No Chains on Me…

An email from Chris Clayman, one of the guys we got to spend time with down in NYC. Great guy. Just another way to be praying for the body of Christ and the Kingdom of God.
-Lukas

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Crossroads

We often write about Brian, our close Malian friend who is very quotable. He is the one that asked if humans painted the color on the flamingo-colored birds at the Bronx zoo, and then reacted in awe of G.d when told that G.d had painted on those colors Himself. He is also the one who, after hearing what Chri.t had done for humanity, stared at the cup symbolizing Chri.t’s blood before him and said, “I have drunk tea from this table often. In fact, just yesterday I ate and drank from this table, but I will not drink of this cup today, because I cannot have one foot on one side and one foot on the other. However, when I am ready to take this cup, even if I am drinking coffee at the moment, I will drink it down and treat it as Chri.t’s blood.”

In the past few weeks, Brian has traveled deeper into the crossroads of his life. On one hand, he has a hereditary cultural value to retain a right relationship with his extended family by not shaming them with any decision that diverges from what the group as a whole believes. On the other hand, he has studied G.d’s Word for the past year and has taken multiple steps of obedience towards G.d, even though he knows that his family and network in Mali have differing beliefs. I believe his actions over the last few weeks reflect a milestone of fa.th in his life.

On a Friday night several weeks ago, Brian sat on the couch in our living room, went through the typical African greetings, and then became very serious. He turned to me and said something like this, “Mamadou (my African name), I have never told you what I am about to tell you. About 3 years ago, I told [the manager of my business in Mali] and [my 2nd wife] that it was time for us to get close to the Chr.stians.” When I asked him why, he said, “I just knew there was something about them…something we needed to get close to and understand. I never told you this, but isn’t this amazing? It was shortly after I said this that I met you…” As he finished saying these things, a look of deep gratification and affection swept over him. He then went on to tell me that he had a long conversation with [his store manager in Mali] that afternoon. In fact, he said it was the longest conversation he has had with anyone in Africa since moving to America several years ago. If I were to interpret and concisely summarize what they talked about on the phone, I would say that Brian is initiating convers.on talks with his family and network in Mali.

Paradoxically, Brian, a self-identified Musl.m who has not converted to become a follower of Chr.st, had shown up at our apartment that Friday to join in our now weekly Friday outreach nights to other West African Musl.ms. On these nights, Brian and I, and sometimes Nichole and Hudson, go to different West African Musl.m homes who have shown an interest in G.d’s Word. On these nights, Brian and I share from G.d’s Word, and it is not uncommon for Brian to initiate pr. in Jes.s’ name for the family we visit. It is also not uncommon to hear Brian talk about how G.d is working in different people’s hearts to respond to His Word, and how other hearts remain hardened. Furthermore, it is not uncommon for this uncommon Musl.m to pr. that G.d would use him to accurately tell the stories from the Bib.e, to open the hearts of the Musl.ms we study with to respond in fa.th to G.d’s Word, and that G.d would continue to give him opportunities to share with others. Brian knows the Word is true, and he is obviously seeking to follow in obedience, but is also caught in the middle of those words of Jes.s that say,

If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it (Matthew 10:37-39).

Pr. that Brian will continue his steps of fa.th, and will find his identity in Chr.st.

Housing

Another thing to keep in pr. is we are looking into other housing options. This has become a little more urgent due to the fact that…..Nichole is 17 weeks pregnant! The baby is due in November. The lower part of Harlem, which is where we live now in the heart of “Little Africa,” is undergoing some drastic change due to the wealthier areas of Manhattan pushing up into Harlem. This has made new leases and housing very expensive. However, a community organization on our street is trying to combat these trends by providing quality housing for lower income people. Long story short, there might be some possibilities for us to buy a co-op apartment a block away from where we are now. It would be smaller than our place now, but would have an elevator (which we don’t have on our 4th floor apt.), and we would have options of doing things to the apartment that we do not have now (such as getting a dishwasher). Both of these things make my tired wife very excited! Furthermore, the monthly mortgage and maintenance payment could be drastically lower than what we currently pay in rent (which definitely makes me very excited). We are hoping to hear more news about this in the next couple of weeks. Please keep this in pr.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and joining with us,

Chris, Nichole, Hudson, and (whoever’s coming next) Clayman

For tax-deductible donations, make checks out to West Africa Outreach and send to:
West Africa Outreach
2807 Needles St.
Euless, TX 76040

One of the greatest gifts ever given to me is this letter from my sisters at the end of fall break:

“Dear Luke:

We have had so much freaking fun with you this weekend! We’re not used to hanging out with such amazing Christian guys, and being able to spend time with you has been a blessing. We respect you so much for your love for Christ — it is such an encouragement! Even the little things that you do (like buying us those magnets yesterday) mean more than you could know. We were hoping that we might be able to get to know you better this weekend and you have seemed like you’ve opened up a lot to us, which makes us glad. You are such awesome, hilarious, hyper (when you have Mountain Dew or are in the presence of small children), and such a GREAT guy!!

Thank you so much for the breakfast this morning. First of all, it was AMAZINGLY thoughtful. Second, it was AMAZINGLY good. Third, we felt very special and honored to be served by chef Plukevdh and chef Johnner. Not only that, but the fact that you are so chivalrous to us means so much. We are sorry if we haven’t expressed our appreciation to you as much as we would have liked to, but it’s a very new situation for us. We’ve never had the opportunity to spend time with such strong Christian guys, and that is why it is so special. Plus we basically just LOVE spending time with you. Your faith shines through in every little action, and it has helped us to realize how important and encouraging our faith can be to another person. We hope that you had an awesome weekend, because we know that we DID!!… We’ll never forget all the memories! We love you!

Courtney & Amanda

P.S. You’re basically our brotha’ from anotha’ motha. *that’s for your ghetto self*”

Fall break was amazing as are my Cedarville sisters!!! I love them to death!!