Oh Ramadan

Ramadan has begun. Ramadan is obligatory for every responsible Muslim and it is when they fast for the whole month of September from sun up until sunset. By fasting to them it means to abstain completely from food, drinking, smoking, and sexual intercourse. Therefore a lot of the restaurants in town are closed during lunch hours for this whole month which was is a bummer because the other day we wanted to buy some fresh juice from the restaurant near us and could not. Fasting is one of the four major exercises of their faith. The other three are the prayers (salah), almsgiving (zakah) and pilgrimage (hajj). We get to hear the prayer spoken on the loud speaker very day five times a day but now that it is Ramadan they seem to do an extended version of it at night. Surprisingly enough Righteous has gotten use to the call to prayer and sleeps right through it. This is what they pray:
Allahu akbar (4 times)
Ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah (twice)
Ashhahu anna Muhammadan (twice)
Hayya ‘ala al salah (twice face to the right)
Hayya ‘alah al falah (twice face to the left)
Allah akbar (twice)
La ilaha illa Allah (once)

When I am out of my home I look around and see the Muslim women that are covered from head to toe and with some sects only their eyes are shown and my prayer is Acts 26:18 "Lord send me to these people to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and place among those who are sanctified by faith in Christ Jesus." I am reading a book on ministering to Muslim woman which is called "Longing to Call them Sisters" and it showed me that my mindset is often in the wrong place. I am looking at them and thinking "Why don’t they just choose Jesus as their Savior" or "they are so lost" instead of seeing them as the "prodigal son". These are God’s children whom He knew in the womb. The book is really helping me see that muslim women can be just like me. They can be strong in their Faith but face struggles just like me. They can be raising a family and wondering how they can get involved in the community not simply remain always in the home, just like me. The heat can really bother them and they can feel hungry at noon and then 7pm everyday, just like me. It is not me and then them it is us. Although I might sound confident about this there are times I find myself caught in the middle- just like the song from casting crowns:
Fearless warriors in a picket fence,
Reckless abandonment wrapped in common sense,
Deep water faith in the shallow end,
We are caught in the middle.
Eyes wide open to the different sins,
A God who we want with the God who is,
Will we trade our dreams for His,
Are we caught in the middle.
Casting Crowns