If you have been following me on social media at all
over the past week you might have noticed pictures of things like camels, glittering
skylines, and exotic food. I
had the unexpected blessing of spending last week in the UAE with some friends
from college. My friend Sarah (the one to the far right) actually
grew up in Dubai, and her family graciously hosted us and showed us around the
city. Between watching the stars come
out over the desert, eating lentils and rice with my fingers, swimming in the
Arabian Gulf, and standing at the top of the Burj Khalifa (the tallest building
in the world) it was truly one of the greatest weeks of my life! But beyond all of the great touristy things
we got to do, the best part of the trip was without
question the people that I got to meet.
Sarah’s family attends Redeemer Church of Dubai, and
we had the chance to attend services there twice during our stay (they have
church on Fridays since that is the holy day of the week for Muslims and also
the day that most people have off of work).
Now I have attended several international churches in my life, but I don’t
think that I have ever been in a more diverse place than the hotel ballroom
where Redeemer meets each Friday morning.
Africans, Indians, Filipinos, Arabs…. all dressed in a kaleidoscope of
colors, all praising God at the top of their lungs in all of their
different accents. What a glimpse heaven! That first Friday
morning I could hardly sing because I kept getting so choked up watching the
people worship around me. Throughout the
week we got to spend time with many members of the church, several of whom are around
my age. Their passion for sharing Christ
with those who do not know Him was both convicting and infectious all at the
same time. Living in a primarily Muslim
country where Christianity is anything but the cultural norm, they treasure Christ
and who He is in a way that I think many of us Americans fail to do in the comfort of the bible belt.
On our last Friday in Dubai, we were privileged to attend
a baptismal service after church.
Sitting in lawn chairs around a backyard pool, we listened as
seven people (none of whom were white by the way) shared from their hearts
about how Jesus had saved them. Though they all came from different countries and different backgrounds, their testimonies echoed one another. Their lives had been characterized by hopelessness, guilt, loss, and struggle. That looked different for each of them, but everything changed for all of them when they met Jesus: The perfect Son of God had done no violence;
He had lived without sin, yet He willingly gave Himself up as the only acceptable
sacrifice for your sin and for mine when He was crucified on the cross. He
saved us from a punishment each of us has earned a thousand times over with our
anger, our arrogance, our lies, our gossip, our racism, and our covetous hearts. God was so pleased by the sacrifice of the
Son on our behalf, that He raised Him to life, a life that we too can know and
have and live. I am set free from sin and death because of Jesus. I can know and be known by the God of the Universe because of the Cross of Christ.
It is a story
that is as familiar to me as breathing, but hearing it spoken again by these
people in this place on the other side of the world from my normalcy reminded
me of some beautiful truths that I too easily forget. Christianity is not a religion for white
people. It is not a nice moral code for
Americans to loosely live by when they feel like it. God is not Caucasian. The Gospel message of hope and life is for every
single person who walks on this earth no matter their color or their culture or
their language or their particular brand of sinfulness.
This friends, this right here, is why I am moving to Spain. Because the people of Spain, just like the people to Dubai, need to know that
this God is for them. They need to know
that Christ is not a fresco painted cherub hidden behind gilded altars in empty
Catholic cathedrals. He is alive. He is among us. And He changes everything.
Back home in Raleigh after my adventure, I now return again to the challenges and joys of support raising as I move closer and closer to moving to Madrid in July. I am so excited to share with you all that I am now 20% funded! God is so good! Thank you with all of my heart to each one of you who has generously given out of a desire to see Christ made known among people who do not know Him. Our God is on the move, and I am sitting on the edge of my seat to see what He will do next.
If you would like to be part of sending me to Spain where I will be serving as a teacher and church planter, simply click HERE to give online, or send your tax deductible gift to One Mission Society at P.O. Box 1648 Monument, CO 80132-1648. Be sure to include my name and account number on the memo line or in an attached note: Kaye Sparks, Account # 802542.
If you would like to be part of sending me to Spain where I will be serving as a teacher and church planter, simply click HERE to give online, or send your tax deductible gift to One Mission Society at P.O. Box 1648 Monument, CO 80132-1648. Be sure to include my name and account number on the memo line or in an attached note: Kaye Sparks, Account # 802542.
To learn more about Redeemer Church of Dubai and the work they are doing in UAE, check out their website at www.redeemerdubai.com/
"I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people....This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all people."
1 Timothy 2:1, 3-6
