Have you ever felt like your on the brink of giving up? Or maybe you are just ready to check out, turn off, and just relax for a minute? This last Sunday was one of those nights for me. This post is mainly one about hope and grace, but many times to appreciate the hope and grace we must go through trials. The last few weeks have been really hard between announcing our upcoming move to Phoenix and losing relationships and watching friends and family grieve. I spent most of this week driving from Farmington to Phoenix and then Phoenix to Murrieta, this was also an emotional trip. I dropped off one of my students at Bible College; Matt has become one of my best friends over the last 7 years. The story I wanted to tell you actually begins after I dropped Matt off. I grabbed my iPhone out of my pocket as I left Matt in his dorm room and made my way to the entrance. Within 5 minutes of reaching the entrance I was being greeted by my Uber driver (in a very middle eastern accent) and tossing my backpack in the Chevy Tahoe and thinking how great it would be to shut my eyes for the hour long trip to San Diego. As I hopped in the car I texted my wife to tell her I was on my way to San Diego and texted my cousin to make sure I still had a place to crash that night. Finishing this task I started to close my eyes, then came the first of 3 questions that would end any chance of me resting. For sake of my drivers privacy and safety I will just refer to her as Jenny.
Jenny: Do you mind if I play music?
Me: No.
Jenny: What is that place, why were you there?
Me: It’s a bible college, where they teach about Jesus. I was there dropping off a student I have had in Student ministry for the last seven years.
Jenny: So you’re a christian. I am a muslim do you hate me?
Needless to say I was now wide awake and a bit nervous. If I’m honest up to this point I was wishing she would just be quiet and leave me alone. I quickly and silently prayed; “Spirit give me words” I also secretly texted my wife and a few friends what was happening and asked them to pray.
Me: No, I do not hate you, in fact I love you. I believe as a Christian I am called to love everyone.
Jenny: Will you tell me about your church and what you believe?
I’m not sure she would have asked me this if she had known me. (Some people say I like to talk) So we began to trace the scarlet thread of the gospel through the Bible beginning with creation and the fall of man, and concluded in Romans. Romans helped confirm what we had been establishing, that God was good, man was sinful and that apart Jesus we had no hope of ever appeasing God or gaining salvation. Jenny asked many questions; like what makes the God of the Bible different form any other God, our conversation covered everything from the trinity to homosexuality and prostitution. About 45 minutes into our drive I asked Jenny if I could pray for her, I simply prayed that Jesus would be gracious and reveal Himself to her. She told me she believed in Jesus and that he was a good prophet. We then discussed how He clearly claimed to be God, and that this meant Allah was false God and Muhammed was a false prophet. Jenny talked a little but about how she thought that she was a good person and that whoever was the real God would be ok with her. So we talked about the implications of the sermon on the mount where Jesus levels the playing the field by explaining how all humans are guilty of the same sins because God looks at the heart not just the outward actions. At this point with tears in her eyes Jenny asks me if she could share something with me, that she has never shared with anyone else. Jenny went on to tell me her life story, moving to the US from Iran 23 years ago to marry her cousin (by parents order) who was 20+ years older than her. She told me about the abuse and her divorce. Then she told me about her current marriage that had crashed and her current affair, about then we pulled into my cousins driveway. We parked and continued talking (forgetting to stop the timer) she cried and told me she was an awful person and that I must hate her now. I told her again of the love of Jesus and His humility to come down and get us in the midst of our sin, I reminded her that was what made christianity so different from all other religions. “God comes to save man in his rebellion vs. man trying to make himself right with a perfect God.” Now through full on tears she told me she had prayed just yesterday asking God for a miracle, she then asked if she believed that maybe I was the answer to her prayer. I told her no, but Jesus is the answer and that I don’t believe in coincidence.
Jenny: I need a miracle so bad Eden, I don’t know what to do. What do I do Eden?
Me: Cry out to God, repent of your sins and believe in Jesus for salvation, and ask Jesus to be gracious and save you.
Jenny: OK.
Jenny went on to weep and pray to Jesus and ask him for forgiveness and ask him to save her. I held her hands and wept with her reminded of how desperately I am still in need of the Gospel. I then prayed for her again and told her the evidence of the miracle she was asking for was a life lived for Jesus for the rest of her life, not in perfection but in repentance. We downloaded YouVersion bible on her iPhone before we left and I told her to read the book of John. I have had the opportunity to text her a few times since and she has responded in gratitude for what God did that night.
My hope for anyone reading this is that you wouldn’t forget that Jesus is sovereign even over Uber rides.
For the fame of Jesus and our Joy,
Eden Fine
Eden Fine 