Finding the way in Liberia

Martin, left, in Monrovia, Liberia
Originally uploaded by eandjtrygg.

(By Erik)

Liberia got to me.

I’ve been blessed and humbled by my job at The Christian Chronicle. I cover international news and I’ve been able to see parts of the world that I could only imagine a few short years ago. I’m usually able to keep somewhat of a professional distance from the stories I cover.

But one scene from the Liberia trip stands out in my mind. It’s the moment I saw Christ in an 11-year-old boy named Martin.

A lot of folks aren’t familiar with the history of Martin’s country. Before the trip, several people asked me if I was going to Libya. On the plane coming home I met a worker with the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) from New York. She said that happens to her all the time.

Liberia is a small country in western Africa that was founded by former slaves from the United States. Since 1989 the country has been in an almost-constant state of civil war. Today many parts of the capital, Monrovia, are in ruins. You could hear the hum of generators from my hotel room. We ate lunch at restaurants surrounded by barbed wire.

At one point we drove by the VP Road Church of Christ. It was a Saturday afternoon, and some of the neighborhood kids were playing outside. One of them, Martin, sheepishly approached our group. I asked him if he went to church here and he said yes.

I was skeptical, of course. Reporters tend to be like that, and I had been through a similar situation earlier in the year in Nigeria. (We drove up to an empty church building and a group of local guys approached us and said they were members. They promptly asked us for money.) I tried to think of a question I could ask Martin to find out if he was telling the truth.

“What did you learn in Bible class last week?” I asked. He mumbled something in response and I asked him to repeat it.

“Memory verse,” he said.

That caught me off-guard. Maybe this kid was telling the truth. Certainly he wouldn’t still remember the verse, though. It had been nearly a week since last Sunday.

“Do you remember your memory verse?” I asked, quietly. Now I was feeling sheepish.

He paused, deep in thought, and then he said, “John 14:6.

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the father but by me. John 14:6”

I shook his hand and congratulated him. It was one of those moments I knew I’d carry with me for many years to come.

During the years of violence — more years, in fact, than Martin had been alive — Christians were carrying on the work of teaching the young to love Jesus. It’s a testament to their love for Christ.

Liberians went back to the polls today to elect their next president. Like most of them, I’m praying that this election will herald a new era of peace. I’m praying that Martin won’t have to see the face of war again, and that he’ll grow up to be a great, humble man of God.

He’s off to a good start.

(If you want to learn more about churches of Christ in Liberia, click here for a link to the Christian Chronicle’s coverage.)