At a film festival in a Middle Eastern city, a 40-minute documentary sympathetically portrayed the “working” life of a young man named Faris*… addicted to heroin, living under a bridge.
He was filmed gathering bottles from the city’s streets, alleyways and garbage cans in order to support his habit. At one point, he looked into the camera—drug-dazed and shame-faced—and said that he believes only God can save him.
The audience is unconvinced, and the haunting film ends on a hopeless note. What the audience did not get to see, however, was the rest of the story:
Faris, 43, came to the Middle East with his non-religious Jewish family from Holland when he was ten years old. He was kicked out of the house at age fourteen and soon began experimenting with drugs.
Remarkably, he graduated from a top culinary arts school and worked as a cook in prestigious restaurants. But he became increasingly addicted to drugs. His career and relationships eventually unraveled. He’d been living on the streets for seven years when an East-West missionary met him.
Faris' “home” was an old mattress in an abandoned storage building and his “backyard” was a litter-filled parking lot. His “neighbors” were fellow addicts, pushers, pimps and prostitutes.
One day Faris reached a point of desperation and asked our missionary to help him. The missionary communicated with the director of a Messianic rehab center who agreed to take Fairs … conditionally. That was seven months ago.
In the early days, East-West’s missionary visited him daily, praying for him as he detoxed and reading to him from the Scriptures. In time, Faris found the True source of strength: Jesus the Messiah. And our missionary found his first co-laborer in the gospel for his ministry.
Faris’ film was recently shown at an international film contest event, and Faris and our missionary attended the event together. At the end of the film, Faris was invited up on stage to “share a few words.”
The audience was captivated by Faris' apparent physical transformation since the making of the film. And for the next few minutes Faris stood before a rapt audience.
He began, “Let me tell you about the person that changed my life. He’s a Jewish man from Galilee …”
*Name changed for security reasons.