I am overwhelmed with joy. Since I have shifted my hope and faith in Jesus and remained broken, I have soared on wings as eagles. God is Good!
I work with a Bartender, Duncan, from South Africa. He’s a guy where you take one look at him and point, “That’s a cool guy.” A tooth pick belongs in the corner of his mouth. Through his stories I have gained his Father left when he was very young-his earliest memory was his Dad’s Python that they let go because it was shedding everywhere. I got so convicted one day and my heart burned to tell him we could have the same Father who is perfect. Monday, a brother in Christ yells,
“Joe, how was Church yesterday?”
“Solid,” I reply.
Duncan then says,
“What Church do you go to?” And then explains he used to go to a Church back home that has a rock band.
“Mine does too…bass guitar, electric, drums…the whole deal.” I exclaim. Then the question of all questions leaps from my mouth.
“What do you believe, are you a Christian?” I ask.
“Yes, I am.” Then, openly at his bar we have a discussion about everything I have been hit with recently…and with excitement. The Lord prepared me because I have been crazy over Romans, as you can see with my blogs. I quoted, “It is not by works but faith we are saved,” and we went into detail about the misconceptions our culture has about this.
To top it off he says with his accent,
“Joey, people think I am weird for this but I love snowboarding so much because I depend and trust God for my safety…I feel him powerfully.”
“That is not weird at all, for me it’s running, God made me fast and you to love the thrill of snowboarding, we are both made uniquely, so get out there!”
His face lights up! Then he gets into how he had a great Rastafarian friend and he talks about how many other religions share the same God.
“Yeah, but we get to heaven by faith in Jesus.” I respond.
Then, like he is having a revelation he says,
“Yeah, I do believe that Christ is the only way.”
–It was like I was proclaiming this truth directly to his heart where Christ was waiting to reaffirm what was inside him!
I go around the corner to the back hallway and all the employees are dead silent, I just hum my way through knowing they all just heard two witnesses of the Good News! Amen.
The Lord gave me opportunities like this until the end of my job (tonight). All of these tough hours paid off in the last four days. The faith and hope of the cross allowed me to persevere and reap many joys!
Spend time with Jesus all day and read His Word like your life depends on it and persevere because it’s true, “Faith brings joy!”
Praise God! Be encouraged and let us boast in the goodness of God together!
