“Your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right or to the left.”
Isaiah 30:21 NASB
I was flying into a highly populated city in a country far away from my home. I would be there only one night. As the plane neared its destination, I had the strong conviction that there was somebody in that city with whom I was supposed to meet and pray. “Who is that person, God?” I wondered.
After I arrived in that city, I took a short tour. Although I was in a different culture, that held many different religious beliefs and views from my own, I was treated with such kindness and respect. I remember going into one shop, and I was very thirsty. I asked the shopkeeper, “Do you have any water? I want to find some water to drink!”
“No, not here, but give us one moment,” they said. Two of the shopkeepers ran down the street and came back a few moments later with a bottle of water.
“Here, sir, this is our gift to you,” they told me as they handed me the water.
“How much does it cost?” I asked.
“It’s our gift to you,” they said again with a smile.
Again and again, I saw the kindness of the precious people of that city.
Right before I went back to my hotel that night, I passed by a large, beautiful worship center, especially designed for daily worship in that region of the world. I wondered about the man who was inside that worship center, the man who called the people to pray throughout the day and night.
As I settled in for the night back at my hotel and before crawling into bed, I knelt and asked God to wake me up anytime in the night to pray and be in His Word. I did not have an alarm clock, nor was one provided by the hotel, so I was depending on God to wake me up to be on time to catch another flight the next day.
In the early hours, I was awakened by God. I felt so rested. I hope I haven’t missed my flight! I thought. I called down to the front desk and found out it was only 1:00 a.m. Then God reminded me that He had told me He had somebody in the city He wanted me to pray with. I got on my knees. “God, don’t let me miss the one You want me to pray with in this city before I leave.”
As I prayed, the Holy Spirit impressed me very strongly that He wanted me to find the leader of the large, beautiful worship center that I had seen the night before, the man that routinely called the people to pray.
I prayed again, wanting assurance that I was indeed hearing from God.
“God, if I’m hearing You correctly, please give me promises in the Word that would prepare me for such a visit. And if this is not You, then give me counsel in the Word that will lead me not to go. Just lead me by your Holy Spirit.”
In answer to my prayer, the Holy Spirit began to lead me to promise after promise in His Word that showed me that He was with me, and that He would give me the words to say like He promised Moses at the burning bush.
After much time in prayer and in the Word, I put on my street clothes and went downstairs. The lobby was completely empty. It was still a very early hour.
“I need a taxi, please,” I said to the person at the front desk.
“Sir, step outside. One is waiting for you,” the attendant told me.
“But I didn’t call yet for a taxi,” I said with surprise.
“Just step outside. One is waiting for you,” he told me again.
There was no activity in the hotel, and it was still very early in the morning. I couldn’t believe that God had already prepared a taxi for me. I went out to the taxi, and sure enough, the driver was standing there waiting for me.
“Please take me to such and such worship center,” I said to the driver, naming the place that I had seen the night before.
He replied, “This is very early in the morning. Are you of our faith?” he asked, as he named the prominent faith group of that country.
“No, I am not,” I told him.
“Why do you want to go? This is not the hour for people who are not of our faith to worship.”
“I must see the man who gives the call to prayer,” I told him.
The driver looked at me with confusion. “Do you have an appointment to see him?”
“No, not from him,” I responded.
“If you don’t have an appointment, there’s no way you’ll see him,” he told me very confidently. “I am of this faith and even if I were to try to get an appointment with him, it would take a long, long time to get an appointment with such an important man.”
“I understand,” I responded resolutely. “However, in prayer this morning, God told me to go and see that man.”
The driver studied my face intently. “You’ll never see him, but I’ll take you there.”
And so, in the early hours of the morning, I got into his taxi. It was still pitch-black outside. He took me to the large, beautiful center where many people come to pray and worship. As we got closer and closer, I could see the worship center shimmering in the night. The lights were all on. What an impressive sight!
“What’s the best way for me to enter the building?” I asked my taxi driver.
“I’ll drop you off in the back. You have two options,” he told me. “You can either go up to those three huge wooden doors, and you can enter there. If the doors are open, you will go immediately into the center where everyone is praying. Your other option is to go down below the worship center. There is a narrow corridor; you can go down below, and then you will come up inside. So, which do you want to do?”
I looked toward the narrow corridor that he had pointed out. It was all dark. I couldn’t see my way.
I looked at the huge, massive doors and silently prayed. “I will go through the great doors,” I told him.
He dropped me off by the three doors. I had hoped that he would wait to see if I could enter, but before I could say anything, he drove away, leaving me standing in the dark at the back of the huge worship center. I took off my shoes and went up to the first huge door and tried to open it. It was locked firmly. I prayed, “God, at least You know I tried.” And then I thought to myself, I should try the second door.
I went up to the second door and tried to get in, and it was locked as well. Again, I prayed, “God, at least You know I tried to go where You wanted me to go. This isn’t even the hour for foreigners like me to come who are not of this faith.”
I tried the third door, and it opened. I walked in through the door. Many men were kneeling in prayer, a lot of them with their faces to the ground. I knelt down, not far away from the great door I had entered. I prayed, and I waited. I prayed silently, “God, how am I going to find the man who leads the daily call to prayer?”
Finally, after some time, God impressed me to open my eyes. I noticed a young man who was in prayer a few meters away from me. I walked up to him, and when he noticed me, I said, “I am so sorry for interrupting you, but can you lead me to the man who makes the call to prayer?”
He responded with a smile, “Soon he will make his call for prayer, and then you can meet him.”
So, I prayed and waited. And soon the man whom I was praying to meet came in and gave his call to prayer. I could hear the swish, swish of the huge door behind me, opening and closing, as many more men came in for the call to prayer. What a spectacle I must have been on my knees in my western clothes. I was the only one who looked like me, and I was the only one there not of their faith.
At the end of the prayer, I heard a deep voice, “Are you looking for the leader who calls for prayer?” I looked up and I saw two big men staring at me.
“Yes, sir. Can you take me to him?”
One of the tall men replied, “The leader is here beside you right now!” And he pointed to a little man who looked very, very wise.
The big, tall men looked like bodyguards. They both looked at me closely with caution and suspicion. I smiled and said, “I would love to speak with your leader.”
One of the tall men then said something quietly to the leader whom I had come to see. The leader said something back to the tall man, who then informed me that he would like to speak with me off to the side. The three men led me over to the side of the room. The leader sat down on the floor with the two men close beside him, one on each side.
“Why have you come?” they asked.
“While in prayer early this morning, God told me to come here and see you,” I said, looking directly at the leader.
That was the beginning of a great conversation about the times we live in and our mutual conviction that parents are called by God to mentor their own children spiritually. Eventually, the religious leader began speaking in English, talking with me directly instead of through the men beside him. We had a profound conversation about the need of passing values down to the newer generations. Nearly thirty minutes flew by, and then the leader said he needed to go. However, the Holy Spirit had told me that I needed to pray with him.
“Can I pray for you and your family before you go?” I asked. He assured me that I could. I prayed for him and his family and for God to bless him and lead him as he led those in the large worship center of that city. He was visibly moved by the prayer and leaned forward. “If you are ever in this city again, please come and see me,” he whispered. I assured him that I would be most happy to come see him again.
When I asked where I could find a taxi to go to the airport, one of the men who had been his bodyguard offered, “Come with me. I will take you to the airport.”
The bodyguard drove me across the city and to the airport and refused my offers to pay him for his gas. As I waved goodbye, I invited my driver to come with his family and visit me in America. I wondered when God would lead me back. Would there be a sequel to the story?
He’s My Daddy (part 2 of 2) will be published next Friday.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman \ Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org
