ve never pursued a relationship with someone of a different religion before. God showed me I have so much to learn from this young man, in regards to openly sharing my own faith, giving unconditionally like he did for us, and embodying peace like he does. Abdi told me that I should read the Qur’an, specifically the chapter that discusses Mary, Mother of Jesus.
To be frank, I was terrified.
I questioned if that would be disrespectful to Jesus to do something like that. After seeing how eager he was to know about Christianity, and more importantly, who we know Jesus Christ to be, I knew that I couldn’t be afraid anymore. If Abdi was so willing to educate himself, I knew that God would allow me to do the same. If he was willing to listen to me, I knew that I had to listen as well.
In Luke 10, Jesus calls us to “go out in pairs” and so me and my friend Drew felt like God invited us to educate ourselves about Islam. Drew bought a translated Qur’an and I was able to find the chapter on Mary online. We both had a strong sense that God was calling us to be friends with Abdi, which means fulfilling his request of reading just one chapter out of it.
As we asked God what he was doing in and through us in this new friendship, we felt like we heard God telling us to buy Abdi a Bible. We weren’t sure if that was right, but we trusted what we felt like God was saying. We decided the book of John would be a fantastic introduction to our Jesus. I gave him the book, scared of his reaction, scared that he might not want it or that he might be offended. Yet, when he received it, he gave me a huge hug and said it was beautiful and displayed such a grateful heart.
God has been telling me that there is nothing to fear about pursuing something of a different religion.
I have seen so clearly that this is what the kingdom is; embracing all of God’s children and loving them, serving them, praying for them, and building a relationship with them.
As we have asked God for direction, he has told me that this isn’t really merely about conversion. The first step it to love Abdi in the name of Jesus, and pray that God would work through us. I believe Jesus pursues us ALL in relationship, and calls us to do the same with people around us.
God is the one who is working in Abdi’s life, we just get to be a part of it!
We exchanged numbers after we met with him and that night Abdi was texting us how he wants us to come back soon so we can discuss the book of John. My prayer is that God will use the two of us to be a physical representations of Jesus to him and love him the way our Jesus loves us. We followed God into an unexpected friendship that night and I’m so excited to see what’s in store!
Have you found yourself in a friendship you didn’t expect?