There was one morning when Benjamin asked us what we hold most dear to us. He asked what would be hard for us to give up. Various responses were wallet, itouch, and eventually someone said their life. One’s life was the answer he was looking for. He asked if we would give our prized possessions up for God, even our lives. That morning when he asked us this question he spoke with such passion. A passion like I have never experienced before. I could hear him talking, but what the words spoken out of him didn’t seem to actually be him speaking them.
When Ben shares pieces of his testimony one begins to understand why he has such a great heart for the Lord. He used to own 3 businesses, two being a tattoo parlor and a disco club. Seems harmless on the surface, but he was also involved with witchcraft. He has escaped death multiple times. One night he was very high and driving, and to a point where he didn’t care about anything. When one woman said to him “Jesus loves you.” The woman asked him to give God one more chance and if He didn’t transform Ben’s life he could go ahead and kill himself. Ben thought she approached him in such a radical way that he gave God a chance. Although he decided to live partially out of spite and proving this woman wrong, God had different plans. His life was radically changed over night. Hearing about his few of the near death experiences I was wondering how he could possibly still be speaking in front me to today and pouring out his life into us. 
Since then he has not gone back to his old ways, and as no desire to. He sold all the businesses, cleaned up from the drugs, and stopped practicing witchcraft. From that life changing moment on he continues to live a life that is fully dependent upon God. If Christ could change him from the man that he was, why would he not continue to transform and sanctify his life now? God provides for him whatever he needs through Ben’s complete faith in Him. “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens; they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you then the birds” (Luke 12:22-24). Ben lives out the lifestyle of utter dependence upon the Lord. He lives solely off of what God gives him. He does not supply for himself; all clothes are supplied and all of his bills are paid at the end of each month. Ben does not know how or where the money, food, and clothes come from, but God always provides.
Ben speaks about how God has changed his life and how God provides when he works around the community and his testimony impacts everyone he meets. His church is full of people who were radically changed, like himself. The words I write are not words to boast about Ben or others, they are words to boast about God. When Ben worships (like the fire dance below), his whole heart is in worship through reverence and awe. He does it for an audience of one. Then to hear Ben preach that morning was like an awakening. To see a man talking with a passion about the life that he lives, about what he knows to be true because he lives in it. It puts my life into perspective. When Ben spoke that morning I couldn’t see Ben anymore, all I saw was God, and God’s passion for us. Explaining this phenomenon through words, pictures, or videos does not suffice for how impacting this man’s worship truly is. Some might say, “you had to be there” but there are many ways that we can see God working everyday. We just have to be willing to open our eyes and let him use us. We must be willing let him show us where he wants to take us. My challenge to you today is be willing to open your heart and let it be explored; do not to be scared of what is inside of you.
