The Ram

My brother Andrew is like the Andrew in the Bible. He brings others to Christ. He works for a mission organization that focuses on Sudan. Today I received a very touching prayer email from Andrew's stateside contact while his team is in Africa. I wanted to share it with you as an encouragement that God is still orchestrating the smallest of events for eternal significance.


"Just days before the team left (America), they met a special, young Sudanese man who happened to be visiting their church that day. This young man was new to the area and immediately introduced himself after finding out that a group from the church was headed to his home village of Torpout! You see, this man had not seen his family or hometown in more than a decade and he very much desired to connect with his family through the team. To assure his family of his well-being and to send his love, he pulled together a package to send with the team that included a long letter, photos and a video.

As the team traveled by boat to church in Torpout (Jengmer's home village) on Sunday, they hoped that they could deliver this message and bring together a separated Sudanese family. What happened was one of the most touching events of the trip. The team found his family (father, cousins, siblings) and was welcomed to their compound as honored guests. One of the team members read the letter aloud to the entire family; the family looked through pictures of their son depicting his life in America and the team showed the video message to the transfixed, emotional audience. To honor the team, the family gave them a ram (which made the journey back to Nasir on the team's boat). This ram was a huge gesture as it represented about one-third of the family's wealth. The team was overwhelmed with gratitude and the preceding God-ordained circumstances that led to the special day!"