SIncerity

I just had an amazing vacation. Kelli and I went to Tanzania for a week, spending 3 days in Zanzibar and the rest of our time in Dar es Salaam. After a year and a half with no vacation, this one was badly needed.

Many of the locals in Dar and almost everyone in Zanzibar is Muslim. I’m not sure if I really processed all the ramifications of this before I got on the plane. But once you’re on the ground, it’s impossible not to notice. Mosques and masjids were everywhere. Children play on the streets in caps and veils. Women even go to the beach fully covered.

Today as we sat waiting for our flight back to Uganda, there was a large group of men in very traditional dress. White tunics, caps, beards, the whole bit. After a few minutes, they all picked up their prayer mats and went to a corner of the terminal to conduct their midday prayers. We could hear their praying all around us. When prayers were finished, they returned to their seats. One of the younger men took out his Koran to read, chanting again as he did.

It struck me that so many of these precious people, being so kind, generous, and welcoming, are truly sincere in their faith. They are genuinely trying to find God and pursue Him. They are trying to follow. They are sincere.

And they are sincerely wrong. I think that’s the most humbling part of the whole thing. I watch these people, who pray more, study more, try to do right more than I every thought about, and I know that they’re so lost they don’t even realize it. And I’m so grateful to know that my eternity doesn’t depend on the sacrifices I make, how many prayers I say each day, the clothes I wear, or whether or not I make my pilgrimage. My security isn’t based on anything I’ve done… which is good, because I am definitely not good enough. It’s ONLY because of Jesus, and His love for me, His death for me.

How I pray that these sweet ones who are so earnest in their pursuit of God, whether in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, or even America, would see, would understand that they don’t have to do anything but receive. And then be grateful for grace.