Eva, Erica, Rebekah and I stopped for lunch at a diner somewhere in Missouri on our way to Kansas today.
Our waitress was Justice and a man sitting alone behind us was “K.”
We invited 70 year old “K” to sit with us to have lunch. I asked if he could share his story. He said he had been divorced twice and had two kids. He referred to God as “The Man upstairs” which usually clues me in to the fact we are talking to someone who doesn’t know Jesus closely. He told us he had been a Christian his whole life and his dad was a pentecostal preacher.
I was listening to the Holy Spirit as I listened to “K.”
At some points, I wasn’t sure if he really knew Jesus. I kept asking questions.
I heard “encourage him.” He told us he lived alone and would go crazy if he didn’t work. You could tell he was lonely. I thought of my dad….who was just 60 when he committed suicide. I wondered if I wasn’t encouraging a man like my dad.
19 year old Justice had a tattoo with a cross and a semicolon. She said the semicolon was for suicide awareness as her uncle had committed suicide. I looked up the “why” behind a semicolon and it said “used when an author could have chosen to end their sentence but chose not to.” She told us her uncle had been depressed. She could barely get her story out with “K” interrupting her to tell of his nephew’s suicide.
And I wondered if we weren’t helping write “K’s” semi-colon today. I prayed for him as we got in the van to continue on our way.
Later, we stopped for a bathroom break. I met Fatima, a former Muslim. I asked if she had a Bible and she said she did. She said she has read the Koran, Bible, Torah and the Bhagavad Gita. She just believes there is a god, but doesn’t hold to any one faith.
Fatima said “Christians are some of the nicest people I know.” I encouraged her to ask God what the truth was. I told her how Jesus changed my life. She listened intently.
I took a few moments out of my day, while waiting in line for the toilet to tell someone of the greatest news ever.
Yesterday, while on a bathroom break, I heard before going to the bathroom “Pray for the lady working at the counter.” I didn’t buy anything, but waiting in the 6ft distancing line and got up to Tina. I said “God told me to come pray for you while I was going to the bathroom.” (She might have been like who is this girl?)
I asked “Is there anything I can pray for you for?” Tina told me her mom’s name and right then and there, I held Tina’s hand under the plastic shield separating us and prayed for her mom, Darletta. When I looked up, Tina had tears in her eyes.
One minute….one step of obedience….tears and connection during an epidemic that keeps us distant with the world, however with one touch from God brings His love.
Tina mouthed to me “Thank you.”
I mouth to the Lord “Thank you.”
Thank you for letting me not be in such a rush as to see the one. The one who could have never heard the gospel. The one who needed company and someone to listen. The one who could have been on the verge of accepting Christ, but was waiting for a witness. The one who could have been suicidal, but figured out life was worth it and people cared….more importantly God cares and sees each one.
