So I was pretty discouraged today.

I left the office about noon to head over to Cocody, an urban neighborhood across the lagoon. I had a gig to tell the high school English club about Abraham. Then, to the university campus to study the Bible with Oumou. (She’s the girl from the M0slim village who recently realized Jesus is The Man.)

I got to the high school and the meeting had been canceled. I went on campus, but Oumou was gone.

As I got in the car and started driving home, I actually said out loud to myself, “Alrighty then. O for 2 today. Great.”

Right then, one of my best friends from church called and said he needed to talk to me about something. On the way up to Olivier’s apartment, (where he lives with like 15 other people), I stopped downstairs where I had recently met a Muslim Hausa woman from Niger.

Rokia invited me in and mentioned something about the upcoming Christian holiday, (called Noël in French).

“Do you know why we celebrate Noël?” I asked. No, she didn’t, but she said I should tell her.

So I wove through the story. I told how Adam and Even were in the garden with God, but He had to run them out of the garden because they, just like us all, just continued to fall into evil. God sought a way to be with his people again, so he came to earth. Mary was a virgin, but she’s pregnant, and the angel reassured her fiancé that she hadn’t been with another man. Jesus was born where the animals sleep, and, finally, he was given his name on the eighth day in the temple, (something the M0slims actually do here, so they can relate).

 “Ah,” Rokia said. She clicked her throat in the way women here show affirmation. “That’s good. I have never heard that before.”

How I love to hear those words. I’m not grateful that she had never heard, but grateful that now, she has. And thanks to Olivier being her neighbor, she will hear more…

How do I know that? That was one of the things Olivier wanted to talk to me about today. God is revealing to 26-year-old Olivier that he should be a missionary to his own people in the rural villages in the central part of the country. What amazing news. 

As I was leaving Olivier’s house, Oumou finally called back. She was on campus, and since I was still in Cocody, I decided to go by.

We talked forever about Noël. I told her the same story I told Rokia, and she didn't miss a word.

“The light surrounded the shepherds, and they were…”

“Etoneé,” she said, finishing my sentence. Amazed. How did she know they were amazed? Because her face had that very same look of amazement that I bet the shepherds had. In her head, she wasn’t imagining the cute little neighborhood kids that dressed up as angels every year for the Christmas pageant. She was imagining the actual magnificent, brilliant glory of a company of shining divine beings in the open night sky singing praises to God. Etoneé, she said. She was there, and she was amazed.

And today, I am etoneé (Eh-toe-nay). I can’t begin to explain how amazing it is to share this story to people who don’t know. Everyone in the U.S. at least knows what Christmas is supposed to be about. It’s hard to see the story through fresh eyes, like I did today.

God sent Jesus in this incredibly miraculous way so we would all be etoneé forever. But what really amazes me is how we let this story get to be so ho-hum in our hearts after hearing it so many times. Today, I am amazed at how this story transcends cultures and oceans and languages and still, 2000 years later, can leave people etoneé.

I pray that somehow, some day, each one of you can have the thrilling experience of telling this story to someone who has never heard it before. Not only for their sake, but for your sake. There are few blessings that compare on this earth.

So the day started out 0 for 2, but God didn’t let it end that way. Just like he didn’t end the story when he had to chase Adam and Even out of the garden. I bet that day, he said to himself, “Alrighty then. 0 for 2. Great.”

But he made a happy ending. He found a way to be with us again. He came back on Christmas as Emmanuel, God with us. He was sure with me today. And I know He will be with Rokia, and Olivier, and Oumou.

And may he be with YOU this week and make you etoneé at His story once again. 

Wanna donate to the worldwide mission? Most of my financial support comes from the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, taken up in Southern Baptist churches every Noel. The Lottie fund supports thousands of missionaries all over the world! I don't know where I'd be without it! See a video of West Africa missionaries saying thanks here, and donate here.