Every Tongue, Tribe, and Nation

Written by Michael M.
 
I was humbled, to say the least.  After leading a few western worship songs this Ethiopian youth group was showing us another glimpse of how beautiful our God is.  Glory was pouring forth from a packed room in Addis Ababa last night with chants, clapping hands, African drums, and a guitar drowned out by praise so loud no heart could ignore it.  The passion was so strong, and the music so powerful my heart was taken in worship even though I didn’t understand a word of the beautiful melody.

This was a sweet taste of heaven.  People from many nations gathered together praising God as the body of Christ.  Despite the obvious difference in skin, language, and ability to keep a beat, we were all brothers and sisters in that room last night and forever will be.

And as the lights inconsistently shine of the circle of redeemed swaying and clapping together, I smile, so willingly humbled.

A Unique Encounter

One of the great things about having a project full of MKs is the unique encounters we can have because of our international experience.  Sometimes even in random countries, MKs can find people who share the language and culture of the place they live. Here’s one of those encounters from Sam J.’s time with campus ministry.

This past Tuesday, Max D., Jon Y., Mercy (our Ethiopian translator), and I were evangelizing near the stadium.  We were having a pretty successful day when a man, claiming to have a mental illness, came up to us asking for money.  Mercy told him, “I’m sorry, we don’t have money, but what we do have we would like to give you. So, can we pray for you?”  At that moment, I remembered Acts 3:6, when Peter and John were just outside the temple and the crippled man asked them for money, and Peter replied, “I do not possess silver or gold, but what I do have I give you: in the name of Jesus of Nazareth – walk!”

So in the middle of our prayer for this man, an Ethiopian man walked up to Jon, who was praying for us, and started speaking French to him.  Jon promptly called me over to speak to the man because I lived in North Africa for eight years and learned French there.

Even though our meeting was brief, it was definitely touching.  While I was talking to the man, I found out that he was the director of French Missions here in Ethiopia.  He was a very interesting man.  Although near the end of our conversation, I tried to ask him more personal questions, he just seemed to brush them aside.  All in all, it was a pretty interesting day, and Jon later told me that that conversation will forever be etched into his memory.