Josh and Ali Are Coming!

I’m so excited! My son Josh and Pastor Ali Pektash, from the Batikent Protestant Church in Ankara, Turkey, should be arriving tonight. They will be joining us tomorrow for a special St. Patrick’s Day dinner at church. After that Josh will lead us in some Turkish worship music on his guitar – besides being co-pastor, he is often the worship leader at their church. I will get to join in on my flute, as I did when I visited Turkey last month for the leaders’ conferences. Then Josh and Ali will give us a presentation about the miraculous ways God is working in Turkey. I’m sure Ali will break into preaching (with Josh translating) – it just seems to bubble out of him.

Ali is an amazing story. Ten years ago he was an alcoholic Muslim construction worker. He often worked in cities far distant from his home village, not because work wasn’t available closer to home, but because he knew that when he was home, he would get drunk and beat his wife, and he didn’t seem to have any control over it.
Finally, in an effort to break free from the alcoholism, Ali joined some friends on a pilgrimage to Mecca, the most holy city in Islam. This pilgrimage, called the haj, is something every faithful Muslim is expected to do at least once in their life. Ali was not exactly a faithful Muslim, in the sense of dutifully practicing the religion, but he was desperate. He hoped that if we went on the haj, Allah would deliver him from alcohol.

Instead, Jesus appeared to him in a night vision. Jesus told him, “You belong to me now.” He told Ali to return home without completing the pilgrimage. Ali obeyed, and Jesus miraculously delivered him from alcohol. Now Ali is one of the very few native Turkish pastors in the nation.

Josh and his family (wife Julie and children Lucy and Moses) are back in the U.S. for three months, their first time home since moving to Turkey over two years ago. Ali came with them for the first few weeks. They are spending March in Indiana with Julie’s family, but Josh and Ali are driving to Annapolis today so Ali can meet with us here before he has to fly back to Ankara.

Ali is one of the most amazing people I have met. For that matter, so is Josh. I can’t wait to see them! I pray that many other people will respond to the advertisements and come out for the 6:30 dinner and 7:00 program. I know we will all be blessed.