Take delight in the Lord,
and he
will give you the desires of your heart.
-Psalm 37:4
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the
door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks
finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you,
if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish,
will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good
gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good
gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have
them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
-Matthew 7:7-12
I’ve got a
story to tell about our trip to visit a church on Wednesday. We went to a
church about 20 minutes from where we live. We pulled into the street of the
neighborhood, which is a street because of an abandoned railroad track, and I
saw a man standing next to a wall. This man had several tattoos and a large
scar on his arm. Something grabbed my attention so I looked a second time at
him once we had passed, and I felt God was telling me I would speak with this
man before I left after church and that I would leave my boots with him. He was
a good ways from the church so I prayed that if it were truly something from
God then I would have a chance to talk with this man. During the church service
I started having different verses pop in my head and I felt God telling me to
give my bible, which is English and Spanish, to this man. I would underline the
verse and then stick a folded piece of paper to mark the page. Romans 10:13,
Romans 6:23, John 14:6, and John 3:16. These verses came to me throughout the
talk and I continued to mark them. The church service was wonderful and the
church fed us pupusas afterwards. We then headed out to pray for Maynard, a
church leader, and his wife who will find out in September if she has cancer.
His house was back toward the entrance of the neighborhood, back just past
where the man with the tattoos was before. I did not see him but I was praying
for an opportunity. We went inside Maynard’s house and prayed for healing for
his wife. We were talking after our prayer and I approached Leon and said I
needed to go back down the street to give my bible to a man. He said I needed
someone to go with me so Maynard and Juan Carlos, my wonderful friend,
roommate, and very good translator, came with me. The man with tattoos lives
just a few houses down so we went and asked for him. He came out and I told him
I had two gifts for him. I said I believe God has brought me from Texas to give
you this bible, and I explained how I had underlined and marked a few verses. I
then tried to get him to read Romans 10:13, but he said he could not read. This
threw me off because I had felt so guided to give him this bible, yet he
couldn’t read it. I then asked Juan Carlos to read it. “Everyone who calls on
the name of the Lord will be saved.” I said this is the truth. I also pointed
him to Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” He teared up a little and shared that
he had heard about Jesus and looked to Christianity while he was in prison but
had walked away from it since being out. He also said there were people there
who could read this bible to him and he would share what I had told him with
his household. I could see the Holy Spirit moving in him and pulling him toward
God. I told him that God wants to know him and God wants you to give your life
to Him, every part of your life. I took off my boots and told him I believe God
wants me to give you these boots and this bible. We said Dios lo bendiga, God
bless you, and parted ways. I don’t know the significance of this meeting to
his life and it is quite likely I may never see this man again, but I am
certain God led me to this man. I don’t know why I was supposed to give him my
bible with those verses or my boots either, but I know it was supposed to
happen. I pray that God will continue to pursue this man and that he would put
his hope and trust in Jesus.
The best I
understand is that this man has been part of the gangs for a long time, though
his responsibilities have changed. Before, I’m not sure when but before, he
would have been involved with taking orders and completing tasks given to him,
and maybe giving orders. Potentially he would have been involved as a
lookout man or a hitman. I don’t know what but he had to be in prison for
something. Now his responsibility is more like a doorman, guarding the
territory not out of expectation of violence, just to have a presence saying
this is “their” territory. I am grateful for this encounter because it lines up
with the vision of SHIP, and with Leon in particular, to reach the gangs of El
Salvador. I believe God is using our presence in El Salvador to make this a
reality.
I
titled this “Ask And You Will Receive” because I, and we as a group, have been
praying for God to show us who we need to talk to and that He would bring
people into our paths. That’s exactly what happened! I would encourage you to
do the same. Ask God to move in your life and He surely will! It most likely
won’t be how you picture it to happen, but it will happen!
