good day saturday

Saturday was another great day in Christ. We went off to do our usual Saturday morning service thing and along the way encountered a guy that really filled me with renewed energy. This guy was there just to drop off a friend who was serving with us but when he saw what we were doing he decided to join in. I'll call him Bob.

Bob has three children, ages 13-9, has been divorced (at least once) for the past several years, and has no church background - he couldn't even speak the language (Christianese). About a year ago Bob was feeling very, very down about the state of his life but while on a job bumped into a stranger that was willing to talk with him about it.
As the stranger found Bob receptive, he asked Bob to visit his church.

Note - the notion of having conversations with people and inviting them to "church" may have some validity.

Bob didn't go immediately but as his life continued to spiral down. He called that church's "crisis hotline". These people walked Bob through his basic need for forgiveness of sins and to then submit his life to the leadership of Jesus. This was about 9 weeks ago. Bob feels a change in his inner being, reports a change in his outward behavior, has attended this church weekly since then, and seeks to learn more about God.

Note - crisis hotline? I thought these were hooey. Could it be I was wrong? Also, apparently Bob didn't need to understand all things theological to become aware of God's working in his life. Hmmm ...

Anyway, I had a wonderful chat with Bob. I hope we parted with him as encouraged as I was after speaking with him.

Then ... later in the day we went to dinner with a friend. She is a kidney and pancreas transplant recipient (about 8 years ago). Apparently every year she has an anniversary dinner with come close friends to celebrate life and to pray for the family of the donor. I was blessed. Here is a person that realizes that she has been given the gift of life an sets aside time to rejoice in that with people that are important to her. She also recognizes the loss to others and prays that they could know God's peace and kindness in their lives. Very touching ... and it was cool to be with a group of people - some that I knew and others that I didn't - just to talk about life.