The boys are making food, and I’m starving. Ag is sitting intently, watching the rain. He approaches me. “HEY! How you doing?” He asks in his own broken English. I tell him I’m good, and ask how he is. “Okay,” he says. He invites me to eat with them and shows me a very Asian version of chicken nuggets with eggs and rice. Of course, I can’t decline.
He apologizes for it not being a fancy meal. He asks me if I used to drink alcohol, after I’ve asked him if he misses his old life. “No,” he says, “My new life better.” I tell him I used to drink a lot, but with the help of my friends and pursuing the Lord, I’ve overcome. He smiles and says, “Me, too.”
He is incredibly patient as I ask him hard questions (some because I’m digging deep, and some because he doesn’t understand my English). He makes my plate and gets an extra table and chair. He won’t let me help at all. He talks about working hard for Pat for 3 more years. He wants to save up money, and help get more boys to work on the farm who can take his place. He talks about fear of his future. He wants a family, real bad. “No girl will love me. It’s hard. They don’t want to love a killer. My life hasn’t been easy.”
Ag was a murderer. Drug dealer. He trafficked children to be sold for their organs. He’s been to prison in multiple countries.
He is also the hardest worker I’ve ever seen. He will teach you anything you want to learn, and he is eager to learn just as much. He checks in with you regularly to make sure you’re comfortable. He is kind, helpful, self-less, and intelligent. Most importantly, Ag is a son. My brother.
Ag first met our ministry host, Pat, 6 years ago, when the gospel was shared with him in prison. After turning back to his old ways for a while, Ag is now freshly back living with Pat, working on the farm, and ministering to other boys in prison.
I’ve never met someone with such an intense and gruesome past, but in those moments I spent alone with him, those identities never crossed my mind: Murderer. Trafficker. Dealer. Addict. Alcoholic. Convict. Ag is none of those things anymore, and I believe he knows it. He is healed, chosen, forgiven, and most importantly, loved. I saw him as just an incredible human in the moments I shared with him, and I know God does, too. It would be so easy to hate, resent, and avoid Ag, and guys like him. Especially living with them for a month! Hurt people hurt people, and all of us are Ag in some form. If God counts no sin worse than the next, how could I identify his children by anything other than that?
Luke 5:31-32: Jesus said, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders – an invitation to a changed life.” Ag is a walking testimony to the changed life that Jesus has for us. God is definitely making a murderer out of him into a follower.
