Off days are always fun. I look forward to my off days and enjoy the time to just relax and let my mind take a break from just the normal mental stresses of ministry and being “always on”. But I also love off days for another reason, unplanned divine encounters.
On one of our off days, a group of four of us went out and had a nice dinner at a restaurant in Saldus, the town we were in all last month in Latvia. While we were there, we saw this guy drinking alone on some couches. We didn’t really think anything of him and went home after enjoying are extremely affordable yet extremely ritzy dinner (Latvia is really affordable compared to America in some aspects).
When we got home, I was still not tired and asked a teammate of mine if she wanted to have a one-on-one and go get coffee. We had two options of places to go and couldn’t decide so just started walking. Finally we made up our mind to go to a place called “The Basement”. When we got there, the guy from the restaurant was there and he recognized us. So my teammate and I started talking to him.
In talking with him we found out that he grew up Catholic but was hurt by religious people so he hates religion and anything really having anything to do with it, mainly God. Through our conversation, however, we found out that he has a lot of Christian core beliefs and values. He believes in doing good for all people and being kind and generous. It was so hard to witness to him because he would always dismiss anything God related and had something to dispute what we would say. I started thinking/praying,
“God, how do I witness to someone who probably knows more Bible than I do and practices love on a daily basis better than I do?”
After an hour or two of talking he ended up going for a cigarette break outside. When he came back in my teammate started asking about his family. From the conversation we found out that he has two sons from his first marriage. As he started telling his story it was crazy to me the parallels to God and the different relationships He has with His “children”.
His oldest son, Daniel, loves him and asks his advice all the time and calls him to talk regularly. Daniel listens to his advice and they have a really great relationship and he finds joy in Daniel.
His youngest son, Philipp, told him about 15 years ago that he is no longer his father and he hates him. When he tried to reach out to Philipp, he would dismiss him, be rude, tell him off, or just ignore him.
Instantly I saw the parallel of this man and God to this man and his son Philipp. I started thinking I should say something about it, but didn’t have the prompting yet. So I prayed that God would make me FEEL it if I was supposed to say something. About the time I prayed this, he started saying he knows why Philipp hates him and it is because his ex wife has told Philipp lies about his father and has done everything in her power to get Philipp to hate his father. As soon as he said that, my heart started pounding hard and I knew the parallel his wife made to Satan doing everything in his power to get God’s children to not believe in Him.
I prayed that God would speak through me because I knew my words would only mess things up and I wanted there to be a perfect line of communication for this man.
The second there was a break in the man’s story I opened my mouth and let the words flow. I don’t remember everything I said, but the basics were telling him how his life and family parallel the spiritual battle for his heart and God’s love for him and he is like Philipp.
I told him how much God loves him and wants a relationship with him and is just waiting for him to come back just like he is waiting for Philipp to come back to him. I kept saying something along the lines that this is probably the last time God is going to reach out to him and it is now all in his hands on making the step to come to God. It was crazy how much those words kept coming up and I could feel the importance in them, almost as if I was delivering the last attempt of God to reach this man, the last time God would put someone in his path to reach him for Christ.
The whole time I was talking the guy’s eyes were just glued to me. He even got a little watery in his eyes. He didn’t try to interrupt at all. He was intently listening. It was so cool. And the energy from the Holy Spirit that was flowing through my body was so intense. My hands were shaking and I was warm and could feel this fuzzy weird tingly feeling. It is so hard to explain.
After I delivered what God had for him, he didn’t acknowledge anything I said. He took a pause and then went into more about his son.
It threw me off at first. But then I felt God say that I had done all He had asked, it hit this man’s heart and saying anything about God from then on wasn’t going to do anything,
“so just love him and talk about his son” I sensed God urging.
So for the rest of the night we talked, laughed, and just had good conversation.
After we left I asked my teammate if she saw that crazy Holy Spirit moment and she affirmed it. The whole time she kept praying, “Holy Spirit speak”, and He did. She told me that even my face took on a new form; it had morphed into something so peaceful and full of love. (Obviously could still tell it was me, but apparently still a difference).
The man didn’t end up accepting Christ. I know it may sound like it wasn’t a victory, but it was. God used me to tell this man exactly what he needed to hear at just the right time. And now this guy has many people praying for him. I can’t help but keep thinking that that might have been God’s intention for the last time He sends someone to this man. But like Abraham pleaded for God to change his mind in the Bible, I am pleading on behalf of this man.
I know that God is not willing that any should perish, no matter how hard their heart is towards Him. I will keep praying that God will keep working in this man’s heart and life and that one day, maybe his son Philipp will come back to him and through that he will realize the joy God will have when he turns back to God.
For now, I am just enjoying being this man’s friend. We keep in contact via email and he updates me on his life. All I know is what God told me last, to just keep loving him. Maybe one day he will realize the love of the father.
This is Heinz and I on the second encounter God allowed me to have with him.
Will you help me in praying for Heinz to one day accept Christ as his personal savior?
