In the midst of death, a story of hope from Afghanistan. . .
I met Abdul early this year. Abdul is an Afghan. A few years ago while still in Afghanistan, his English was good enough to be hired as an interpreter for American troops fighting the Taliban. An American soldier became a friend and gave him a Bible. Abdul was particularly struck by something written 3,000 years ago by King Dawood in the Zabur, Psalm 23:
Abdul read those verses over and over for many months.
Later, he worked for the British troops fighting the Taliban. As they were out on a mission, an Afghan man came running toward the British soldiers, waving his hands and yelling something.
Was he trying to protect the soldiers from danger ahead? Or. . . was he, in fact, the danger?
As he got closer to the soldiers, a shepherd suddenly appeared from the side and stopped Abdul to talk. They talked briefly, which kept him from advancing with the troops toward the man running at them. Suddenly, there was a horrible explosion. The man who was running toward the British troops had blown himself up, tearing apart the bodies of several of the soldiers and killing them.
Abdul was shaken by this. He had personally seen the Taliban behead interpreters. He was not unaccustomed to real, terrifying danger. But this was different.
That night, Abdul spoke to the other soldiers about the shepherd who approached him that terrible day and spoke briefly to him. To his shock and amazement, none of the surviving soldiers had seen the shepherd.
Who was this shepherd?
Abdul was baffled by this question but then he remembered the words of Psalm 23 about the One who protects His sheep with His rod:
The shepherd. . .was. . .Jesus who said in The Injil (John 10:11, 14):
That night, he crossed over a line. He gave his life to Jesus, the Good Shepherd who had saved his life.
A good news story of hope. . .from Afghanistan.
Do you have a Shepherd to save your life?
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