A Changed Life

One of the ECC workers from Kazakhstan spoke to Dave and me last night about a man he knew in Uzbekistan. This man had gotten drunk with two of his friends and had gotten into a fight at a bar. The man this group was fighting against had received a severe blow to the head and died. Because of this, the three men were wanted for the murder and they fled the country even though they had families they were leaving behind.

This one man, fled to Kazakhstan and lived there for quite a while without being found. While he was there, he met some Christians and accepted Christ himself. He became so enthused about his faith that he wanted to enroll in a Kazakh seminary to study how to be a pastor before returning home. During his application, though, the school found out about his past and told him they would not accept him as a student until he returned to Uzbekistan and faced the punishment for his crimes.

So this man returned to Uzbekistan and did just what the seminary had asked. He turned himself into a police station there and told the officials that he was the one they had been looking for in connection with the crime. The police couldn’t believe that he was turning himself in, so they asked him to write out his confession. In his confession, he gave complete account of the events that had happened and led to the fight. He didn’t stop there however. He continued on to explain how he became a Christian and how he realized the need to confess.

When the man in charge of the jail read his confession, he himself was deeply convicted of his own sins. He returned to the man and asked him to write his confession over again, this time using the Russian language so that other members of the jail staff could read it too. Because of his confession, many of the jailers came to Christ and favor was shown upon him.

Later, this man was transferred to another jail while he was awaiting the sentencing for his crime. He was placed in a cell with 31 other prisoners who were also waiting for their sentences but there were only 16 beds. They had to share the beds and take turns sleeping. Because of the favor that was shown upon him by the jailers, he was allowed to have a personal bible in the cell.

One day while he was sleeping he awoke to complete silence in the jail cell. At first he thought that the other prisoners must have been moved out, but as he climbed out of his bed he saw these 31 men sitting on the floor gathered around in a circle. They had found his bible and one man was reading it to the rest of them. They were reading the story of Joseph and how he had been thrown in prison. When the realized that this man had woken up, they asked him to pray for them for God to help them as they were awaiting their own prison sentences.

The man went on to serve a shortened prison sentence and when he was released he went home to his family and led his wife and children to Christ. He continues to serve Christ to this day and he has received his seminary degree.