So there we were, Shaun and I standing in the middle of a bar filled with drunk men and women, most of which could barely stand.
On Sunday December 19th, 2010 as Shaun (one of my Racer buddies) and I were playing with kids and singing Christmas carols we looked around and right behind the Church was a bar. Shaun had been in this bar before doing ministry; I hadn’t. When Shaun was in the bar before, he met a man and had a chance to speak to him about Christ. Shaun looked at me and said, “lets go in and see if that guy is there.” That sounded great to me…another chance to do bar ministry…awesome!
The bar is right behind the church
As we walked through the doors of the bar, I noticed that they seemed to be setup in a way that would funnel people in but would only allow one person to leave at a time.
Immediately after walking completely inside, I felt like I was getting hit in the face with a baseball bat. The presence of evil was there and I felt awful, and to be honest, I felt nervous.
As Shaun and I prayed for guidance and protection, continuing to walk deeper into this bar, I was walking behind Shaun and he started to walk to the bar stand when I made eye contact with a man who waved me over.
I went.
So now I am standing in front of this guy and he ask me to buy him a beer. This man could barely stand. I looked into his eyes and I said, “no.” When I said no, he just kept asking and asking. I just kept saying no and then I looked at the man standing next to him, and he was looking at me. Then he pointed at me and then he pointed up. But he didn’t say anything. I knew he was asking me if I was a Christian. In that moment I was filled with so much excitement and I don’t know why. When he did that, I continued to looked at him and I shook my head yes. Then He said “Dios, con me corazon,” which translates to “God is with my heart.” That put a joy and a hope inside my heart because I knew that even in all the darkness of that bar, there was light. I shook this man’s hand and told him that God loves him. Then I heard my name. I turned around, and and Shaun was in the doorway yelling “Michael, let’s go!” So I looked back to this man and said, “God bless you.” As I walked out the bar I saw a man in red waving us to come on. I assumed this man was the man that Shaun knew, so again…
I went.
As we walked, we got pretty far away from the group by following a man named Ortiz. I looked at Shaun and asked the question, “Is this the man you met the other day?” He looked back at me with a huge smile on his face and said “No, I have no idea who this guy is…” I smiled one of those awkward but excited smiles back, and
We kept walking.
He eventually led us into this restaurant and asked us what we wanted. We didn’t know what to do, we didn’t want anything, but he had led us so far to get something. So Shaun and I bought three Orange Crush’s (orange soda). I had one, Shaun had one, and we gave one to Ortiz. Now up to this point we hadn’t mentioned God, but as we started walking back, we felt God say “Now.” So we stopped and just talked and we asked him if he was a Christian.
He said “Yes, I know Jesus.”
“Wow. Thank you Jesus for this opportunity to talk about You and build a relationship with one of Your children.“
As we continued to talk with Ortiz, he told us that we were angels sent by God to talk to him. He told us that no one had ever bought him a soda, wanting nothing other than to get to know him. He told us that he had seen us at the church and he always wanted to come talk with us but was afraid or couldn’t because of his friends and his job at the bar. But when Shaun and I walked in, He said that God spoke to him, saying, “Go, now is the time.” That is when he stepped up and led us to the restaurant.
I believe that the light that I told you I felt at the beginning of this blog was Ortiz, He is that light, and God is going to use him to change lives in that bar and in Panama and maybe…
the world.
As we said goodbye to him, we told him that we wanted to hangout more, and he said that he would love that and that he would be at church on Thursday. I am so excited to get to see him again. Please keep him in your prayers that he continues to have a deeper intimacy with Jesus, that he steps out in boldness and continues..
to bring light into the darkness.
And that is the power of an Orange Crush.
