Some of my good friends on the squad and I have been talking about getting a tattoo that accurately reflected our time on the race so far. We had decided on getting a light bulb. All four of us were heading to the tattoo shop, some a little more nervous than others, expecting to get one that night. When we arrived, the guy behind the bar started speaking perfect English. Surprised, we sat down and struck up some conversation. It turns out his parents are from Ecuador but he grew up in the states. After 18 years in America, Sebastian moved to Ecuador.
He asked, “so what’re you doing in Ecuador?” Of course, we’ve been asked that question countless times so we replied “we’re missionaries.” I expected the 10 common questions to follow that everyone asks after we say we’re missionaries, almost rolling my eyes in anticipation. Is this religious? Oh you’re Christians, are you with a specific church? What made you decide to leave home for a year? Did you guys know each other before this trip? And on and on. His response though left me slightly perplexed.
“What’s that?” We all kind of looked at each other thinking he was trying to pull a fast one on us. Corrie actually chuckled a little and asked “are you trying to be a troll right now?” He was dead serious.
We then began to explain who we are, what we’re doing, and why we’re here that way he could understand what we meant when we said we’re “missionaries.” He then said “oh yeah I met some people like you guys. They didn’t drink, they were kind of weird, and I felt like I couldn’t be myself around them. I felt like they were judging me. They asked to pray for me whenever we were saying goodbye. It was cool, but pretty weird.”
I was discouraged. I thought, that’s not a good representation of Christ. Christ loved everyone, hung out with prostitutes, tax collectors, and broken people. We shared our hearts with Sebastian and explained how we weren’t like that. We wanted him to be himself and we loved him in that; Jesus is so cool and He loves you for who you are too. We ordered a couple beers to split between us to show him we’re just normal people too. He pulled out a guitar and asked us to play some songs. Emily played drums on a cardboard box, me on the guitar, and Corrie and Raychel harmonizing like pros. Sebastian was loving it; it was evident that he was coming out of his shell.
After talking to the artist we found out the light bulb tattoos were going to be too expensive even for being so small. I’ve had an idea in my head for quite some time, so I decided I’d talk to the artist about it just to see what he could draw up. His sketch was awesome, and the price was 1/3 of the cost if I were to get it in the states. So we set an appointment for the next day and went back to talking to Sebastian. We all were feeling pretty tired by the end of the night so we said our goodbyes until the next day.
The next night we showed up to Sebastian behind the bar, happy to see us come through the door. I went over to start the process of the tattoo while Corrie, Emily, and Raychel hung out with him. After some time, Emily and Raychel went with Sebastian to go get pancakes and coffee while Corrie stayed back with me.
I was sitting in that chair for a long time when they finally came back. Sebastian comes around from behind my chair dancing with a HUGE smile on his face. “Dude that looks so sick. I love the tattoo,” he says as he continues to dance and smile.
Almost laughing I say “you must be having a good night,” not knowing the situation. Something was different about him though. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but he had so much joy and life in him. He then says “bro I’m having a great night. I don’t know what’s going on, I’m not even drunk. I’ve never felt this way before.” He was still dancing and smiling. I couldn’t help but laugh as he danced out of my sight.
Turns out, Emily and Raychel were speaking so much life into Sebastian while they were getting pancakes. Holy Spirit was moving so much, all three of them were crying. As most of us do, Sebastian has a pretty broken past. He kept saying his hands were too dirty. Sebastian felt lonely and not worthy, but with Emily’s emotional wisdom and Raychel’s biblical truth, Holy Spirit was clearly touching Sebastian’s heart. Jesus wants Sebastian so bad that he’s continually had him cross paths with people like us. It just wasn’t until now that his eyes were opened.
Once the tattoo was done, we asked if we could pray for him outside. He said yes and we started to head down the stairs. He stopped us in the middle of the staircase and said “wait, under the light bulb. I didn’t understand it before, but I do now.” During the entire prayer he had his eyes closed, but with the light bulb directly over him, you could still see that smile on his face.
There was a noticeable difference between Sebastian the night before and the Sebastian dancing and smiling next to me getting a tattoo. He received a glimpse of the hope that we obtain when we live a life with the Father. He was actually on a Jesus high the rest of the night. There was so much life in him; it was like someone had turned on a light bulb.
I’ve had the chance to hang out with Sebastian a few more times. He hasn’t given his life to Christ yet, but Jesus is calling him. The conversations we’ve had “post Holy Spirit encounter” have been encouraging to known he’s aware to the fact that there is more to life than the life he’s living right now, and we know God is bringing him into a harvesting season. We decided to get him a bible and highlight specific verses that speak truth over his life. When he got the Bible he said “you know what, I’ll actually read that.” Join us in prayer over Sebastian’s life as he has experienced the love of the Father in a new way. Pray that he continues to be touched by the Lord, that he finds joy in his day to day walk, and pray that he eventually accepts Jesus into his life.
Much love, Sebastian.
To get more of an insight as to what happened during Emily and Raychel’s talk with Sebastian, check out this blog.
http://emilyspencer.theworldrace.org/post/pancakes-tattoos-and-jesus
It’s still a work in progress, but this is what I got that night. when I think of my faith and walk with Christ I think of beauty, and beauty reminds me of a mountain range. When I ponder on a gift the Father has given me it’s joy. We all have a broken past but there’s beauty in brokenness because Jesus redeems it. The song is called Joy by Housefires:
You give me joy down deep in my soul
There’s beauty in my brokenness,
I’ve got true love instead of pain,
There’s freedom though You’ve captured me.
I’ve got joy instead of mourning.
In Your presence there is freedom,
In Your presence there is fulness,
In Your presence there is joy,
Joy forevermore.
