On Thursday, Wilson accepted Christ into his heart and life.
Let’s back up to our first day of ministry here. Our team went out to talk to people in a village called Minoterie. We stopped at a few houses and talked with a few women and then continued down the rocky path. Our team stopped to speak to a woman sitting on a bucket in front of a row of cactuses (they grow cactuses here as fences).
4 teenage boys started talking to me and realized I spoke French. We moved away from the woman on the bucket to have a deeper conversation. They told me they want responsibility, they want jobs, they want a family and kids that don’t grow up in the world that Haiti is today. I told them that I believe God could use them to be the catalysts of change in Haiti, and that empowered by the Holy Spirit and walking with the Lord they would do amazing things. It was a matter of making the choice to let Him be Lord of their lives.
I got a lot of – “ You just don’t understand how hard it is in Haiti, I don’t have nice clothes for church, it’s not easy to change how I am living right now. “
I’ve run into Wilson and his friends many times since. They would come and hang out with us while evangelizing, they even come to church here. Often I would ask him -so are you ready to give your life to Christ yet? There was always an excuse. But he also truly believed he had the gift of salvation because he knew Jesus had died for him. In his mind eternity was secure so he could live however he wanted- even though He knew God wanted more.
Last week, I was reading in Joshua about how God parted the Jordan River for the Israelites to go into the promised land. And then I noticed that God actually memorialized that day by sending the Israelites back into the riverbed to grab 12 stones to make a monument so that that day would be remembered.
I asked God- “Why is it we remember so well that you parted the Red Sea when the Israelites escaped Egypt but we forget you did the same miracle here at the Jordan?”
And here’s what He gave me.
We all love freedom and liberation. We’re all searching for it in some aspect of our lives. So how could we not love the story of how God showed His amazing power to split the sea in order to set people free. There is a parallel here to salvation. We were once slaves to sin, and Jesus died and did the greatest miracle of all and liberated us from our slavery.
But then came the wilderness. The Israelites disobeyed God, they chose not to trust and walk with Him and so they spent their time wandering in the wilderness where they wouldn’t see God’s promises fulfilled.
And then came the Jordan. Sure the cities in the promised land looked really scary. Sure the river was flooded because there had been heavy rains. But Joshua and his people chose to start trusting God, obeying God and they took a step of faith and went to the Jordan, where we see that God does the same miracle- He stops up the water so His people can walk across on dry land. But this time the Lord celebrates His miracle by memorializing it. He said- this day will be remembered as the day my people chose to do life with me. That moment was important to God, and He wanted the generations that followed to know that He is here to do life with us, He wants us to see His promises fulfilled.
God wants to liberate us from slavery, that’s why He sent Jesus. But God rejoices when we choose to trust Him and walk with Him after we have been set free.
Otherwise, we’re in the wilderness. I’ve met a lot of people in the wilderness. People that say they believe in God, people that say they know Jesus died for them so they rest in the fact that their eternity is secure and then live a life essentially void of Jesus, without God. But just as with the Israelites, we have to choose to trust God and let Him be the Lord of our lives if we want to see His promises fulfilled. We weren’t liberated so that we could spend life in the wilderness.
Wilson was in the wilderness. He knew Jesus had died for his sins. But He didn’t want to have Jesus in his life doing life with Him. I told him what God had revealed to me because I knew this story was for him. I told Him that I know life God’s way looked scary, impossible like crossing a deep river that is even higher than it is supposed to be, but I told him that if he was ready to let God take over his life and let Jesus in, He would see God’s promises. God didn’t want Wilson in the wilderness, He wanted him in the promised land. I told Wilson that God wanted him to cross the Jordan.
I asked Wilson to pray about what I had said and then we parted ways.
Fast forward. My team was painting all afternoon in the sports complex that is being built on campus for sports ministries. Across from the sports complex is the church that another team was painting. We ran out of paint but it was late enough to stop anyway. We cleaned off the supplies and put them away. I went back into the room where we kept the supplies because something had been left behind, and on my way out I couldn’t get the door to shut – let alone lock. I knew that the area could easily be robbed or that winds could do damage to the open door and supplies. My team had left already to head back up and I was by myself. My team phone had no minutes so I couldn’t call anyone to come down and help. Slightly annoyed I made the short hike over to the church hoping to catch the intern with the other team before they left, so she could call someone. They had already begun loading the bus. I hurried. I caught the attention of a couple of team members who hurried with me to stop the bus as it began pulling away with the intern. On my way over I saw Wilson and gave him a wave.
Success. The bus stopped, the intern got off and promised to call someone to lock up the supplies.
I began heading up the path when I heard my name being called; Wilson came over.
I asked him if he had prayed about what I had shared in church almost a week earlier. He said he had.
And?
“The Lord says I should do it.”
“Accept Jesus into your heart and start living for Him?”
“Yes and you said you could do it for me?”
“Well, I said I could help you but you ultimately have to do it yourself. But if you’re ready I will lead you through prayer. Are you sure you’re ready? “
*Fist pump.*
“Okay let’s do this.”
So we prayed and because God had interrupted me on our first day of ministry, and had asked me to read Joshua instead of Ezra, and had left me alone with an unlocked paint closet and a useless phone… Wilson now has Jesus as Lord of his life, and in his heart.
Thanks God, for another amazing interruption.
Ps. I am still fundraising for the Camino- where I know the Lord has set up even more divine interruptions! Click here if you want to be join me on the journey to evangelize on the Camino!
