How God Sent His Word to An Iraqi Interpreter I saw an American soldier reading his Bible, and I wanted to know more. ABBAS HAMEED JUNE 21, 2017

How God Sent His Word
to An Iraqi Interpreter
I saw an American soldier reading his Bible, and
I wanted to know more.
ABBAS HAMEED JUNE 21, 2017
grew up in Iraq as the third
oldest of eight siblings. My family
was untraditional. My mom was
Muslim, and my dad was Catholic.
They didn’t force any religion on their
children, in part because they didn’t
take religion very seriously themselves.
My father was a wealthy businessman,
so we lived comfortably in a large
house, blessed with several vehicles, a
housekeeper, and more than 250 sheep.
When I was around eight years old, my
father’s business began to struggle. The
stress from his work made it
unpleasant to be around him. He
started drinking and hanging out with
people who were a bad influence.
About a year later, he was getting into
trouble with the police on a regular
basis. He would end up going to jail
roughly 20 times.
His final stint in prison came after the
government found out he hadn’t
completed his three years of required
service in the Iraqi army. He had joined
the army for a year during the Iran-Iraq
War, but then he ran away.
As punishment, he was sentenced to
one year in an underground prison,
where he endured complete darkness,
except for two minutes above ground
each day. There was no shower, and
food and water were scarce. Broken
from suffering, he grew desperate and
cried out to God.
And sure enough, God began
profoundly changing my father’s heart.
My family noticed a huge difference
when he returned from prison. He
became a hard worker, less selfish and
an overall happier man who always had
a smile on his face. As an example, one
week after his release, my father and I
went shopping for clothes. We ran into
a man wearing tattered clothing who
was obviously homeless. My father had
compassion for this man and, stripping
down to his underwear, gave away the
clothes he was wearing. He said, “He
needs these clothes more than I do.” I
stood in shock because of his
generosity. I knew then that my father’s
life had been forever changed.
After that incident, I asked God silently
if he truly exists. I also prayed, “Please
don’t punish me like my dad, but help
me to be a good man and seek you.”
Into the War
At age 19, I completed my required
training in the Iraqi police academy. I
thought I had signed up for five years,
but when I looked at my paperwork,
the length of the commitment had been
changed to 25 years. I was upset but
couldn’t say anything for fear of being
killed by the government.
In March 2003, my father woke me up
to welcome the American soldiers who
invaded Iraq. Because my family has
always had deep respect for the
Americans, I decided to go to Tikrit and
join the United States military police. I
worked as a security officer at a police
station and also as an interpreter, since
I knew both Arabic and English
(without being quite fluent in the
latter).