“I pray also for those who will believe in me….” John 17:20b

He glanced sideways to make sure no one else in the restaurant was near enough to hear what he was going to say. Then he leaned towards me, his face deadly serious. Only his eyes betrayed the excitement he felt as he spoke.

“Tell me, just where and how I can apply for this eternal life!”

My mind went back over the four or five long discussions we had had earlier, and knew that this man was serious in his questioning.

God had been preparing him for years for this conversation. He had been born in a remote, primitive village far out in the East where there was no possibility of hearing the gospel. But when he was five years old, while playing in the ruins of a church, he had asked himself this question, “I wonder, is the God of this church the same as the God of our Mosque?” Then he’d spent the next 29 years looking for an answer, and I was the first Christian he had been able to find!

At our initial meeting, I had given him the Gospel of Mark, which he read extensively, memorizing portions and asking me many questions. He knew he was a sinner--“I can’t take one step without sinning”--an unusual insight, evidencing a genuine work of the Holy Spirit.

He somewhat understood the price of persecution he would have to pay for being a Christian: in his excitement of learning about Christ, he had shared with his family and friends and had been strongly opposed. Yet he was eager to “put in his application” for eternal life, and he did, entering the Kingdom of Christ!