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Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the Way UK podcast. I'm your host, Zoe and I'm

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joined by my wonderful co-host. Solomon! Solomon! And today we have a really, really exciting

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episode because we are joined by a wonderful leader and a great friend of Solomon's and of

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Jaws here at the way. Micah Studeau! So happy to be with you guys. Thanks for being here. I'm so

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excited to get into your story like I really can't wait. So basically a little bit of context

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about Micah before we get into his story is that he is a missionary who has lived abroad in the

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Middle East for a majority of his adult life and has seen God move in some pretty awesome ways so

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so stay tuned to go deeper into his story and before we go into that if you're watching on YouTube

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please make sure to hit subscribe and smash the like button and comment down below and if you're

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listening on Apple or Spotify podcast please can you leave us a review or a follow because

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our mission here at the way is to share the good news of Jesus with every single young person

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online and that is a pretty big mission and so if you do any of those things it would really

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help us out in doing that so thank you for listening to my spiel guys, really sorry about that,

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roll the credits and we'll get into it. Okay Micah thank you again for being here. Oh it's a joy.

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Uh I would just love to hear a little bit about your background where you from um that's actually

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a good way to start. So where are you from? I'm an American by birth I grew up in the Pacific

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Northwest so the very northwest corner of America and your Canada and um I

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you know me stop there keep going. No keep going take a look. I grew up there a little town outside

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of a little town even even a littler town but that's where I grew up it's called Walla Walla.

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A strange name. I love that. Yeah it's a good one. Uh place so nice the name that's why. That's

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exactly right. That's exactly what we say you could work for the marketing department there.

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Um grew up there and I I moved out of America when I was 20 so in 2010 so it's been a while

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since I've lived there but fun memories. Wow and wait that sounds so nice also you were saying

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before that you live you grew up in Washington state and Washington state is so beautiful guys

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just to let you know who lots of big trees um anyways just thought I had to drop it. Yeah it's good

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it's a good plug. So we're just in case anyone wants to go. In case they were wondering where to find

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trees. Yeah there it is. But so once you're growing up there I know that you grew up going to

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church and I think that played a big role in your in your journey with faith. So I'd love if you

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could dive into that just let us know what was your church like and um yeah how was it being in

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that setting growing up. Yeah I come from a family of preachers. Okay so I'm the fifth generation

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and wow. So church was um where we would really it's funny because it's not separated in my memory

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from church and family get together so my father's family is one of six and we got like you know

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a thousand cousins and so everyone would be there and it was really special uh very

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Pentecostal in the tradition of American Pentecostal which is like five degrees of crazy.

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It was fun though. I grew up that way from a broken home parents divorced when I was young

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lots of abuse and things like that but the amazing thing that I still can't quite get over when

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I think about it is in the midst of all of that maybe this was the Pentecostal roots the reality

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of God in my life. I never once questioned uh even till today I've I've just I've had lots of

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other doubts and lots of other challenges but I've never had a sincere doubt of God's presence in

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my life and I don't know where that comes from I can't say like that was my own faith or anything

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that was just I think maybe it was a product of that environment where God was so real so imminent

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that in the midst of of things that weren't great I would I just have lived memories as a kid of

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feeling laying down at bed in bed and feeling okay but God's with me because that was really

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formative. I have a question about that did that presence of God always feel the same or as you

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grew like grew older did the sort of presence of God appear to you in different ways. I don't know

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if I would even call it like the presence of God because that makes me think of something tingly

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like you know like I had this little little little levitation here and there wasn't that it was

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it was just that God was there that like this was his world I'm in it it might it might be great

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it might not be great but he's here and he's with me uh and so yeah it's of course there's been

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moments where I've been like oh man there's really like God is here yeah but God being with me in

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my life that's never yeah it's never gone away maybe the conceptualizations or whatever has changed

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but and you um you said you mentioned that you you move on you were 20 yeah what was what was that

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moment like was that there was that sort of scary for you what was that kind of moment of calling

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was that one yeah it's a I have to back up a bit so when I was a teenager I went to this church

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that was mostly university students so I was younger it was mostly uni students and I was younger

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and in the our youth group there were like 10 of us and uh the youth leaders would they they

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emphasized uh foreign missions from the beginning that was they were really passionate about so

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I remember being 14 years old handed this book by a woman called Jackie Pullinger British woman

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uh you read it no is it chasing the dragon that's exactly yeah no I haven't read it oh you've got

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to I read it 14 years old this girl she says things 1960 she's 18 or maybe she's maybe 20 she's

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young she gets on a ship uh somewhere from the south of England and she buys a ticket with as many

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ports of call as she could purchase so it's like an around the world ticket and her idea was

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she was gonna stop wherever she felt God told her to get off and she makes it to Hong Kong

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and she got off in Hong Kong and she's still there today she's still alive and and it tells

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the story of how she was reaching out into this these areas controlled by gangs all these different

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things and it was incredible marked my life I was like who is this late this absolute hero

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people being delivered from heroin addictions and it was incredible so I read that at 14 years old

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read all these other books read book called praying high John Hyde all these different

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missionaries read about William Kerry in India so that was my teen years yeah so I understood

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to be a Christian meant at some point you move abroad and share the gospel with people okay well

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now that's not necessarily the case but no one told me that back then it was so it sounds like wow

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you know I'm aware like somebody say oh well you moved away like that's so so neat I everyone did

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there were ten of us in our youth group eight of us did that really yeah yeah so it was like

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I was not exception in Washington state you guys still left in this day two guys never made it up

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you they in fact they're stuck in a tree yeah bless them so it was not exceptional what I did it

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was what we what we thought following Jesus was meant to look like and I think actually it was

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if you look at the twelve apostles they all did that after Jesus ascended into heaven all went

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abroad yeah to share the faith so that was my experience so then I was ready to go I thought

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Lord I'll go anywhere I really had no sense of it has to be this place or that place what had been

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on my heart were Muslim people the reason for that was the year I started high school secondary

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school here was the year the Americans invaded Iraq and so I then at that time of my life

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my I had family members and I had friends that were going to the Middle East to fight in wars

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and and some of them were coming back really traumatized and with a really intense hatred for

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Muslim people and that was really it was really stand out to me because I was thinking okay Jesus

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says love your enemies I my my country of origin is at war we have an enemy that we're talking

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about in the media and then I have like friends I remember driving with this one friend in particular

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you'd been a marine and come back really traumatized and him and we grew up in church together

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and him talking about his hatred for the people that he had gone to fight but he's like 20 years old

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come back injured and and I just I remember thinking gosh this guy I know he loves Jesus I know

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he's a sincere believer and he's been putting this context where he's been told he has an enemy

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and for him to kill his enemy and so I was like think okay if we're to love our enemies maybe

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then I could go and try to like reach Muslims in a different way and so I was in that place I

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said okay Lord I'll go anywhere and these missionaries came to my church one Sunday and the pastor

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said to me do you want to go have lunch with them after I said sure I'd love to we have lunch and

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afterwards this guy now I look back I think what a what a man what a great man he must have just

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felt prompting by the Holy Spirit but he says to me after lunch he goes would you like to move to

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and join us where we are they were living in Turkey at that time so I said sure and I bought a one-way

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ticket and moved there yeah my mother didn't have that reaction she felt different about that wow

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and they'd already bought you the ticket oh sorry you were I bought it I had a job and so I gave my

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notice and I bought a ticket and moved to join them and lived there with them for a few months I

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didn't stay long and there was an opportunity to do some further training on how how better to

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reach Muslim people because I mean I didn't I grew up everyone looked like me and sounded like me

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from where I'm from and there was no diversity so I had no idea what I was doing or cross-cultural

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anything yeah so I moved to Jordan at that point to do this training and and ended up staying there

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for about five years wow and what did that I mean that is crazy so I'm really moved by

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your heart for Muslim people and that you were reminded of Jesus is a quote of love your enemies

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in the midst of like hatred and oh yeah I don't know that's just so beautiful because I think it's

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it's often hard to put into practice it's something you really know like wow that is amazing

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that's so like Jesus is it's only Jesus could do that but actually know like when you're a

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follower of Jesus your heart is moved by what moves his heart as well yeah and so yeah thank you

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for sharing that because that's really beautiful and so when you were in Jordan what did what did

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that look like being thrown into this new culture where you've grown up not really knowing anything

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else um to see the people around you practicing a different religion see people speaking a different

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language um and how did you bring your faith into that space yeah I mean part of it was really

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exciting it was fun I was living with all these young Arab guys had no idea what they were saying

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and uh started learning language myself and so that that part was exciting I enjoyed that but

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really what came up were quite early on were a lot of my own prejudices so yeah I say I want to

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love my enemies then you get there and you'd see them you think I actually have some pretty like

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deep opinions and thoughts that maybe were I didn't even come up with myself maybe my culture

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gave them to me and uh but then the faithfulness of God the Holy Spirit starts to bring them up

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and I had this really uh poignant moment early on I was walking home and in the neighborhood

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I lived in uh was a really large cellophie mosque cellophie is a sect of Islam uh the same as

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Osama bin Laden so like excitable they're passionate most of them people and uh and they dress

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a certain way so you can tell who they are and I was walking home and this young guy it's probably

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but at that time it's probably my age young cellophie guy comes walking towards me on the street

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and he's dressed you know in the certain shirt that they wear and his beard's cut the certain way

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that they do and I immediately had all of these intense judgmental thoughts about him I thought

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this guy probably hates me he probably wants to kill me probably hates my family he hates you

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you know all he doesn't even know me and and I'm just judging him it really was um and then I had

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this experience I've never had anything since like it uh it it was kind of dramatic but it was like

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I could see like a movie in front of my eyes um but it wasn't real and I could see this picture of

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this young guy and he was surrounded by all of these religious books and I could see him pick

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every one of them up and read them from front to back and he got to the last book and the last

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stack in front of him and he put the book down and I felt this voice say to me this young man has

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been looking for God and no one has told him where to find him wow and it it broke my heart literally

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it broke my heart like just tears in my eyes and I thought here's this guy as passionate about God

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as I am and yet I grew up in a place where from the time I was born someone told me hey the true

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God is Jesus and he really loves you and this guy happened to be born in a different place where

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no one told him and I it reframed for me how I saw sharing my faith with Muslims where it was no

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longer like hey I want to tell you something I'm excited about it was more of a like I need to

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address an injustice in the world and the injustice is this Jesus loves the world

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God so loves the world that he gave his own forgotten son and not all the world knows that

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because for whatever reasons whatever cosmic reasons or political reasons or cultural reasons

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there are people who just happened to have been born in a place where they didn't get the same

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message of the love of God that I got and so then what do you do when you're made aware of an

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injustice some would say if you don't do anything you're complicit yeah and so that really

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is reshaped for me how I how I saw sharing my faith where it wasn't just it wasn't just like a hobby

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but it was saying I actually there's a real problem in the world and I want to be a part of solving it

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wow that is so beautiful and also crazy that God gave you that yeah literally is it called an

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open vision I don't know what to call it wow yeah I went to seminary and still don't have a name

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for that one that is insane I feel like that's quite rare to have literally before your eyes

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God give you a vision and then did you say you heard a voice yeah I felt it I don't know it was

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very supernatural wow spiritual experience how long have you been in the Middle East when you

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oh I hadn't even been there a year yeah that's so beautiful that God literally gave you

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well sorry I don't know if this will be putting words into your mouth but from hearing that story

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it's like God literally gave you his heart I think so for the Middle East yeah like at least changed

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mine changed yours wow and I think even hearing that for me is so just sorry I keep saying

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that we're beautiful but it is because it's literally revealing the heart of God which is for the

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world and yeah it just shifts it shifts the perspective of you know they're following this

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other God and it's like obviously in the Bible God is very clear you know he is the one true

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living God and that we should not have any other idols apart from him right but actually his heart

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for those that haven't yet heard about him is so and for those that still have that like

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is still love it's mercy it's mercy yeah and so I'm interested to hear how did following on from

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that vision how did that impact your faith going forward interacting with the the the Muslims around

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you and just interacting with the people in in Jordan yeah I'd like to say I was filled with

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boldness miracles followed yeah there's still a lot of learning you how do you I guess we all

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struggle with sharing our faith whether it's in a foreign context or our home context maybe our

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home context is even more difficult yeah so I think I had to learn how to make a natural part of

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my conversation Jesus because it is yeah it's maybe confronting to some maybe it is controversial

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so how do you bring that up you know in a in a polite way in a way that is inviting rather than

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confronting and closes it would open a door rather than close one I had at that same time I was

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living in this old rundown flat in fact we had to move out because the mold was so bad and it

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also had a really bad roach problem let's get it was bad and I love God but that was a bit my

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and I remember one night I woke up and wanted to get a glass of water and so I walked into the

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kitchen and I flicked on the light and the floor just began to move all the roaches going down

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the tree oh my goodness my screen like a girl woke up from my flatmates and anyway I get the

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water and I go to turn off the light but at that time I had noticed the window was open as hot

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and all these other bugs had come and kind of gathered around the light that was on and I was

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struck by that I thought that's interesting you turn on the light some run and some come to it and

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now don't read into the into the analogy too much I'm not calling humans bugs but there is

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something about when we when we bring up Jesus in a natural way in our lives that I can't control

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how someone's going to react some are going to run away but some will be drawn will be drawn to

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the light when it's turned on and so I began to learn how to live in a way where I could my job

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wasn't to convince you that Jesus is the way and you have to leave this long my job is to say hey

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Jesus is really the most meaningful thing in my life I'm convinced of that I mean it with all my

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heart and I'm going to bring him up in a conversation naturally enough that if the Holy Spirit is

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moving on your heart you're going to be drawn to it we're going to keep that door open we're going

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to keep talking and if it's not the time for you yet and you run away we're still going to be able

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to have a conversation and be friends and so back to the it's kind of a broad answer to your

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question I don't know if I can't say it changed it overnight but it began I had to start learning

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away of saying okay I'm I'm really convinced I have to share Jesus with people who don't know him

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and I've got to find a way that it's going to actually work not not to be shy about it and not

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to be too bombastic about it but in a way where it's really going to say this is like this is the

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most important thing to me and and I want you to know I have a story comes to mind I had this

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one friend he was really really just in fact he was a member of this group that was classified

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as a terrorist by America and it yeah it caused a bit of trouble for me but one day I went to go

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see him and he he was we were sat at the table and there was a Quran on the table and he had prepared

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some notes and he opened up a notebook and he said I wanted to talk to you about this and in all

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this list of all of what he felt were inconsistencies in the Bible and falsities about Jesus Christ

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wow and he just started going blah blah blah through the list and really aggressive

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and I sat and listened I didn't really engage and and I think he started feeling comfortable

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because I wasn't engaging with him and he said what do you think and I think the Holy Spirit

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gave me words because I didn't I never thought of this before but that Quran that was on the

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table I put my hand on it and I said you love this book right he said yeah I love that book I

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said I wouldn't come to you with my critiques of this book because I know you love it and I love

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Jesus and I know you have your feelings about him but I I'm not going to do that to you

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and so we can leave it right there and you know he apologized which I was really surprised by

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and and then we went to watch a football match and he halfway through the match

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this we were watching on the on the tele and this commercial came up and it said something

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in Arabic about the day of judgment I don't know what the commercial was for but it was a bit

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awful and uh and he goes he said uh he goes day of judgment he said you believe in that right

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yeah I did and uh and he said okay let me just see if I get this right you know so you

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this is right off the bat of this conversation this aggressive conversation he goes so you're

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telling me that Jesus because he was perfect and he said I believe he was perfect and because he

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was perfect and died but he didn't deserve to die because he never did anything wrong

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that if I looked to him that his perfect life can cleanse my life that's filled with sin

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and I said yeah I think that's about right wow yeah well and he said okay I think I understand

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and I was thinking that was the easiest gospel presentation I've ever given

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just watching the football just watching the football this guy shares the gospel itself

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but it was one of those moments where you know to tie it all together I God changes my heart

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so that it I can begin to see the world more like he does and then that openness that God has

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towards the world I try to live in that and try to figure out how do I just live in sincerity I

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really love Jesus and I really think he is the answer to the problems of the world

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and in gentleness and in humility but also with the giving people the answers that they're looking

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for as the New Testament tells us to that then the Holy Spirit works in people's hearts in a way

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that we could never actually do it and I have never seen someone come to Jesus who who wasn't so

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clearly the story if they tell it you're like oh no man did that there was no person

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shared with you in a compelling way that convinced you of an argument it was that the Holy Spirit

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was working in your life and then somehow I was just watching the football when it happened wow

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that is incredible that's I've never heard of a story like that before where you that he didn't

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really do anything other than be loving and kind I was just I was just yeah I was trying to watch

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the game well I guess if anything you were obedient to the the guidance of the Holy Spirit in

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that moment which was to love him and not to come with this like aggressive yeah let me ask you

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this question because you say that you're just there I'm curious if your life experience would be

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similar to mine if I think about the pastors or youth workers or family members that were really

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formative in my faith then none of them came with like a program that I could say well that really

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changed me it was that they were just there yeah definitely I would do would you have a similar

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experience yeah yeah they were just they were just around yeah yeah but and so then we just have

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to so then what it was I guess like for that guy I think I know this actually for a fact for him

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in particular I'm the only Christian he ever knew wow so it's just there wow and I guess yeah you're

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your presence changes like where you are is a place is affected by somebody's presence like if

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somebody knew walks into the room right now that the like the atmosphere but the vibe the vibe

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would shift in a way you know and I think that is definitely the same if for I mean in all of our

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lives and actually that reminds you of how you know we're called to be the light of the world and

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the sort of the earth and like even of the story you were sharing of the light and the bugs being

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drawn and then some bugs going away is actually we have to do well not all we have to do but part

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of what we have to do is Christians is to be present in a place yeah and that's really reassuring

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that's probably what the New Testament New Testament means when it's talking about witness wow is

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that we're we're bearing witness that word if you look at it in the in the original language it's

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like it's just this idea it's the same idea if you're in a trial and court and you saw something you

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have to be the witness to it it's just like but that's our life our life is just that it's there's

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maybe moments of great exciting ministry or preaching or whatever but it's generally just the life we

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live in of light in a dark world that will inevitably shine wow that's so beautiful and that reminds

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you of the other day we were on the streets and Solomon you want to speak to a guy I did I've got

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to share that no it's totally I mean yeah definitely it'll be on the social support yeah yeah

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yeah there was a guy we weren't asked people on the street what should a Christian be like

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and this guy yeah and this guy we asked this guy this guy this question and he said

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his friend was a Christian and that he the the shift in him that he saw pre Christ and post Christ

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meat and Christ was was like worlds apart from each other and he's saying like oh he's kinder he's

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lighter he's all of this and I found that very interesting how I think so often in our own faith

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we can be very internal and very I don't want to say self-centred but very concerned with ourselves

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and okay and it's praying to do this and to do that and you know God help me God all of this I think

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we can get so fixed on that that we forget that there are people around us who see that shift

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and I found that very inspiring that this man who didn't know Jesus was talking about this man

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that did and how how interesting he was isn't it yeah you know he mentioned he mentioned his

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friends lust switched as well and how that inspired him and it was crazy like he went on for ages

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what are the conversations I know I was like yeah this is the first conversation wow yeah that's

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he was he was really cool I mean it's perhaps what Paul says I think is in Timothy where he says

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those of you who wives who've come to faith but your husband didn't they just stay in the home

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so that you could be a witness wow that's that they could see the transformation yeah that's so

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encouraging I do think there's something to be said about how to show Christ in the way you are with

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people and in the patience you having a kindness you have to them and the way you listen to them

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and it's not just about sharing the gospel at somebody the way maybe you you you've experienced it

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before the way you know it yeah but rather um showing Christ through your actions and I gosh I

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found that really inspiring yeah when people do this so it's only once that I've lived by it ever

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since they said if you have if you have five minutes to share the gospel with somebody

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listen for three maybe four and then take the rest to share so the idea being you would listen to

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where they're coming from and as you're listening you you also be listening to the Holy Spirit say

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where's where's the need for Jesus in their life today and it's a sincere listening yeah but

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rather than just saying I've got five minutes I gotta tell you everything I was like where are you at

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and then the last minute you say listen it sounds like I didn't mean I've just met you but it

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sounds like maybe you're a bit lonely no no I just I just want you to know Jesus said something

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and in the Bible it said hey I'm with you always so next time you're lonely just remember that Jesus

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is with you and also here's my number call me when that happens like that's just my favorite thing

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to do yeah but because it's it is there's a kindness in this and there's an openness that the

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world doesn't have the world doesn't have this openness to a stranger to someone you don't know

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but there is something about the Christian faith that is in it's immensely open that's their

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whole premise and and when we show that to the world people respond yeah that's true and that

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reminds me of excuse me we had somebody else on her name was Victoria and her moment for coming

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to Jesus was largely brought on by people listening to her wow the literally people listening to her

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and basically showing her kindness and patience when she thought she'd be met with judgment

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and like rebuking because she was leading a life that was away from Jesus and so she thought

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she'd be met with this judgment but was actually invited out for lunch with with that person

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which is beautiful and that's literally like the truth like that's a testimony that's coming off

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the back of that at what how palver is to just listen and be a listening ear of Jesus

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showing inspiring hearing these stories I'm enjoying talking about it and Mike I know that you

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spent time with a lot of time with Syrian refugees and I'd love to hear some some stories from

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from that time as well if you feel free to share you know have the full I did have a few years

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we were working with Syrian refugees but not necessarily because we set out to do that

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while I was living in Jordan actually soon after I moved there the Syrian civil war started

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and where it started was in a town that happened to be on the border between Syrian and Jordan and

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so rather quickly many refugees started coming across the border and then within a year or two

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something like a million refugees so we pivoted most of our work we were doing a lot of kind of

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community development outreach sort of stuff we pivoted almost everything to work with refugees

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because the crisis was so immense I had no idea what to do none of us didn't and we didn't have any

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money even we we went up to this one village on the border we were going to go live up there for

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some time and work with this group that was distributing aid because most of the refugees they were

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coming so many that the UN couldn't even accept them into the camps so most of them were living

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outside of the camps and we were trying to help those ones so we'd arranged with this group that

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was doing all the organizing of that and they said okay I come up so we went up and we remember it

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was the beginning of the week we went to the center and said okay where do we get the items to

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distribute they said okay you need to go to the shops and get them okay great and where's the

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budget for they said oh did no one tell you I said tell us what you're meant to have the budget

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with you oh yeah no no one told us that I said how much is it this is two thousand a week two

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thousand US dollars a week right which I didn't have I didn't have that to give away and so we

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prayed we said Lord we're not here for us we're here to help people would you help us

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almost every single week we didn't we felt we weren't to like necessarily you know make a go

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fund me or anything for it and every week God provided just envelope someone would hand us an

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envelope here or someone to call and say I just said you know my heart and God gave us all this

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money to lie by aid and we were distributing a lot one of my favorite stories from that time

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there's so many things God did I've never seen God work in that way like I did those years and I

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think it was because God dressed near to the brokenhearted and these were a lot of them more

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widows war widows with their children and just amazing what God did one of my favorite stories was

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part of our team went up to a house I don't remember if it was a house or a tent a lot of people

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were living in tents and went there was it was a new like a this woman that they had never met but

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they had heard she was in need and they went up to the up to the door and said hello you know

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do you need anything and this woman was quite shocked a little bit scared almost and I said

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please come in come in come in and so they let them in and it was three girls it was two four

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and girls and one Arabic girl and our team and I said I've come in and she makes the team she's

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on what if you come to tell me that's what she said that was her first question very odd they

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would do me and she goes no what have you come to tell me and they said well yeah we've you know

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we're from the church actually we wanted to see if you need some help and just tell you that God

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loves you and see if you have any question about Jesus and this woman said yeah I want to know

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whatever you tell me and did you mean to bring a book and they said what would you would you

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would you like a book and they said yes this woman said this you go I had a dream and in the dream

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these two foreign girls came to my door and they gave me a book and in the book were all of the

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answers for my life do you believe that what gave her a Bible of course I don't know if you I

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wouldn't sure if you knew what book I was talking about they gave a Bible and they started reading

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it with her and of course her life has changed yeah of it again it's like Jesus was preparing

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he's out there bringing in the harvest and he's that's why he said in Matthew he said pray to

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the Lord of the harvest because the harvesters the harvesters ready but the laborers are few

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they say I just love this story because I think I think one night you know this woman lays down

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brokenhearted in need living in a tent their children and God says I've got a couple of laborers let

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me just prepare this one and gives her a dream and then they show up at her door oh it's so great

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says so much about God wow yeah actually you know on that I would love to we have I imagine there's

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some people watching this or listening to this right now who maybe do feel drawn into missions or

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or maybe have a heart for for that sort of ministry and I would I would love to ask you is someone

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with so much experience what advice would you give to them they're right at the start of it they

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just got this sort of feeling of actually maybe that that is for me what advice would you give to

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that person yeah it's it's a good question I mean there's so many things you could do I mean

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programs and things I mean and do anything is my advice just go do something by a plane ticket

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they're cheap get Ryan air and trust the Lord yeah just go do something but my the thing I would

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maybe want to tell anybody in that position is is don't wait for an angel to appear to you

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or some sign in the sky don't don't wait we read the New Testament and you know and you read I

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think about like Luke chapter one whereas Zechariah the father John the Baptist you know the angel

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comes to him and says I'm gonna I'm gonna take away your voice until your son is born you'll know

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this is a sign for God and we're like waiting for that moment like I'll go Lord when the angel

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appears and you do all these signs or even everyone around me can see but that's typically not how

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God works in our lives at least how I've experienced it it's a little bit more like Nathaniel and

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John chapter one where Jesus says to him says I saw you sitting under the tree before you came

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that to me is the picture of like the calling were to follow is that I might for me in my life

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Jesus called me I was a broken lonely boy in a broken family and Jesus drew near to me

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and so all my life my calling is to Jesus my loyalty is to him because he has saved me it I

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don't mean just for eternity or me like saved my life and and so that's my calling in the midst of

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that calling there are maybe small things small callings little callings mother Teresa called

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a call within a call she was a nun in the convent was on a train to go up to the this hill station

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in Darjeeling to go pray and she was sitting on the train and and all of a sudden she said she was

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overwhelmed and she knew she had to leave the convent in Calcutta and go work among the poor

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she got off at the next station going on a train back to the city and went to her superiors and

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I'm leaving I have to work among the poor and they gave her permission to do it and then of course

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she's mother Teresa we know all about her as a she called her experience a call within a call

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and so I think for me I'm going to get back to your question for me you know there's this calling

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to Jesus and then there's these small callings if one of those for me was the Muslim world of like

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I lived I'm from a time where we hated those that part of the world where I'm from

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and we saw them as enemies and so the call within the call was say love your enemies

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and I think for someone who says I have a heart for missions I really want to serve the Lord

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as I say you're calling us to Jesus and go do anything and and open your heart to the needs

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around you because generally I think the call within the call are the needs that God makes us

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aware of it's the yeah my wife and I are kind of our motto and our life is see a need and

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meet a need we're not trying to like live to some you know we don't have a website saying our

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mission is we're like no we we we started an anti-trafficking ministry years ago we didn't we never

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meant to it was just that literally this woman had been trafficked and showed up with our door

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and didn't have a place to live and so we let her into our house and that led one thing to another

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because it was just a need that we weren't aware of until the day we were and then that day we

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got a call and the call was to meet the need and so for someone a young person saying I want to

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serve the Lord I'd say just open your heart what are the needs around you go do anything if there's

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a training opportunity go work with the ministry somewhere God will open up a door do it

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and then open your heart to the needs around because those are generally the calls of God

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in our life and it goes from one to the other so that's that's the Christian life isn't it is

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is it saying my life's not about me there's about the people around me and this is his world

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and so let's see it look like him yeah go and be the hands and feet and that's right that's right

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that's so amazing I mean it's such a beautiful point what you said um we can get so paralyzed by

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the grand calling of a kind of looking at this the the stars going God what is what am I to do

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but there are so many small moments all around you locally that you can you can be the hands and

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feet of Christ and be and be that person in the gap you know and you can live out your calling

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as a Christian you're calling to serve like Christ did everywhere and I think it's such

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almost to demystify it I think people get so abstract with waiting for an angel to come and say

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here is what you're to do just go by a plane ticket if you want to be a missionary go get involved

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you know I think yeah it's such a great point and I really hope so helped some people out there

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yeah I mean I'm sure it has it's encouraged me even as well yeah just be the hands and feet of

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Jesus where you are and also abroad and how I mean I'm especially encouraged by the the being

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being witness and bearing witness to Jesus definitely and um that the Lord also prepares

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the hearts of those that he is going to meet and that it doesn't have to be this big scary thing of

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I think so often it's really easy to um accidentally take on this huge responsibility and this huge

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bird you have oh no I have to go and share the gospel it's all on me no it's not

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it's Jesus has with you and the Holy Spirit dwells within you and he's actually moving outside

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over there and he's meeting people in dreams and in visions and he's preparing them and all we

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have to do is follow him bear witness and just be present to to to follow his voice and what he's

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doing so thank you so much Micah for the wisdom that you shared because it's really blessed me

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and I'm sure it's blessed you guys as well um yeah so be encouraged guys go and be the hands

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of feet of Jesus bear witness to God be kind be loving and listen to those around you um be

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patient with those around you and spend time in the Word as well so that you can learn how Jesus

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responded to people how he interacted with people because he is our best example but Micah thank

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you so much it's been such a joy it's been such a joy like I loved it um so guys yeah please

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leave a comment below of a plane an aeroplane and um we'll see you in the next episode bye guys