Running With Eddie

FEBRUARY 13, 2023   |   4 MINUTE READ
MATTHEW CABLE, MISSIONARY IN UGANDA

A young man approached me at a camp for university students last fall.

“I have a bunch of questions,” he said.

It was the first day of a church camp for students in East Africa and I had never met this man whom we’ll call Eddie. I was struck by his boldness. It wasn’t until after he had asked some of his questions—“How do we know the Bible is true? Why are we considered sinful if God is full of grace?”—that Eddie shared that he considers himself a Chrislam, following a mixture of Christianity and Islam.

This religious blend came from Eddie’s upbringing with a Christian father and a Muslim mother. His assertive questioning came from a heavy burden to know which one was true, both for his own understanding and to share with his family and friends.

I was studying the book of Romans at the time, so that’s where we started our search. I loaned him my Bible, the first time he ever had one to read. A group of us leaders at the conference began praying for Eddie’s salvation as a lightbulb moment seemed imminent.

Sometimes, it’s easy to hear God’s voice, to interpret what He wants us to do.

A young man walks directly up to you, asking questions about Christianity that can be answered by the book you’ve been studying.

Other times answering God’s call requires, as pastor Eugene Peterson once said, “a long obedience in the same direction.” It’s a slow, deliberate process, like running a marathon.

When I was younger, I hated running.

I only ran if a coach was forcing me to, there was a ball involved, or a bear was chasing me.

But in my late twenties, the Lord started using jogging to grow my relationship with Him. It slowly transformed from something I dreaded to something I loved. As I developed physical endurance, my spiritual endurance grew, as well.

Here's what I know now: walking alongside those like Eddie as they draw nearer to God requires the same type of endurance as running a marathon. Slow. Deliberate.

It reminds me of our long road to Uganda: a road full of waiting.

In 2019, Ally went on a short-term trip to Uganda. While there, she felt the Spirit move so strongly that we began praying about full-time missions in Uganda.

We looked for opportunities to move to East Africa, starting with WGM. As Ally and I scrolled the Uganda page of the WGM website, one missionary family jumped off the page: Jade and Nathan Metz. Excited by the possibility of serving with this family, Ally asked me to email Nathan to schedule a conversation.

I felt the Spirit say wait.

Normally, that would have been an easy yes. But for some reason, I felt the Spirit telling me to wait. He was urging our next step to be taken patiently as an affirmation of our calling.

A few weeks later—having thought about Uganda every day—Ally and I were on a work trip to Nashville with a friend named Ryan. In a week filled with good food and fun restaurants, it was surprising that Ally felt prompted to fast until dinner on the final day.

Inspired by her faith, Ryan and I encouraged Ally to pick the restaurant for dinner. Ally was delighted to discover a restaurant called Chapati, a type of naan that she couldn’t get enough of in Uganda. As we sat to eat, Ryan casually said, “Man, I haven’t had chapati since I was in Uganda in 2014.”

Ally and I, unaware that Ryan had ever been to Uganda, asked about the trip. He said that in college, his film class had gone to shoot a video for a family with a local missions agency called WGM.

We asked him the name of the family, but he struggled to remember. So we suggested a name: “Was it, by chance, the Metz family? Nathan and Jade?”

“Yes!” he said. At that point, Ally told us that her fasting that day had been for the Lord to affirm whether we should reach out to the Metz family.

I emailed Nathan before we got back to the hotel that night.

God had spoken, showing Himself faithful. And now, three years later, we find ourselves serving in the place God called us.

We have a loving Father who calls us to take one step at a time. Sometimes He gives us a glimpse of what is coming. But often, recognizing and heeding our call is a matter of obedience in one moment, then the next moment, then the next, until we reach the finish line.

When I was face-to-face with Eddie as he asked his questions, I knew God was calling me to step in next to him, to jog alongside him for a little while during Eddie’s own spiritual marathon. That was my obedience in that moment.

Over the next three days, Eddie and I met each morning to discuss what God was putting on his heart and how he should respond.

What a great joy it was on the fourth morning when it all clicked for Eddie, and he said yes to Jesus! He was baptized the next day, an event that words cannot describe.

Eddie dedicated his life to Jesus through baptism.

This young man, who was so burdened with questions about faith, told me that he no longer follows Chrislam, but is now a follower of Jesus alone.

Eddie said that he no longer follows Chrislam, but is now a follower of Jesus alone.

ACTION STEPS

Pray: Is God calling you to do something? Have you taken the time to pray over it? Like Ally, have you practiced fasting as you seek His will? God might be preparing you to witness to others around you!

Go: You can find an interactive map with available missions opportunities at wgm.org/go! Take a moment to check some boxes to see what’s out there—short-, mid-, or long-term. Is God asking you to take the next step with any of these?

Author Bio: Matthew and Ally Cable are missionaries in Uganda. They minister to students like Eddie as a part of the University Discipleship Movement.