In Israel, as an American Pastor from Middle Eastern descent…

I am not warmly welcomed. However, I am welcomed. It is an interesting tension I choose to embrace. On the one hand, my name causes me strain at Passport control due to its strong Muslim sentiment. Literally my name means “The Happy One, Mohammed’s Sword” …. Obviously, this causes some concern for the nation of Israel as it has been threatened on several occasions by Muslim controlled countries who seek to destroy it.

On the other hand, there are Israeli’s who have welcomed me and even embrace me because of my name. Israel is mostly Jewish at almost 75%, then Muslim at nearly 18%, then Christian at 2% and Druze at just under 2%. Jewish, Muslim, and Christian denominations are numerous. Each category can be broken down into smaller portions. Even still, many Israelis are Atheist.

When I arrived in Israel I was immediately moved into secondary detention. For those who do not know, secondary detention is a step beyond primary detention. I laugh to myself as I write this out. There really is not a good spot for secondary detention at Ben Gurion Airport, so they sat me right in front of Passport Control where hundreds of people walked by from all over the world without any questions as per their intent in the country. I watched several people go by into the country receiving their Visa while I waited.

I spent time sitting and helping travelers who were lost find their way around the airport.

I greeted people. Security offered me food and drinks. I helped organize some lines. I did all of this while I was in and out of the security detention room. I was several questions. It started with a question about my email address. The security officer asked me what my email address was, and I replied with “which email address, I have three” … they were very interested in this. I shared with them my personal email, my work email, and my website email. So, they inspected all three. They read my blogs on my personal website, they went to my church website and watched videos there and they read through my email on my phone… they asked, and I gladly allowed them to have full access to my phone. They went through my contacts, my recent phone calls, and my WhatsApp account.

It all culminated with the security attendant asking me why I was calm. I let them know I was calm because I had been through this before and plan on it every time I arrive in their country. They apologized…. Then asked me if I knew any criminals. Hahaha. Good for them. They are making sure bad actors are staying out of their country.

I tried asking for a job in security because I had a good feel for the place. They were not interested.

They asked me again where my “calm energy” came from. I told them I used to be Muslim and converted to Christianity. They were shocked. They wanted to know every step, every story and how my family reacted. I shared my testimony in full with them. Then they let me go and made sure my family would not have to wait in security. They made good on their word; my family came in without any problems.

I write all of this that you might understand how different the world is and how full of different people it is. I know this from my experience in America, however, there are times I have been naïve to think I would experience a sense of familiarity in the Middle East. As a Christian from a Muslim background, I find my experience in the Middle East to be both disorienting and exciting.

The question that tends to come up in my mind is “How can/will/do all of these people experience the loving God that I know?”

However, one of the most significant lessons for me in my journeys around the world has been this, our God is different. Let me explain.

The word “diversity” has been overused and in many cases relegated to “tokenism”. I do not want to make any cases for why or why not the dilution of the word “diversity” is good or bad.

I do want to highlight that when you travel the world, meet people who believe the things you believe, but eat different food, listen to different music, have different personalities or different approaches to life, different languages, skin color etc., it becomes clear that our God is different, and he loves differently. His love is diverse.

The God I worship (Jesus) is different from humanity and from any other god.

He loves people from all over the world and he deeply cares for them. For him, loving people is not a matter of humanitarian effort or social justice or a typical reactionism. His love is far deeper and more intense.

He has not forgotten about your suffering, my suffering, or the suffering of people around the world in their current home circumstance let alone the wars their countries are facing. God still deeply loves people when the current war has moved out of the headlines of the News media. This should teach us how to love people different from us.

Interestingly, God chooses to use people like me, whose name raises all the red flags at airport security to show love and kindness to people. This is one of the reasons I know God loves diversity.

God used a Muslim convert to Christianity to share the peace only Jesus can bring to a seeking soul with Israeli Security. He is a God that seeks to use all of the different things of this world to bring glory to Jesus.

How much could God use us if we were to embrace the things, we thought he couldn’t use? I hope to ask this question less and less in my life and more and more ask “God, how will you use me today?”