The story of Ike

As in the story of Eve and Hannah, we had a volunteer team come out as 2013 came to a close. Hannah invited us into her courtyard and Eve sat as near as possible to hear every Word. Whilst in the midst of storying, Ike showed up. He is a tailor in front of Hannah's house as well as a driver of a motorcycle taxi. Ike and another woman were talking and being disruptive to our stories. We paused for them to finish their conversation. The woman to the market, and Ike sat to listen.

At first, I did not know how Ike's presence would affect our time. Ike listened a while and then asked a little abrasively if we were trying to force them to change. Hannah quickly responded that we were just here to teach those that want to learn but that no one was being forced. He listened more. He saw and began thumbing through the books that I had given Hannah. He would read a title of a story from the book of Mark and ask for us to retell it.  I was not sure what his purpose was, maybe to test us. After a few stories, he admitted that he could read it, but "if I ask you to tell it, then everyone can hear it."

What a blessing to be invited to tell more stories! Hannah could read, but I knew Eve could not. I was unsure about the several other women sitting there, and I felt confident that the children surrounding us could not. Ike was opening up doors for others to hear, but more than that. His countenance changed as he listened. There was a softening of his heart to what he was hearing.  I hoped that he would have time to listen to the story of the brother who was with us that day, a story Ike would have related to well.

Unfortunately, the woman with whom Ike was talking at the beginning returned. She was agitated and tired. She proceeded to give Ike a hard time about continuing to sit there listening when there was work to be done. He apologized for having to leave but gave some of the team his contact information.

Lift up Ike and ask that Word sown in his hear would produce great fruit.