Conversation with Victor / Update #1

I called Victor Friday night to follow-up. He told me that he and his wife had not been able to locate the Persian Gospel of Luke I had given them previously (knowing the desire of the mid-Eastern cultures to honor friends, I am sure they had searched for it feverishly!).

For a moment, it seemed like a setback. Then God granted me wisdom for the moment.

“Victor, do you have access to a computer?” I asked.

“Yes, Mr. Carmen, I do,” came his confident reply.

“Great. Just hold on a minute and let me check something out.” The fact that I was sitting at my computer when I made the call to Victor turned from happenstance to providence for with split-second timing the thought entered my mind, “Why not see if there are any Persian Bible translations on line?”

During the past decade in particular, it’s amazing how technology and time have been in a virtual, dead-heat race to see which one can beat the other at the finish line of cultural transformation.

Three or four years ago, when I finally located a Persian New Testament (still somewhere in my office!) and the Persian Gospel of Luke (still somewhere in Victor’s home!), the closest I could come was Britain. Last Friday evening, however, and with a couple of clicks on sites detected by my Internet search engine, I had not only located a site featuring Persian Scriptures (www.farsinet.com/bible), but the entire New Testament was available in downloadable, PDF files! Not to mention the fact, Victor could read it online as well!

“Hey, Victor! I just found a site on the Internet where you can read the same story of Jesus I gave you,” I announced.

“Really, Mr. Carmen? Where is it?” Victor inquired with great interest.

As Victor took a moment to write down the link, I repeated that which I had instructed earlier in the week: “Victor, you will find one of the links entitled the Gospel of John. I would suggest you start there. Just read one chapter each night. And as you read, ask yourself, ‘What do I learn about Jesus and about God?’ Then, ask God, ‘God, if Jesus is your Son, and if He died for me, help me to know this to be true.’ Are you O.K. with this, Victor?”

“Yes, Mr. Carmen, I will do this,” came Victor’s response virtually mirroring the affirmation he had made earlier in the week.

So…keep praying. I will keep you posted. There is nothing more exciting than being partners in the work of God’s Spirit in one’s life. Don’t you agree?