Testimony Given on Sunday 7th March, 2010

The Toddler room used to be known as the ESL room. Now it’s known as the religious room. We have:
o Me – a Protestant
o Amera – A Coptic Christian (Egyptian Orthadox)
o Ilanit – a Jew
o And Maryam – a Muslim
And they are all VERY interested in talking about religion. Seriously, we’ll all be sitting around, patting the children off to sleep, and be talking about what we believe, why we believe it, and how it effects the way we live out our lives.

I’ve really been blessed especially in talking to Maryam, the Muslim.

Because she thought that all Westerners were Christians, and most Westerns are basically self-centred and rather decedent, she thought that Christianity was a religion that encouraged that. When she moved to Australia from Iran she continued to think that most Westerners were Christian, but that because they never went to church or prayed it was a religion that even they didn’t believe in, and was one that gave them a licence to live generally immoral lives.

Recently Maryam told me how working with me has changed her view of that. She said how it was very good that I was a Christian, because my religion made me a good person. She realised that a Christian is someone who actually tries to live differently from the world, and when she saw this she was very impressed.

So much so, she told me on Friday that she has bought a Bible and is beginning to read it! She said it isn’t easy to understand, and that she would like me to answer her questions to help her understand it!

Psalm 67
May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine upon us,

That your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.

May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you.

May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you rule the peoples justly
and guide the nations of the earth.

May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you.

Then the land will yield its harvest,
and God, our God, will bless us.

God will bless us,
and all the ends of the earth will fear him.

Praise God!