For God so loved the world

When in Whittier, Alaska, about the only thing you can predict is the weather—a generous serving of precipitation with a dollop of fog. Historically, the town’s claim to fame has ranged from a Gold Rush pit stop to a Cold War military stronghold.  It’s a living collage of half-buried history, awkwardly-named fishing boats, and weird smells (not to mention people). These days, Whittier entertains more tourists than anything else, thanks to Princess Cruises. As part of the team of volunteers at the Seward Seaman’s Mission this summer, I have the privilege of traveling to Whittier to service the crew members of the cruise ships that dock there from May to September. Two days a week, we down some coffee, pile in a mission van, and wind through the Chugach mountains for 88 miles to arrive at Whittier. I almost forgot—after we pay a toll and inch our way through a damp 2.5-mile tunnel through a mountain—we arrive at Whittier.

You’ll find the Whittier Seaman’s Mission tucked in a corner of the Begich Towers, an old 14-story building designed to shimmy through earthquakes and house the town’s entire population (approximately 220). The room is cozy. Chocolate chip cookies adorn every table and cranky coffee pots chug out Folger’s. On the chairs and worn couches hemming the perimeter sit seafarers from all over the world—Philippines, Ukraine, Peru, to name a few. Most of their faces are down, scrolling Facebook, laughing while they video chat with their children they haven’t seen in 6 months, or downloading music for long work nights. 

Wi-FI isn’t the only free thing we offer at the mission. The room is filled with books, Bibles and other tracts in many languages. For a secondary-English speaker, material in their own language can be like—well, someone handing me an ice cream cone. So it was with Roshan*, a shy Indian man I sat down next to one morning. Roshan, unable to connect with his sleeping relatives halfway across the world, was willing to engage in conversation. He eagerly showed me a picture of his beautiful fiancé decked in traditional Indian clothes. After seeing a few other pictures, I asked about the bindi, or dot, seen on many Hindu women’s foreheads. He explained that it could represent multiple things, but the bindi is also known as “the third eye” in Hinduism, used to fight bad luck.

Intrigued, I kept asking questions. It turns out that my Indian friend was born into a lower caste, and he resented it. “50 years ago, people in my caste could not even be educated. In the big cities it is not so bad, but in small villages where Hinduism is still traditional, lower castes cannot even enter the temples,” Roshan said bitterly. Roshan seemed to view his role in the system of Hinduism as one of “doing more good things than bad” with very little certainty.

Now it was my turn to talk, not about a religion, but a Person. “Have you ever heard of Jesus Christ?” Confusion flashed across his dark eyes. “I don’t really know.” Sensing English was going to be an issue, I jumped off the couch to find a “May I Ask You a Question?” tract in Hindi. I wondered why my new friend was laughing at me until I realized I had handed him a tract in Nepalese. With Hindi material finally in his hands, he was more than happy to start reading. What looked like a page of Ramen noodle fragments to me carried words of life to him.

He quietly read each section of the tract in Hindi twice before translating it to English for my benefit. The story started with bad news—mankind is created to be connected with God, but sin has broken that relationship. No matter the amount of sin, the point is that every human falls short of perfection. Roshan read Romans 6:23 in his own language, “For the wages of sin is death.” Because of our sin, we owe God a debt that can only be repaid with death.

The good news was that because mankind couldn’t cross the chasm to get to God, God became a man to close the gap. Roshan read Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He turned his head toward me, “I saw a movie about this once. I didn’t understand what they were doing to Jesus.” I watched my friend get increasingly excited as the dots of the Gospel message began to form a full picture of Jesus Christ and what that meant for him. Jesus Christ had paid the impossible debt we owed God! He wants us to be reconnected to God! This eternal life was a free gift to simply be accepted. Roshan no longer needed to try to be good enough.

Faced with the reality of Jesus’ work on the cross, there was an important question in the tract: “Is there anything you can think of that stops you from trusting Jesus Christ?” Roshan paused in thought and slowly shook his head, “No!” An expression of joy illuminated his face. “I have never heard this before!” I drew him a picture illustrating the famous words of Jesus in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

“Yes!” he exclaimed. “God loves the world! Those temples and castes are man-made, but that is not from God. God loves everyone.” After clarifying that everlasting life did not actually mean he would have to be reborn as an animal, but rather spend eternity with God, he was satisfied. A few moments later, another Indian crew member walked in. My formerly shy Indian friend elbowed me—“He does not know! He needs to hear!” Roshan began to notice all his friends that did not know about Jesus. About an hour later, he arranged for me to tell the first crew member about the good news of Jesus Christ. His friend listened intently and also received the free gift of eternal life by faith.

It reminded me of the New Testament account of Jesus healing a demon-possessed man."Jesus sent him away, saying 'Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.’ And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.” (Luke 8:38b-39) God is doing great things indeed—even in Whittier, Alaska.

*Name changed for privacy