The Fields Are White – That Means Your Hood

You know how Jesus said the fields are white for harvest. So, pray for workers to reap the harvest. If you are like me, you’ve heard this passage preached in a missionary context. The fields are ripe out there in China or Africa or India. So, get up off your bum and GO!

But, Jesus didn’t specify where the fields were geographically. So, was Jesus’ speaking in general about the state of the world? Does he mean, that people everywhere, all around you, are ready to hear the Gospel and accept it, if only someone told them how?

I believe here in the West our greatest obstacle to people finding a relationship with God, is our lack of faith as Christians. We don’t pray and we don’t talk about faith and the peace, joy and hope we have in God, because we think “they’ll” never accept it. We are saying “no” for others, without bothering to really ask.

The fields are white, in your neighborhood, all around you. Ask God to fill you with His love and kindness and explain the reason you have for hope. Maybe you will be surprised.

A Kidnapped Man Sees Jesus

W. is an ordinary Afghan wanting to work an honest job to earn an income to support his family. Two years ago he was at work and he got kidnapped, as too often happens in Afghanistan.

For several weeks he was held in a hole, chained up and tortured. Even two years after the fact he still bears scars from that time. He felt hopeless and scared and for a good reason.  People disappear, especially Afghans, never to return. In this moment of desperation, he says Jesus appeared to him.

People say I was dreaming, but I wasn’t. I was wide awake and I saw Jesus. He was bright.

When asked how he knew it was Jesus, W. replied:

I knew it was Jesus, because I’ve seen the Jesus film.

And he spoke to me. He said, I am with you and I will encourage you. And that really encouraged me.

It is not uncommon to hear stories like these from Muslims. Maybe this doesn’t happen as much in the West, because even our faith is so rational that we’re not as open to such encounters?

Can a Palestinian Love Israel?

Meet Sam, who has grown up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. He grew up hating Christians and Jews alike. His goal in life was to become an Imam and to kill Christians and Jews, until a fatal meeting on the street.

A man came up to him and offered a drink of water. Sam was surprised, it was the first time in his 19 years that someone had offered him, a Palestinian, water. He accepted and after some conversation the man told Sam that he reads the Quran. Sam had a beard and wore a white robe that showed everyone he was a serious Muslim. The stranger continued, “since I am reading your holy book, would you read mine?”

After some time Sam agreed and started to read the Bible. He read the Bible for a year and a half until he was convinced this was the truth. He decided to start following the way of Jesus, even though he had a price to pay. His brothers promised to kill him and so Sam had to move away and live in hiding.

Sam met with other believers and started to grow in his faith. He went to Cyprus to attend a Christian conference where he met a few Jesus-believing Jews from Israel. “You’re a Palestinian and you believe in Jesus!? We’re from Israel and we follow Jesus too!” They apologized for how their people had wronged Sam’s people and proceeded to wash Sam’s feet.

This event changed everything for Sam. His heart that had hated Israel and the Jews melted and was filled with love towards his neighbors. Today he tells his story with tears pouring down his cheeks and bursts into a Hebrew worship song.

Mideast peace? It is only possible through reconciliation in Jesus.