It was the talk of the town. A man had been shot and killed in a bar fight that afternoon. There were prayers at church. There were people with grave expressions discussing it on the street corners, but there was one man whose life would never be the same. His marriage was falling apart. He had gone back to drinking, and he knew that he was tearing apart the lives of his three children. That afternoon he had been at the bar, as he was more and more often these days. He was there when it happened. He knew the man. It was his friend.
We had just ended the evening service. Helena had given her first sermon ever, in Spanish. The children would hug us and ask us a million questions in Spanish. Everyone wanted to give us their blessings before they went home. Several families piled in the back of the truck. The pastor takes many people home because they walk to church in the daylight, but it is dark when church gets out and most families do not have cars of their own.
When we dropped the last family off, the mother asked if we could come and pray for her husband. He had been drinking more and more lately and their marriage was on the brink. We followed Pastor Eduard into the house. The man looked a little surprised and uncomfortable to have a pastor plus six Americans in his house all of a sudden. The pastor told him the story of the Prodigal son and asked if he could pray for him. The man agreed. After the prayer the man looked close to tears. He slowly began to tell us the story of his friend who had been killed that day. He was home now because he had begun to wonder if the way he was living his life was worth it. He realized that it could end any second.
I held on to his wife who was shaking and trying to hold back her tears. Seven hands went on to the man’s shoulders and we prayed again. He gave his life back to Christ and vowed to change his life. He went and hugged his wife and then all together we prayed over the children and that healing would come over the home. A man had been killed that day, but because of his death another man was ready to be given life.
