LOVE IN ACTION: A CHINESE AMERICAN COUPLE BECOMES FAMILY TO MUSLIM STUDENTS
Bob and Sabrina went to Asia with a heart to serve young people. At the university where Bob teaches, some of his students are from Muslim countries where economic hardships and even civil war are part of life. Quite a few of these bright young people are suffering PTSD symptoms from the violence and loss of loved ones back home. Bob and his wife Sabrina reached out and became their unofficial host family.
Afri and Hajira have become very close to Bob and Sabrina. The chaos back home has made it unsafe for them to return. The love and support from their host family meant everything to them. “Can we call you Papah?” they asked their teacher. That they are Muslim and Bob is Christian was not an issue. Afri brought her boyfriend Pazir to ask for their blessing, just as she would with her parents back home.
When Hajira heard voices and had suicidal thoughts, Bob and Sabrina took her to the international clinic in the city and found a Christian psychiatrist in the US to evaluate her online. All this time, they made themselves available to listen to her, feed, counsel, and pray with her. Half a year later, Hajira could engage in her studies again. She even won first prize in a campus-wide essay competition!
Hajira, Afri and Pazir are bright young people who made it out of their home country to study at a good university on scholarship. But their dreams for a better future are marred by nightmares of war, death, and displacement. Back in the U.S., Bob had taught elite students from the Middle East at a prestigious university. But he and Sabrina never imagined that they would become family to Muslim young people with refugee status. Crisis and tragedy bonded them and gave them a special place in one another’s hearts.
This month is Ramadan for the Muslim students and Easter for Bob and Sabrina. Bob has invited his students to consider the love of God through Jesus on the cross and the Good News of Christ’s resurrection. They have seen God’s love in Bob and Sabrina’s lives. They have been comforted by the Scriptures and prayers Bob shared. They have heard the gospel explained for the first time. It will take more seeing and hearing for this seed of truth to take root in their hearts and bear fruit. Devout Muslims have come to faith through dreams and visions of Jesus. They believe in dreams and visions especially in this holy month.
As you reach out to your Muslim neighbors in the US, pray for Hajira, Afri and Pazir, and the 84 million people around the world who are daily displaced by conflicts, famine, natural disaster, and persecution. The majority of displaced people are Muslims. Pray that this suffering and scattering somehow loosens them from the strongholds of their Islamic cultures and opens their hearts to the love of Christians and a relationship with Jesus.