This morning's surprise . . .

I try to read the "Global Prayer Digest Daily Prayer Devotional" from the U.S. Center for World Mission every day.  Imagine my surprise when I read this today:

Today's People Group

Amadou Njie held on tightly to his amulet, a small leather pouch holding sayings from the Qur’an hanging from a cord around his neck. He needed protection from the bad spirits that lived in the trees he had to pass along the trail to the house of the marabout. The marabout was the Muslim spiritual leader with supernatural powers. He would advise Amadou and his brothers if they should return to Banjul, the capital of the Gambia, for treatment of their mother’s drooping facial tumor. They had heard that a Christian hospital ship would be offering free surgeries; but their community had long been closed to Christianity, and the only miracle worker they knew was the marabout. Did you catch that - a Christian hospital ship?  Oh, that he had gone!