Theo spent the whole hour-long drive praying the same prayer. “Jesus, just do something,” he prayed. “I don’t want to be there. Just do anything.”
He was on his way to a close friend’s bachelor party. Before Theo met Jesus, that scene had been familiar, but he had left it behind. He had already said no once, but his friend insisted. “Just come,” he said. “Whenever it feels like too much, leave.” So Theo got on the road, not yet knowing that God had already mapped out the route.
When Theo arrived, he spotted someone he hadn’t seen in nine years: Reza.
“Bro, we haven’t seen you in ages,” Reza said. “Where have you been?”
“Dude, my life’s changed,” Theo answered. “I’m not the same guy you knew.”
The last time they had seen each other, Theo and Reza had been walking the same road. Now Theo was on a different path. He had completed MAPS Global’s indigenous training program in the Middle East and was serving in full-time ministry. Reza wanted to know what had changed. So the two sat down, and Theo shared his story. As he talked, he felt led to emphasize one thing above all: God had given him purpose.
That word landed. Reza called over his cousin, Hadi. On the drive to the party, the two of them had been talking about this very thing. Their lives felt empty and without purpose. Without knowing it, all three men had spent the same hour on the road heading for the same crossroads.
Hadi could see that Theo had found something he desperately needed.
“I’d do anything,” he said. “I’d give anything to be where you are right now.”
Theo knew what Hadi was really asking for. He wasn’t asking for directions to a better party. He wanted direction for his life: meaning and a purpose bigger than living for himself.
“Are you willing to try something?” Theo asked. Hadi and Reza both said yes.
The three walked out to Theo’s car, away from the noise. Theo told them about Jesus, who said the Father is seeking people who will worship Him “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). God doesn’t want worship from a distance, Theo explained. He wants a relationship.
Then God’s presence filled the car, so tangible that no one could miss it. “Guys, are you feeling this?” Theo asked. “This is God. This is Jesus. He’s here because He loves you, and He wants to meet with you.”
In that moment, Reza and Hadi prayed and gave their lives to the Lord. There, in a parked car going nowhere, they had found the path to purpose. For years they had been traveling without a destination. Now they knew not just what, but who, they were traveling toward.
Theo has walked this road before. Through the MAPS Global team in the Middle East, he has been equipped to bring others along with him, and now he’s walking alongside Reza and Hadi as they take their first steps.
The night Theo didn’t want to drive anywhere became the night two friends found where they were going.