Two weeks ago I drove to a nearby town to visit one of our parishioners who had been confined to bed in hospital. He was in the critical unit and I hoped that I would be able to talk to him, offer a few words of comfort. But, when I saw him, I noticed that this loving, devoted, and faithful man of Jesus was not in a good shape at all. He lay on his hospital bed with closed eyes, unconscious. When I came in, a nurse was busy checking all of the equipment in the room. There was very little room for moving around. Carefully, I found a space to stand beside his bed and say a prayer for him. As usual, I closed my eyes. When I was about to finish my prayer, still with closed eyes, I felt a friendly presence gazing at me. This is not a talent, or some kind of magic. Simply, because of my past military training, I have acquired this interesting ability to sense more deeply the world around me. In military school, during wartime, our military trainer gave a speech that, to this day, I remember well:

Men, our country is under sanctions from the world. Saddam's friends have sent him money, equipment, soldiers, and western whisky. But, you are here to defend our ancient country. Whether you like the regime or not, I could not give a damn. You must learn to take care of yourself. We do not have all of the post-modern equipment that Saddam has. God willing, after the war, we can begin to build. But, for now, you have to learn how to sense the presence of a human being in total darkness; you must learn how to distinguish the smell of a comrade from the smell of an enemy. With closed eyes, you must be able to sense the presence of a human who disturbs the equilibrium of your surroundings. You must feel and sense deeply, like Persian cats! Humans are careless intruders. As a professional soldier, you should always be able to sense out an intruder.

At first, we laughed at him, this giant of an instructor. Were we to be soldiers, or deer hunters? But, within six months, under intensive training, we learned how to make peace with nature, to become a part of it. We learned that Mother Nature, God's amazing creation, is intelligent, offers refuge, communicates to humans through odors, and sounds. She keeps some places dry and others humid, hides some elements and reveals others, shows wrath in natural disasters when humans take advantage of her excessively. We learned that bright is not necessarily clear, and that one can find clarity in darkness.

I am not, after all these years, a soldier any more. And, thankfully, I don't have to concern myself with sensing 'enemies'. But, I find that I am still able to feel the love and presence of a good friend with closed eyes.

And so, when I finished my prayer and opened my eyes, I was not surprised to find a man looking at me. His name is Foad. He is an Afghani, a smart thinker and a skilled dentist. Foad and I first became friends in Nepal. And here, after all of these years, was Foad standing in front of me with his unique and friendly smile. After all these years, here was Foad, waiting patiently for me to say Dorood bar Tou....Peace be with you. I am younger than Foad, and it is my duty to greet him first. And so, after doing so and sharing a hug, we began to talk.

Foad is a very special person. He has lived through and experienced many different phases of Afghani History: The Kingdom of Afghanistan, the Republic of Afghanistan, Communist Afghanistan, The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, Mojahedeen Afghanistan, Taliban Afghanistan, and Post-Taliban Afghanistan. Together, Foad and I have experienced revolution, civil war, imprisonment, harsh spiritual ups and d o w n s , and living in exile in E u r o p e and Asia. Foad and his family now live in Germany. He had come to Canada to visit his dear grand-uncle who was in hospital and to see what Canada is like.

We left the hospital together and I offered Foad a lift to Hamilton, as I was on my way to Canterbury Hills myself. As we settled into the drive I asked Foad what he thought about today's Afghanistan. He smiled and replied:

For the first time in my life, I do not fear for the end of Afghanistan. You remember, my friend, those Taliban days, days filled with annihilation and ness. Some days, I feared that Afghanistan would simply be wiped from the of the earth. I have such good memories of our Kingdom and our Republic. Nothing could have prepared us for the arrival of our Satan, the Taliban. The Taliban suffocated our hope for peace, unity, democracy, and prosperity. We have supreme ideals for such things in our culture, in Sufism especially. But the Taliban destroyed our sense of peace, love, forgiveness, and freedom... especially for women. These ideals are now inspiring us to build a new and prosperous society, to reopen the dialogue between nations.

At this point, Foad stopped and smiled. Finally, he said:

Now, my friend, I can predict what you are going to say!

But I remained quiet. The driving was slippery, and it would have been dangerous to take my attention from the road. So, Foad started again:

You want to say that your Lord Jesus is the perfect model of all of our ideals, the perfect human being that S u f i s m , in all of its wisdom, is l o o k i n g for. So I will tell you this: I fell in love with your Lord J e s u s when I read the New Testament that you gave to me. And now, seeing your Canadian soldiers in Kabul, I believe that they carry a piece of your Lord Jesus with them. They fill our streets, but they are civilized, gentle, and friendly. We do not see them as occupiers. My mother prays for these soldiers every day. She taught in school for 13 years and now lives in Kabul. You might remember, my friend, that my mother was here in Canada for three years. She loves this country. Canadians are free spirits, never try to change a person's name, appearance, or identity. They are blessed with lands, erals, water, and riches, Canada is a land in which many different people work and prosper together. In Canada, many different faiths get to know each other, come together to learn about one another. Canadians, my friend, are rich beyond measure. And now, they have come to Afghanistan to help us free our country of the Deev, the devil.

Finally, I said:

Yes, what your mother says is true. Living here, I see different peoples of many different faiths living in peace and friendship. The democratic and dynamic environment encourages people to talk, to build peaceful and constructive relationships.

I told Foad about a program that will shortly be held in Mono (sponsored by St. Mark's and St. John's Anglican Churches) titled: Faiths in Conversation: Three Progressive Voices in Today's World. Here, I told him, the voices of Islam, Judaism, and Roman Catholicism would come together in dialogue.

Foad smiled at this and said:

My friend, this is the way to salvation. Dialogue. We are living through a history lesson. Canadian soldiers are carrying the ideals of democracy to Afghanistan in

diers of Napoleon carried the ideals of the French tion to other countries. Today, Afghanistan is alive. Our women are safe, from the fear of abduction and violence. Afghani women have raised their voices to sound next to those of our men. Women can sing, laugh, and play the sitar. They can go to the university and watch television again. And, when women read the Gospel of the Lord Jesus, it is amazing, they believe that to earth first to liberate women! See, my friend, your Lord Jesus has place in the hearts of Eastern women. Are you happy now?!!

I was happy when I dropped Foad off in Hamilton. Foad left Canada for Germany that same week. But before Foad left the car, he said to me:

Somebody should tell your Canadian countrymen that our mothers like them and pray for them.

And I promised him that I would perform this duty.