Never heard of it

It is easy to think that our issues are the issues of the world

One of the strange dichotomies I am finding in my world is about local and global issues. This came to me in spades a couple of years ago when I was traveling in North India. The village was very Muslim, and we had stopped for something to eat at a little “restaurant.” I use quotes because, in reality, it was a family home that had a few plastic chairs setup on the sidewalk. There was no menu, and we were traveling with an Indian brother who took care of the order. Everybody was speaking Hindi.

A man at the next table over said, “American Eagle,” and looked at me, smiling. I said hello and soon we were talking. His English was a little hard for me to understand and mine was almost impossible for him. I pulled out my phone and began sharing photos of my family with him. Soon, he was doing the same. I told him I was from Orlando, Florida.

“Where is that?” he asked.

“In Florida, you know, Disneyworld is there.”

He shook his head. He had no idea what Disneyworld was. That was a little shocking to me. Who doesn’t know about Disneyworld? I asked a few others at his table and none of them knew about Disneyworld. Mickey Mouse? Nope. Donald Duck? Again, nada. He shook his head on Florida, too. Never heard of it.

It was then that he turned in his chair and I noticed his shirt read, “American Eagle.”

We are so caught up in domestic issues, important domestic issues, that we can forget about the unreached. Here in the US, we fret about elections, abortion, transgender ideology, AI, right-wing hate, left-wing hate, Instagram, xwitter, racism, and I could go on. While we go about our days absorbed in these issues, there are entire cultures that have a completely different set of topics upon which they are fixated.

It gave me a sober perspective. Entire cultures with nobody to live out the Kingdom in their midst. A different world. How can they hear unless somebody is sent?

I was afraid to ask about Jesus, putting him is the same category as Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck, but one of my traveling friends eventually got around to it. Do you know “Isa al Masih?” At first, the answer was a confused, “no.” But when our translator jumped in, I found that he did know who Jesus was, a prophet in the Islamic tradition.

Oh, and Trump. He asked me if I knew Donald Trump.