A Tale of Two Sidis

Two thousand years ago a sidi, Arabic for "sir", named Paul traveled to the island of Cyprus. He traveled from town to town teaching in the houses of prayer. It was not long before a certain government official heard about the teaching of this sidi. Hoping to hear the message for himself, he summoned the sidi. With this government official, there was a powerful sorcerer named Elymas.

When the sidi arrived, the sorcerer opposed him having been spurred to jealousy. He would not allow the government official to be swayed from his own teaching.The sidi, staring fiercely at the sorcerer, said, "You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil! Enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord? Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you. You will be blind and not see the sun for a time."

At that very moment, a mist and darkness fell on the sorcerer. A power greater than he had ever encountered rendered him blind. As the man stumbled about seeking someone to lead him, the government official stood in awe. Amazed, he believed, seeing that there was something to this Jesus known by the sidi.

Two weeks ago a sidi living in-country shared his story with a friend of mine. This year he began a brand new journey centered on following Jesus. This sidi, learning to love like Jesus, began to see his responsibilities to his girlfriend and newborn child in a new light. He wanted to marry her, but she just wasn't ready, not to mention the fact that he was now Christian.

Strangely enough, the Bible proved true and his new-found joy was mixed with trials. The girl, seeing that bad things were continually occurring in his life, began to worry about him. Her advice? Go to the city seer. Well, having placed his trust in Jesus, this was not an option. Continuing to pressure the man, she enlisted her mother in the argument. The mother was in full agreement with her daughter. Please, go to the city seer!

After some time, the two women realized that he had dug in and was not moving. Yet, these bad things had not diminished. Taking the onus upon themselves, the girl and her mother went to the city seer on his behalf. After waiting half the day for their turn, they entered the seer's tent. Gathering all the necessary information, the seer abruptly fell into a trance. The two women waited, somewhat unsettled at the seer's strange behavior. Clearly, they conjectured, this would be considered normal behavior for someone in this line of work. Exchanging a knowing glance, the two women relaxed and accepted this normality.

Without warning, the seer violently erupted from the trance. Immediately she commanded the two women to leave. This was not at all how they had envisioned their visit. Refusing to leave without an explanation, they crossed their arms and waited at the opening to the tent. This incited the seer to become all the more insistent that they not hold up the line any longer. An argument ensued. The seer had nothing to explain, they must leave. And leave now. The women disagreed, they had a right to know why she would not explain.

Finally the seer decided that she could not win the argument. Wanting to forget this entire experience she offered an explanation to the two women. "I can not do it," the seer said shakily, "there is a force protecting the man that is too powerful for me."

The girl returned to the sidi saying, "There must be something to this Jesus you know..."