Exchange trip

Alfred paused mid-step. Then, I caught wind of what he heard: “Jesus is tenderly calling thee home—Calling today, calling today; Why from the sunshine of love wilt thou roam Farther and farther away?” Our curious foreign exchange student, so stunned at the words reverted back to his native language: “Was bedeutet die Lieder?” he inquired. Gathering my thoughts, I did my best to make the best of the opportunity. “Long before you thought of a Savior seeking for you, He had you on his mind. Jesus is the Savior of mankind. Would you like to go into the church together?” Now it was Alfred’s turn to gather his thoughts. “Home.” Where is home in the song?” Realizing this is a word Alfred could relate to because he had been a bit homesick recently, I answered plainly: This home is Heaven. Heaven is eternity with God. Jesus came down into flesh to reconcile man to God so that when one accepts the work of Jesus, he will have eternal life with God in Heaven—home. There are mansions in Heaven waiting for believers. I realized, however, my language was grand. German is a very simple language in which short words are mashed together to illustrate abstract concepts. Denkmal, for example translates literally, “think again” but means monument. Finally, I asked, “Did you ever play hide and seek? “ Alfred thought a moment, and then remembered the phrase, “Yes, of course.” “Have you ever heard of Adam and Eve? Well, the song is kind of like God seeking after Adam and Eve; they chose to hide because they were ashamed. “ We walked the rest of the way home not speaking much. There was no tension between us, but Alfred seemed lost in thought. I mentioned to my parents what happened. We were born again believers. I had done my best to be faithful, but was always told to make the best of every opportunity and hadn’t felt prepared. I knew they would pray; I wanted them to pray for the next interactions. I was their only child and I suspected part of the reason they opened the house to exchange students was to share “The Good News—the Gospel.” Alfred dribbled. Then, I saw how he had sized up the soccer field. The field was dry enough to play this sunny day , but still a bit muddy from the rain a few days prior. Our team mates were a bit more timid on the wet leaves. Alfred, however, looked at home on the soccer field. He quickly aimed, the goalie missed, “Time’s up!” the gym teacher’s whistle blew Our team won. We were elated. We walked home bantering together without showering after class because today gym was during our last period. “Alfred, you certainly looked ‘at home’ on the soccer field.” Something clicked for Alfred. The Holy Sprit had given me the phrase, “At home,” but Alfred’s countenance fell. I could tell it bothered him. I guess he was thinking of the lyrics to the song. His exchange parents (my parents) had found the hymn and printed the sheet music out. They had left some biographical information out about the author—Fanny Crosby. Above the words ‘thy’ and ‘thou’ they had written ‘your’ and ‘you.’ “Let’s read the lyrics,” I suggested wanting to distract him a bit. We read the second stanza out loud together: Jesus is calling the weary to rest—“Calling today, calling today; Bring Him your burden and you will be,” I continued over Alfred’s, ‘shalt’ and continued ‘blest:’ “He will not turn you away,” we continued together. The experience was mesmerizing. It was like we were learning a language together. I was learning a language of joy and patience and communication across boundaries. This time my overlooking the word ‘shalt’ answered Alfred’s questions about what the lyrics meant, but he still asked, “how does one say burden auf Deutsch?” “Ich weiss nicht,”—I don’t know I said. A burden is something heavy. “Can feelings be heavy? Alfred inquired confessingly. I paused then responded, “Of course. “Have you ever heard of Cain and Abel?” Alfred asked. I was speechless. Upon hearing Alfred’s question, and knowing more and more how the Spirit of God works, I knew Alfred had done something very, very wrong. My parents entered. My mom wanted to lighten things as she had seen from my face something had transpired. Alfred had taught them some simple phrases like, “What did you do today?” so Mom inflected the question like an American, but in a German accent asked, “Was hast du heute gemacht?” Alfred’s answer surprised us My father simply said, “Burden.” “Die Last.” Alfred waited. I prayed for Alfred’s soul more and more, but while wrestling in prayer I had lost track of time. It had taken me quite some time to clean up the bathroom too after the muddy soccer field fragments I took in with me the day before, and now I felt rushed this Saturday. Alfred waited for me. He sat at the table where my parents had laid the song. Then, I realized what he was doing: he was waiting to ask me a question: “What does reconcile mean?” I paused, thinking of times reconcile is used in vernacular English. Well, “usually, it’s to bring into agreement.” It can be used as simply as in accounting like reconciling a bank statement, but also in relationships. In terms of salvation, it is to bring mankind into right relationship with God. Have you ever heard of Martha I asked?” The Spirit must have been at work again. Realizing the English version of the name sounds so similar to German, I suspected Alfred knew someone named Marthe (said Marta). However, I regrouped things back to the Bible. That evening, in the spot at the table, my parents had laid a German-English Bible. I did not mention the details of our conversation to my parents, but I simply said, I see the Spirit of God at work. Thank you for your prayers. Alfred begged to go to the evening meeting at the church where we first had heard the hymn. I knew the Holy Spirit was at work, but my parents said wait. I took encouragement from what I had told Alfred the day before about Martha and Lazurus. Clearly, Jesus wouldn’t have waited to go visit Martha and call Lazarus if He hadn’t had something in mind. Being still under my parent’s authority, I knew there was blessing in obedience, and had peace. Alfred however, was distraught. His flight was meant to leave that evening and all he could focus on was that little church. I guess the angels were on his side that day because when my parents found out his flight had been delayed they said we were allowed to go to the meeting at that little church. I couldn’t help but think of the message our pastor had given about the archangel Michael being delayed in the book of Daniel that morning when I heard about Alfred’s plane. Alfred spoke: “Reconciled. Time reconciled today.” Then I realized what he meant. It had seemed like there was so much conflict, but as we sat ready to listen I understood. He meant now there is peace. “Has anyone heard of the serpent lifted up?” the preacher asked after reading the third chapter of John in the New Testament. Alfred was stunned. I quickly showed him the cross reference in Numbers—an Old Testament book. It was as though God’s Spirit was teaching him. I felt special, but as Fanny Crosby would say, To God be the Glory. Alfred wept. He boarded the plane back to Germany. He had realized while here in the USA that he had roamed farther and farther away. While he was in the USA he did accept Jesus as Savior. It was the exchange trip that brought him home. When I arrived back to my home I found on my bed a robe, which was embroidered with my name—David. It was his ‘Denkmal’—a monument, but plainly, think again.