Than your violently awakened by your blaring alarm clock for church at 6:30am! You know you need to get up .. but all you want is another 9 maybe 10 maybe 25 mins of sleep..
That feeling of, “I know I have to go, but I reeeally don’t want to” skips like a broken record through your mind. All the good excuses don’t seem to justify the extra sleep. So, you make your way from the house to the church. You sit in your usual seating area and the message begins to flow. This morning feels different than normal. The pastor is making sense. His words are penetrating. His spoken truth finds its way in your heart and lands on a soft spot near your soul. And, in that moment, you feel connected.
.. and you think to yourself “What if I would have missed this?”.. What if …
Thank God you didn’t.
Elizabeth. Dexter Meeks and I met Elizabeth on the beach while making Threads of Hope bracelets. She’s 
Filipino but lives in Switzerland. She invited us to her house near the beach for dinner. When we arrived Elizabeth and her family sat around the table asking all the question they had about a relationship with God. Elizabeth at 45 years old and her family is Catholic. Each of them had little understanding of what God was all about. After 2 hrs of challenging but exciting conversation they all began to understand; its all about love. He loved us, so we need to love Him 🙂
Than there is Didi.
Our awesome French scuba diving instructor. The 1st time I met Didi he asked me “So.. being a Christian does that mean you have to wait till your married to kiss a girl?” 🙂
Hmmm. Well..
Didi was raised in the Catholic church. He didnt have the best experience with that. He had enough accumulated bad business from the church he totally turned his back on God to find his own path. Doing so put him at a cross road as a single parent raising his 12 year old son.
God put me and Dex in a great spot with Didi. He wanted us to just be, us. To laugh, learn and show him what God looks like.
God didnt ask us to preach to Didi but to just love him and keep our word with our meeting engagements.
Okay now I know those descriptions were short and vague but when I get to typing I sound monotone in my head, and if you read anything like i sound you may have stopped a few paragraphs ago.
So the goods:
Mike.
I dont know how to describe Mike. Sure I could describe what he looks like, or what kind of history he has, or tell you about the way he talks to Filipinos, or the way he talks to Christians… but that wouldn’t begin to describe Mike.
He is so much more than his outer appearance. He’s much deeper than the nails he stakes into a Christian willing to listen.
Mike. Is.. In search for love.
He told me all the problems with Christianity than went on to explain what Christianity needs:
Love. Action. Character. Boldness. Selflessness. Action. Love. Honesty. Faith. Hope. Joy. Community. and more Love
Mike wants to be happy and loved more than anything.
Mike called me his brother, but corrected himself and said “no your closer to me than that, your my friend”
Mike is 65 years old and swims 2 kilometers in the ocean everyday to stay fit.
Mike loves his two sons more than any man I’ve ever met.
Mike will give you the shirt off his back. He did. Because he enjoys seeing people receive gifts.
Mike is reliable.
Mike can entertain people with stories for hours.
Mike said ” I dont pray, but if I did I would pray for strength to make it through the hard days.” “Not for money, that means nothing to me”
Mike is an atheist.
On a hike through the woods he told me “Man needs to get away from the city, its good for the mind and the soul”
Mike told me “Loneliness is my only friend. He’s reliable and is always there”
Mike told me he has had sex with over 600 women in the past 4 years. Attempting to fill that empty void in his heart. For a moment he feels loved, feels satisfied, feels adored.
Mike told me “I thought about what you said last night when I had a girl over.” “I want to change, I want to break my addiction”
1 Peter 4:8:
