Lydia

I was reflecting the events in Acts 16 and how whole households would come to faith through the commitment of the head of the family and how that didn’t happen today with families being more of a group of individuals who often followed their own thing as an individual. I was reminded of something that happened to me when on a mission trip that was part of my training for the ministry. It was in India, and on this particular day we were out in the Sundarbans - a huge area of forests and mangrove swamps - visiting a very remote village that can only be reached by boat. Most of our group stayed in the village centre and played cricket with the locals, but a quartet of intrepid travellers, myself included, ventured out into the unknown. Eventually we were invited into a home where the matriarch assembled her extended family to see the white folks (they had never seen white people before). I told them a story (through an interpreter) about a rich man (me) who found the greatest treasure (Jesus) and gave up his riches to follow him. The matriarch liked my story and asked me who the man was in it, I explained that it was me. She gave her life to Jesus and her entire family did the same. God still gives us the opportunity to step out into unfamiliar places or circumstances, if we take that opportunity something wonderful can happen. 

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