A Special Month

Earlier today (the second day of the month of fasting), I hop into a taxi.  It’s just me and the driver.  As we drive through town we hit some traffic, so the driver and I start talking to each other.  He asks me if I’m fasting.  I tell him no, that I don’t follow his faith.  “Everybody has a choice,” he says to me, which is an interesting answer.  Then we start talking about how the price of everything is going up.  Everything is becoming more expensive.  It’s true.  Inflation is hitting the islands too.

Tom and farmer friend with a view

Then, 2 minutes from my house, and unsolicited, my taxi driver says to me,“Everybody around here are hypocrites.”

“Why is that?” I ask.

“During this month, people are supposed to help each other.  This is the month, they say they will help each other, but they don’t.  They help themselves.”

“We believe you should help people, no matter what month it is,”  I told him. “But the problem is in this world, people don’t want to help others because their hearts are full of darkness.  Maybe we want to help people, but we don’t have the power.  We need new hearts…,”  I said a bit more building on that idea, but in the next moment I was getting out of the taxi.

On street in fasting month

I think this incident is a good example of what happens during this month.  We have more conversations this month than in perhaps any other month of the year.  Some of those conversations go well like today.  In the midst of a lot of religiosity there is a lot of emptiness and discontent and people are ready to hear something different.  On the other hand, sometimes, the conversation is a one-way street of being told of the wonders of the month of fasting, when all your sins are forgiven and every prayer counts 10,000 times more than a normal prayer.

The conversations almost always begin the same way during this month.  “Are you fasting?”  We are asked time and again.  “No.” We reply with various explanations. “We don’t fast like you do.  We don’t pray like you do.  We don’t believe that one month is more special than any other month.” But we are often answered with various degrees of ridicule, though sometimes curiosity and puzzlement.

The funny thing is that even as we might argue that all months are the same, this month is very special.  In a different way than our island neighbors, we enter into this month with intensive prayer and fasting too.  Over the years we have begun to pray and fast more this month than possibly any other.  And over the years more and more people have joined us in prayer.  In fact, more and more there seems to be a movement of prayer around the world that has taken hold—meaning both people of our faith and islander faith pray a lot this month!  But the motivation and quality of those prayers could not be more different.  For one group the prayers are outward, other-centered, asking for life, freedom and joy.  By contrast in the island group each individual is praying with the hope that their prayers and good works will be enough to keep them from the fires of Hell.  (So ironically, in a sense then, we are all praying for the same thing.) 

Our 12yr old enjoys birthday ice cream

All around us, islanders look on this month as special—the most important month of the year.  More and more we agree with them.  In the same way a surgeon must concentrate at the most critical part of the surgery or an artist must focus on the difficult part of the painting, we focus on this critical month with added fervency.  

So in one sense we firmly believe that this month is just like any other month.  But in another sense, it is a very special month indeed.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We’re thankful for conversations like the one with the taxi driver, may there be many more like it.  One of our colleagues had a promising conversation this past week too.  There’s been some coming and going this week—a family with whom we have partnered and prayed for many years left the islands for good this past week.  We are thankful for all their years of service, friendship and their safe travels back to Europe.  Another family that formerly worked on the islands is visiting this week.  Pray that their visits and reconnecting with friends would be fruitful and good.  

PRAYERS REQUESTED
The month of fasting has begun and it is an opportunity for much prayer.  We hope you will join us in this month.  If you want to know more about how you can pray, please contact us!  For every good conversation, there are also hard ones to be had in this month and sometimes a feeling of persecution and ridicule.  Pray that we would not be ashamed and would answer teasing and insult with love and respect.  Keep praying for the authorization for our colleagues to work at the hospital.  Things are proceeding slowly.  There is an important meeting that is set to happen this week.  Pray that we would be able to find an advocate in the health department who would champion our case.