As a kid, I always used to wonder why God didn’t reveal himself so readily to people anymore. I mean, Jacob wrestled with God, Moses had his burning bush, and Jonah rot in the belly of a fish for three days before being unceremoniously spit out in Ninevah. Each encountered their God. Each came to a real and obvious epiphany of their own folly in light of God’s grandeur. So why not now?
For me, I’m beginning to realize why I’m here in HK. I almost feel as if I’m unwrapping a present in slow motion and I’m finding out what’s inside. I can anticipate the gift inside and almost palpably feel it in my hands, but in reality I’m only still peeling the corner of the tape holding the paper together with my fingernail. But I can sense it and guess it. And I am beginning to understand why God brought me here.
The last week or so has been a little rough at school. I think the lustre of a new school year has worn off, and I am beginning to catch the routine and see the mundanity ahead of me. Oh, and there was a little epidemic of Foot and Mouth Disease in the Form 1’s. I felt under-the-weather on Friday and didn’t teach. So things haven’t been the greatest, to say the least.
On Monday night, I had finally fallen asleep when my phone rang in the middle of the night. It literally rang at 2:03 in the morning. I looked at the unassigned number. I decided to pick it up.
“Hello?”
“Hello? I would like to know who this is.”
“…… sorry, what?”
“Yes, I’d like to know who this is.”
“You just called me. What do you mean you want to know who this is?!”
“Yes, I found this number on my phone, but I don’t know who it is.”
By now I had kinda pieced together in my groggy disorientation through his thick accent that this was the Ghanaian friend I had met at TST a few weeks back. Apparently he had stored my number on his phone without adding my name, so he decided to call in the middle of the night to try to figure out who I was. I told him that I was sleeping at the moment and I couldn’t talk, but that I would love to meet up with him some time. I promised I’d call him in the next couple of days.
As I put the phone down I just had this alarming sense that God was trying to set something up. For the last couple of days I had been thinking of Babu (since I had blogged) but I didn’t have the courage to just call him out of the blue. But now it had become all too apparent that God was working.
Yesterday, Babu and I met after Friday prayer at the mosque. I went to find him, but he had turned off his phone so I roamed around the mosque trying to find him. The first thing I noticed upon entering the mosque was just how plain it was. It wasn’t flashy or gold-laced as I had expected. It was lined with water-stained marble and worn out carpet. But as I approached the prayer hall, I had an imposing feeling of reverence for God. Here are people that consistently interrupt their Friday work plans to come and approach their God at a mosque. There is nothing magnificent about their refuge- but they have come nonetheless with their bare feet and capped heads, to pay homage to their King in the sweltering heat.
What a sense of reverence. I asked Babu about it later, and he gave me this analogy. “Imagine you are going to meet your president, or a king. How would you approach him? But now imagine you are going to meet not just a king, but the King of Kings. How can you not respect him by taking off your shoes?”
I know for us as Christians we believe we approach God without fear because of how Christ has interceded on our behalf on the cross and torn the veil that shrouds God’s holiness. But I wonder if, as a result of our presumption and apathy, we have lost a proper reverence for God’s magnificence. If, I too, believe in a designer God who throws mountains into place and orchestrates hurricanes to their arrival, then how do I not bow to this King?
Yesterday, I learned so much about being a Christian from a Muslim. Babu and I talked for about 2 hours at the park. We wrestled with theology, shared about the Trinity, and discussed Christ’s claims and the differences in our faiths. In the end, we still disagreed about who Jesus was. But as sad as that was, we were both encouraged because we came back to the essential truth that God was good. God is good and way beyond our comprehension and much deserving of our worship. And though the journeys of our faiths are different, I am encouraged to know that at least the journey starts here, in our pursuit to know God and love God. And who am I to say that God doesn’t speak out and reveal Himself today? I think He did, through my friend Babu.
Salamu Alaykum,
Tins
