Seen at Road to Bethlehem

Hey, my name is Dave Edgren. I have been volunteering at Road to Bethlehem this week on the chaplaincy team, and I just wanted to tell you a couple stories that have been pretty meaningful of encounters that we've had with people at the chaplaincy tent. One lady walked up and she was dressed in a way that I knew that she was a Muslim, and so I asked her about her faith. And in the conversation, she was quite outgoing, and so I said to her, "Isn't it true that you have 99 names for God?" And she said, "Oh yes, one One God, Allah, but 99 names. And I said, what's one of the names? And she said, merciful. And I remembered this series of comic books that I saw a long time ago that were based on the 99 names of God. And the series of comic books are just called The 99, and they're written as both a training tool for children in the Muslim faith and also for sharing resources because they're fantastic. And they look like superheroes, but they're modeling these characteristics. The 99 names of God that they have in the Muslim faith are not different gods. They're different attributes of God, different characteristics of him. And so we talked about mercy for a little bit. And then I asked her if she'd enjoyed the road to Bethlehem. And she said, "Oh, so much." She said, "It's so beautiful to see you telling your story so that we can understand it and we can be part of it." And I thought that's a beautiful way of describing what the road to Bethlehem is. The next encounter was I looked out and I saw this guy and I met eyes with him. And when I saw his eyes, I knew I knew him. So I pointed at him like, "I know you." And he pointed back at me like, you know, "I know you." And he came over and we had a little chat and I asked him, and I remembered the last time I'd seen him, oh, at least a decade ago, I was on a playground and he had a little kid with him and my mind just said it was his. So obviously, so I said, uh, and how are the kids? And he said, oh yeah, yeah, they're here. And, and, uh, so anyway, we chatted for a bit and then he went away. And about, I don't know, an hour or so later, probably after they'd gone through the road to Bethlehem, he came walking back up and he had two girls with him. And he said, uh, into their names, and, and they were like 15, 16 years old. And I seriously didn't remember any— I just remember a baby And I said that to the daughter, and then I said, "So things have been going like that. You've had a lot of changes in your life, haven't you?" And he said, "Yeah, I definitely have." And I said, "Well, you look good." And lost a lot of weight, substantial amount of weight, and looked very different. And he smiled and he said, "You know, I've been here a couple hours and I've passed a number of friends and none of them, uh, even recognized me. And I said to him, I said, well, you look good, it suits you, but if you don't mind me asking, how long ago has it been since you've started going through the therapy and the, um, taking the medications and stuff to, to, um, for the change? And he said, yeah, uh, about 18 months ago. And I also had surgery and had a lot of weight taken off, and I still have some surgery to go. And I said, the only thing I don't know is your name. And he said, yeah, yeah, it's Benji now. And you know, when I think about that, oh, and also he asked me to stand up and he gave me a big hug and he said, thank you for recognizing me and saying hi. And I said to him, I said, "It's just good to see you. I'm so happy for you. You look so good in your new skin." And he said, "Thank you so much." And, you know, people just want to be seen. And if there's anything more that we can do as Christians, I mean, when you look at even in the Old Testament, there's a story where God is described as one of the characteristics of God, the God who sees. He sees us and he sees us in our struggles. He sees us in our highlights and our lowlights, and he sees us in the good times and the bad times. And he sees us when we're in our families and he sees He sees us when we're alone, and he sees us when we're, you know, every time, all the time he sees us, and he meets us where we are. I mean, that's what Jesus did by becoming one of us and coming to this earth and walking this earth, becoming a baby, being born in Bethlehem, and then walking among us and being one of us, and then dying for us. All of it was so that we would know that we're seen by God and that he loves us and that he wants us to be part of what he's doing, part of his kingdom. The Muslim lady said that the 99 names for God were very meaningful to her. And I went back and researched it. I was reading about it. And there's a statement by Muhammad. And he says that the one who, the person who can recite, memorize and recite all 99 names of Allah and recite them from memory, that person will certainly be in paradise. And I think that's because, and I think it's true with, with Jesus too, with followers of Jesus, if you can recite and embody all of the attributes of Jesus and become loving and inclusive and able to see people for who they are and embrace them in the very moment that you see them and you recognize them, that then you too will be not just one day, but now in the kingdom of God. Come down to Road to Bethlehem if you get a chance. It's in Lillydale at Edinburgh College, and it's on tonight, Wednesday night, and tomorrow night again, Thursday night, from about 6 until 11. And if you don't have tickets, just show up and you might have to wait a while. There's a fantastic fete going on with lots of good food, and get your face painted. Come see us in the chaplaincy tent, and, and we'd love to see you. Thank you. See ya.