HE just never stops.....

So I'm at Barnes and Noble on Saturday. The whole reason I was there in the first place (so I thought) was to purchase the book "Velvet Elvis". So I go upstairs where the "Christian book" are and start my search for this book. As I'm looking around, I noticed a guy being escorted to the same section that I am in by a Barnes and Noble employee. I overhear her say, "I think these are concordance, maybe they can help you" and then see her walk off.

So I see this guy just standing there and can tell from the way he's looking around that he's looking for something, but not sure exactly what it is. So, I do what any introverted, non personable, red headed guy would do and ask him, "Is there anything that maybe I can help you with?" He tells me that he's looking for something to help him with his school assignment which is to take Romans 6:23 and translate it into a modern day sentence. So I tell him that I would love to help him with that, which of course, leads to a convesation.

I get part of his "story" of his life as we are looking through different resources that can help with his assignment. I asked him if he had a church that he goes to. The answer wasn't totally clear, but you could tell that he really didn't. He shared with me that he had a rough past and was looking to change that. (At this point, I know that my quest for Velvet Elvis was God placing me there. He was just using the book as a means to a path He wanted me going down).

So, we chatted a bit more and I told him about Houston's First Baptist, more specifically, the Lighthouse class. He sounded interested in it, so I gave him both my information and the church's. I asked him if he had time to come to the Starbucks downstairs so we could chat a little longer. He said that he had to get started on his work assignment, but that he would be upstairs with his wife and sister in law, but would like to get my help with this "translation" after a while. After hesitating for about, oh, I would say .000001 second, I said "Sure, and I would also like to introduce you to my wife." He said okay and that he would be down there in a while to come and get me.

So I get downstairs to tell my wife what's going on. We're both sooooo excited and can't wait to see what God's got planned for this moment.

After about half an hour, my newly founded friend comes downstairs, meets Meg, and asks if I could come up to help him. When we get up there, I meet his pregnate wife, and his sister and law (really nice peeps by the way!). Him and I go to a table that he has set up. He has books everywhere and we start unpacking Romans 6:23 (For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is life everlasting in Christ Jesus our Lord). WOW!!! What a verse to get to unpack!!! Out of all the verses in the Bible, his teacher "just happened" to assign this one........

Long story short, I found my new friend with previous knowledge of the gospel. However, I did find my friend so very curious about God, and in need of embracing the freedom of the grace that He brings. We talked for over half an hour yesterday. I asked him straight up at the beginning if he had ever accepted the gift that is found in Jesus. He said he had. So I pressed a little further (I must make sure that he just didn't pray a prayer, but understood what it meant to be an adopted son in Christ) and it was clear that the Holy Spirit was in him. However, what blew my mind was that he didn't know if he'd be welcomed in church because of the tattoos that covered his skin. He didn't know if he could remember all the sins he did that day so he could confess them at the end of the night to be forgiven. He never saw the outpour of love that Christians are to have. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't angry about that, he had just never experienced that.

By the end of our conversation, I knew that my friend had a lot to think about. Most importantly, he had a new perspective of God to meditate on. He said he would try to meet me at church today. I waited, but he never showed. Please be praying for him. He shared some stuff with me that is going to be hard to go through, however, He knows that Jesus will be with Him. He needs to be loved by the community that Christ brings. Jesus knows His name and has called Him out of darkness. Praise to Him....

I leave with this thought, and I think the group Mercy Me said it best, "how can I further Your Kingdom, when I'm so caught up in mine?" Have we gotten so wrapped up in our own ideas of how to do everything that we've missed loving peeps the way Christ did and still does today?? I just love how God makes insignificant tasks like going to the bookstore so purposeful to His plan, to His Kingdom, and to His glory......