Specific names. Or initials. Scribbled in ink. Indelible. On lined paper in plastic-bound journals bought at the local bazaar.
Thirty years later I’m reading the pages. Details about our encounters with them.
Conversations. Situations.
Prayer requests recorded. Hospitalizations. Heartaches. Crises. Losses. Spiritual confusion.
Sharing hope
During our sojourn in Karachi, we met many expats. From every continent. Most? Serving short assignments. Some? Only a few months.
Our connection through the international church or school or social occasions made us a brief piece in their stories.
As followers of Christ, we came alongside. Seeking to encourage. Listen. Pray.
Sharing hope in Him.
Names and faces
My memories of these names and faces scatter in the winds of decades. Gone after multiple cross-cultural moves.
And someday these written words will scatter too. As journals fall apart or end up in the trash bin.
But God knows each specific and unique individual made in His image.
He’s well acquainted with every heart cry and need written on the pages of their stories.
The rest of the story
Today, I trace their names, the personal requests from years ago. And wonder.
Where are they? What’s the rest of the story?
Then pray again. And thank God.
He sees. And He calls them by name.
What about you?
Do you sometimes wonder about those brief encounters of years gone by? Are you ever curious about “the rest of the story”?
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4 replies on “Names”
What a privilege to pray for these as they crossed your path!
YES! I think about this too. Where are people today and how were some needs met, answers given? And I think and worry about fading memories and then remembering well in heaven with reunions.
What a Day that will be…I wonder if some of eternity will be spent hearing His story in the lives of those gathered 🙌🏼.
I am right there with you. Who holds on to these memories of people who’ve crossed my path in service but me? What do I do with what I’m able to remember? I like your suggestion—give them up to God trusting they continue to walk with him and see him at work in their lives. I too am thankful for each and every one I’ve met.