The crowd of children at Abu Muhammed’s house grew slowly but surely, until at least 12 children were arranged around the room.
We noticed a few new faces, so Bishara asked them their names. As it turns out, four of the boys were named Muhammed. Lubna joked “When someone calls for Muhammed, which one of you responds?”
“We all do!” they answered.
The name Muhammed written in Arabic calligraphy
Bishara told the children the story of Christ’s birth. One of the Muhammeds displayed a lot of cleverness during the Bible story. He remembered names and places. When Bishara asked questions at the end of the story, he even remembered that Jesus was born 2,000 years ago (the other kids guessed that Jesus was born two or three years ago).
At one point, Bishara was explaining where Jesus was born. In Arabic the word for stable is “Istabl.” Look familiar? Later, when Bishara asked where Jesus was born, one of the kids yelled “Istanbul!” Close…but not quite.
Another relative of the family came to see what we were up to. As he came up the steps, he saw me and started talking in Hebrew (which I don’t understand… though everyone else does, which is ironic).
This new visitor sat with us and talked nicely about Muslims and Christians being able to be brothers. We agreed with him that we are all created by God. The man’s son has some sort of mental problem, so Bishara prayed for him. Perhaps one day we will have the chance to visit one of these related families and explain more fully the message of redemption through Christ alone. Please pray for wisdom in how and when to proceed.