Joseph, David, and a Life Sacrificed in Love for Jesus

One of my classmates, Kara, and I had an amazing opportunity around a month ago. We were invited by one of our teachers to hear him speak at Oasis, an Iranian fellowship. Oasis is found in one of the more 'sketchy' parts of Greece, as it is entirely made up of believers from Iran who are now refugees in Greece, and few of them have opportunity to many of the amenities which much of the rest of the country, let alone those in the United States, are used to.

The fellowship consists of around thirty believers, and every single one of them have a story to tell. The strange and beautiful consequence of that story, is that few desire to tell it, but rather want to speak of Christ instead. The first man I met in Oasis is named David. The moment I walked in the room, David, dressed in a huge, many-colored jacket, introduced himself to me, and immediately started telling me about Jesus. He talked about how glorious God is, about everything He had done for him; not about what he had done for Him. For maybe fifteen minutes, he told about why he loves God. At the end of our conversation, I told David that above everyone else I had ever met, his name fit his character, because the David of the Bible loved God with all of his heart. Once I said that, tears started streaming down David's face and looking up he whispered, "praise God."

I then met one of the most joyful men I have ever met. Kara and I were introduced to Joseph by our teacher, and we have the beautiful opportunity to teach him English weekly. Talking to him the first time, firmly forgetting what he had probably come out of, I assumed that a man so joyful as Joseph must have never experienced any suffering in his life. As we all sat in a coffee-shop talking, we asked him about his life story. No more than two and a half years ago, Joseph was baptized as a Christian. As my dear classmate once said, "When Iranians become a Christian, we lose our citizenship. First we lose our families, then our friends. We lose our jobs." Such was the case with Joseph. When he was baptized, his parents disowned him, his wife left him, and he was forced to leave his country. But yet, he is the most joyful man I have ever known. How does this sort of thing happen? How can so much pain, coincide with such incredible joy?

My classmate's words summarize all of this much better than mine ever could:

For most of us there are dangers and difficulties. We believe truly in our LORD. We believe and we accept. We don’t become a Christian because our father is a Christian, or because our friend is a Christian. I became a Christian, because I saw the light. I saw the forgiveness. Jesus could have had revenge, but He didn’t. When you believe in something that is the kindest, most powerful, highest love, highest teaching, it cannot be from man, it is from God.

Please pray for our brothers and sisters in chains throughout the world.