Homeboy Gospel

God was not slow in answering your prayers.

I asked you to please pray that John and I would have opportunities to share Christ now - even without knowing Spanish. We have been expectant as we were waiting for the Lord to give us a divine appointment. He did – today!

For our bare footing class we had to take the local metro bus into the city of San Jose. It reminded me a lot of NYC and I totally loved being there. Anyway, we had some assignments to do while we were there. No, our children were not with us. As we were looking for a specific location and talking about where it might be, a guy came up to us and said, "Do you speak English?" At first, we were both thinking that we didn't have time to be bothered because we had to complete our assignment. Gently, God reminded us that our purpose in life is people, not homework, and this is the assignment that God had for us right then. We set our homework aside and the conversation began......

It was almost a jolt to our systems to hear someone speak our mother tongue. We have gotten so use to people talking to us and we don't understand what they are saying that when this guy spoke and we did understand, we just stood there looking at him. After 5 seconds of shock and silence were over, we exchanged greetings with him. In his California valley girl kind of way, he asked us if we could take him to a restaurant and buy him some food. "I'll eat it right in front of you. I swear to God." Likely story, buddy!

He told us, and none of this story is probably true by the way, that he was from LA and his father is a Costa Rican and lives about 4 hours away. He said he has been in San Jose for 2 1/2 weeks. He came into the city and was robbed by some women (likely story, huh?) and he needs just $10 to get back to his dad's house. He said his dad lives in Gwanacasta (spelling?). John and I just learned last week that Gwanacasta is such a rich area that Mel Gibson has a home there. It's unlikely that this poor beggar on the street has a dad who lives there. So, he wanted to know if we would take him to get a bite to eat. It only cost 1,300 colones (about $2.75). He must've been around the age 30 or so. It's hard to tell because he has had a hard life and the effects of his living have overtaken his face.

We felt a rush to finish our homework so John gave him 1,000 colones and said that it wasn't necessary for us to watch him eat. I felt like it was necessary and I wanted to take him to the restaurant and physically sit there with him while he scarfed down a meal. I did not want to be a party to his drug addiction. By that point though, he had the 1,000 colones in his hands. After the money exchange, I asked him how I could pray for him. "Are you guys Christians? My mom is a Christian," he asked. Not sure if this is true either, but from his question to us (thank you God), John and I were able to share what I call a "homeboy Gospel." Keep in mind that every other word that came out of this guys mouth started with an "f."

At first I didn't know what to say and then I started praying once I knew God wanted us to use this opportunity to speak to this man's heart. After he said that he knew about Christianity and stuff, but wasn't ready to stop doing what he was doing, I asked him if he felt like a hamster in a wheel running in circles. He confided in us that he smokes marijuana, occasionally cocaine, drinks and lots of sex. He then said, "Sex, drugs and rock-n-roll, but not so much rock-n-roll." At this point, rock-n-roll would have been the saintly of the three. He also answered “yes” to my question. We shared with him the plan that God has for his life and that if he gave his life to Christ he could see the purpose God has for him. I call it a homeboy Gospel because we made sure to be very down to earth, not preachy, and to share in a way that would appeal to him. We also knew he was about to go smoke weed and probably rip off some other Americans so we shared with him that his next joint would only leave him craving another one, but God's love is enough. Only Jesus will leave him satisfied. He agreed, but said he just couldn't change.

Of course he can't! Only God can change him. All he needs to do is lay down his life and watch the Lord work.

He kept thanking us for talking to him. John shared Christ and Him crucified as well as some key verses. This guy, his name is Ronnie by the way, said he just isn't ready to give up his life, but said that he is exhausted and worn out by the way he is living. He then asked us for 300 more colones. I told him we would be happy to give him 300 colones if he would come and sit-down to talk with us over lunch. He had every excuse in the book as to why he couldn't so obviously he wasn't THAT hungry. He kept asking for the money and I said, "Yes, if you will eat with us." He declined again. If I was going to give this brother some money, then the least he could do was listen to the plan God has for him in detail.

At the close of our encounter, I told him we were going to be praying for him everyday for the next 2 weeks and that he should be prepared for God to shake up his life. I said, "You should be prepared because as we pray for you, God is going to pursue you and you will not be able to escape Him." We really believe that God is going to do something powerful in Ronnie's life. He said he would be watching and waiting.

Unfortunately, we won't be able to see what God does, but we rest assured that the Lord is going to hound him until he pounds down the gates of heaven. Please join us in praying for this man, Ronnie. It will be awesome if we can see him in heaven one day.

John and I walked away from the situation praising God for using us right here and right now! He didn't wait for us to speak Spanish to share His word. Hopefully this is just the first of many opportunities. It was breathtaking to be in the streets of San Jose, with my awesome husband, sharing Christ and doing what God has made us for. Glory to God!