Something Needs To ChangeSample

Coming face to face with urgent physical needs in the world can teach us a lot about our faith. One sobering lesson came through our encounter with a man named Kamal who lived in a small village in the Himalayas. Kamal had only one eye, and the infection that took his eye was quickly overtaking his entire head. 

After engaging in some small talk with Kamal, Aaron, our guide, shifts the conversation in a more spiritual direction. He asks Kamal, “Have you ever heard of Jesus?” 

Kamal looks back, confused. “No, who’s that? I’ve never heard that name.” It’s like Kamal is being asked about a man he’s never met who lives in a nearby village. 

Aaron begins to tell the story of Jesus, but Kamal seems confused about the relevance of a man who lived two thousand years ago. When Aaron finishes, Kamal just looks down and quietly says, “I need help for my eye.” 

Aaron has been part of starting a clinic farther down the mountain, and he tells Kamal he will work to get him some help. 

“May I pray for you?” Aaron asks Kamal.

Though still obviously confused, Kamal answers yes. Standing up to our knees in the snow, shivering from the cold, we gather around Kamal and pray for God to help him—in the name of Jesus. 

I know and teach on the value of prayer, but, honestly, I wasn’t really praying with actual faith that God would miraculously heal Kamal on the spot. 

As we walk away, Aaron tells us more about his clinic farther down the trail. There, Aaron says, Kamal will have the opportunity to get medical help while also hearing more about Jesus. In other words, I see in Aaron a picture of someone who believes what he just prayed—that we just spoke to the one true God, who has all the power in the universe to help Kamal. Aaron believes this so much that he is at God’s disposal to be the means by which his prayers are answered. 

I want to pray in faith like that—not just talk about praying that way.