Every week we have one day off to rest or adventure through the country. Last Saturday my team and I decided to go to these awesome adventure towers in Soweto. The towers have all kinds of things to do including bungee jumping, rock climbing, and the highest SCAD free fall in the world.
Some girls on our team really wanted to bungee jump, but because of the high winds that day they couldn’t. Instead we decided to do the SCAD free fall. Essentially you ride a little metal basket up to the top of one of the towers, and then they drop you 230 feet down into a big floating net. Sounds fun right?
My friend Hannah and I volunteered to go last, which I know was a total God thing. As we climbed into the little metal contraption that would bring us to the top, the man (lets call him John) working the contraption began talking to us.
John: So tell me, why are you in South Africa?
Hannah: We are here volunteering with an NGO and telling people about Jesus!
John: Well I’m right here, tell me about him!
Hannah: Have you ever heard about Jesus?
John: Yes, I have been to church before and have heard about him.
We chatted for a few minutes about what all he knew and believed. It was very obvious that although he had heard about Jesus, he didn’t have a relationship with him.
Me: John, if this broke and we fell right now and died, do you know where you’d go?
John: Um, I don’t know.
Me: Do you think you would go to heaven?
John: I’m a good person, so I think I would go there.
Hannah then shared a testimony with him and how thats what she always thought when she was younger as well. She talked about how she always went to church, prayed when she was supposed to, and was nice to the people around her. It wasn’t until one day when she was with her grandmother that she truly understood the concept of how we get to heaven. She shared Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no man can boast.” We talked with John about how God’s grace is a free gift. It’s not something we can earn and we definitely don’t deserve it, but because of God’s love for us he gives us His grace.
I then proceeded to share Roman’s 10:9 which says, “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Me: John thats all we have to do to get to heaven! You just have to pray and ask Jesus into your heart!
John: I want to do that!! (Very eagerly)
Hannah: Well, when we get back down to the bottom we can pray for you!
John: No, I want to do it now!
So as we were 230 feet up in the air, we placed our hands on John to pray with him. He immediately looked up at us and said, “No, I want to hold hands!” So we grabbed hands and Hannah lead him through a prayer to accept Jesus into his heart, and he was so excited to start a relationship with Jesus!
After we free fell and were all back at the bottom, he came over and hugged us and thanked us for introducing him to Jesus. I looked at him and said, “John, now that you know about Jesus you can share what you know with your friends and family so that they can know Jesus too!” He looked up at me with the biggest grin and said, “I will start with him!” And pointed to his coworker in the corner.
How cool is God? Who would have thought that our simple adventure day would lead to gaining a new brother in Christ? Over the past year, I’ve learned the importance of smiling and talking to the people around me. I’ve learned that the Lord puts specific people in your path, who need to here your story and your testimony of God’s goodness. It would have been really easy to ignore the stranger operating our ride, but because of a simple conversation he now knows Jesus! Ya’ll, conversations are huge! I encourage you to say hello to the people around you. Ask them how they are doing, and listen to their story. Allow the Lord to speak through you, it can change someones day. And who knows, maybe you’ll even lead someone to Christ!
Joyfully His,
Lizzy Bodkin
