In Memory of Mr. Joe

No, Mr. Joe – the other American missionary who’s been working here – hasn’t died; but he has completed his term of service with the ministry here, and is leaving Ghana today. Suddenly I have an office to myself again…and no one to consistently go to the school or hospital with me. Except Jesus: praise God that He never leaves us! Anyway, as Mr. Joe leaves, I thought I’d share a story of how God recently used him in one man's life.

So: Mr. Joe was going to buy Bibles from a shop on the outskirts of town; and as the taxi was about to drop him at the junction, he suddenly thought, “How am I going to get a box full of Bibles back to town? I’d better pay the driver to stay with me and drive me back with my box.” He bartered with the driver, “Suli,” and arrived at a reasonable price…especially reasonable considering that the men had to wait half an hour for the Bibles to be brought out of inventory.

Suli was obviously a devout Muslim, wearing the traditional cap and robe, and driving a taxi that was plastered with Muslim paraphernalia. By way of making light conversation, Mr. Joe asked him what he thought about the Person of Jesus. “Oh, he was a very good man,” Suli brightly replied, “a prophet of God.” Mr. Joe followed up with some of Jesus’ actual words that indicated that He claimed to be God, the Son of God, and the only Way to heaven. “Are you able to obey God’s requirements perfectly?” Mr. Joe asked, receiving the quick reply, “No! I try, but I can’t.” “So the only way we can get to heaven, really, is by a substituted sacrifice…right?” “Right,” Suli said slowly, “but it would have to be a perfect sacrifice.”

Well, this opened up the right opportunity to discuss Jesus’ true purpose in coming, and by the time they’d arrived at their destination, Mr. Joe turned to Suli and recited John 3:16. “Do you want to ask Jesus into your heart right now so you may have eternal life?” he asked. “Yes,” Suli eagerly responded…and bowed his head for prayer just as the wail for prayer sounded from the nearest mosque. And it was even a Friday, the Muslim holy day. God is so good!

“Now you need to tell someone what you’ve just done,” Mr. Joe said, and walked with Suli to our friend John, who heard the news from Suli’s own mouth. As they walked back to the taxi, Suli couldn’t stop exclaiming, “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!”

Hallelujah indeed! =)