HORSE

One day near the end of our vacation, Donn and I came out to sit in the lobby of our motel while the maid was working in our room. A man who appeared to be an American Indian sat down across from us.

“How are you’all doing?” he asked with a friendly smile.

We responded but went back to our reading. A few minutes later, he asked, “Where are you’all from?”

Realizing he wanted to talk, we put down our reading material to chat with him. We had a great conversation. He told us he is half Comanche and half Apache. He lived on a reservation for a while and said life was very hard. Then he went to an orphanage for American Indians that he said was much better.

We’ve heard that sometimes the American Indians were treated very badly in the orphanages but that wasn’t this man’s experience. “On the reservations we didn’t have running water and had to use an outdoor bathroom. The accommodations in the orphanages were much better.

“We could earn points by working and when we earned enough points, we could go back to the reservation for a visit to see our families.”

Trying to explore whether the orphanage might have been run by Christians, I said, “Did they teach you about Jesus at the orphanage?”

 “No, they didn’t teach us about Jesus,” he responded. “We just knew about the great Spirit.”

Eventually he told us his name was Horse. He had been a fire fighter most of his life, and although he was probably of retirement age, he had stayed at our motel with a team of fire fighters the night before.

Would you pray with us that the Holy Spirit would speak to Horse about Jesus and draw him to Himself.  

OPEN MY EYES, LORD

TURQUOISE CANYON OUTLET MANAGER

One day Donn and I decided to explore the pottery place located beside our motel. As soon as we went into the building, I told Donn, “That instrumental music is playing the hymn Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!” We were so surprised!

I approached the owner and said, “What do the words to that song mean to you?”

He answered, “Just flute music.”

“So you don’t know the words?”

“No.”

“The words are Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.”

He shrugged. “Just flute music.”

We went on shopping and soon realized the entire CD (or whatever he was playing) was instrumental worship songs: Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God, Amazing Grace, etc.

Eventually I approached the owner again. “What are your beliefs?”

He looked puzzled, so I added, “Do you believe in God?”

“Yes, one God.”

“What about Jesus?” I questioned.

“Yes, as a prophet only.”

The man didn’t seem annoyed so I pressed on. “So you don’t believe Jesus is God?”

“No, just one God.”

“Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?”

“No, one God.

I smiled. “And only one way… Jesus.”

“No,” he said.

A few days later, we decided to visit the pottery place again to see if he was playing different music that day. It soon became clear that this CD was also instrumental worship music.

The manager recognized us and said, “You were here before.”

Donn nodded and said, “We’re staying at the motel next door.”

He understood and we chatted for a few minutes, then returned to looking at his wares and chose a few things to buy. When we went up to pay for our purchases, I said, “This music is also Christian songs. This song is Open My Eyes, Lord, I Want to See Jesus.”

The manager nodded but didn’t comment.

Please pray for this man that as the environment of his store is flooded with Christian music, the Holy Spirit would open his eyes and he would see Jesus in all of His glory.

Father, thank you for all the opportunities you give us to plant seeds that we can fertilize and water by our prayers even if we never see the person again. Please cause those seeds to grow and bring a great harvest. Amen.