Hey! Want to celebrate with me? This is Muslim Connect #400! Can you believe it? It’s hard for me to.
Once a week for the past seven and a half years, by God’s grace, a Muslim Connect email has dropped and people like you have read it.
Some of the Muslim Connect tribe has been here since the beginning, having set their eyes on the very first email, “She’s Not Gonna Blow Up the Walmart.” Give me a shout if you’ve been here since the start. You mean the world to me.
Others have joined in after we met at a Perspectives class or maybe a church. Some of you may still wonder, “How’d I get on this list anyway?”
To all of you reading this, thank you very much. As my friend Danny used to say in Jordan, “Shukron jiddah owie owie owie.” Which I’ve always taken to indicate extreme gratefulness. Such is what I feel for you.
We’ve been through a bit together, haven’t we? Kudos for President Trump. Teddy bears for the young victims of the massive Turkey earthquake. A scolding for President Trump. The Corona virus and its impact on the Muslim world. All that and a faltering foray into YouTube video (I’m currently on hiatus until I get my act together, but I do love it when my kids tell their friends, “My dad’s a YouTuber!”)
Through it all, two questions have driven us: How can we think like God does about Muslims? And, how can we love Muslims like Jesus does?
Those thoughts? Like the Psalmists says, those thoughts are precious and outnumber the grains of sand. And the love, well, the love is bigger than everything, right? Bigger than the cultural gulfs between us, bigger than all the sin, bigger than misguided wars and priorities.
May the goodness of the Godhead be known more fully in the each of our lives and throughout the Muslim world.
I’m honored to continue to connect with you.