It's a God Thing

Last night we were walking through Walmart to pick up Santa pictures of our granddaughter, when a young man caught my eye. He had on a shirt that said, "God Recycles - He Made You Out of Dirt". I said to him as we passed by, "I love your shirt!". He stopped and replied that it's true, you know. I assured him that I do know, and we continued. But for some reason he stopped again, turned around and asked me my name. Dan & I told him, he introduced himself and asked if he could pray for anything for us.

Now, at this point, most people would say "no, I'm good" and go on. But, for some reason, I said "yes, you can pray for my youngest son".

I should explain that this guy was a short, tough, tatted up Hispanic. He had those mean looking words that I can't read tattooed around his neck, words and symbols on his arms and hands. He looked like a guy that just finished his stint in prison. This is not a judgement, it's a description.

I gave him a short synopsis of why Zach needed prayer. He explained that he's a counseler for Teen Challenge, and also a part of a street evangelist ministry. We said our good-byes and God bless yous and walked away.

Dan commented that this was just the right kind of guy for Zach to talk to when he passed by us on his way to the register. On impulse, I asked him if he only did counseling at Teen Challenge. He gave us a business card, told us to have Zach call him anytime and we said good-bye again.

As Dan & I were driving home, discussing this, Zach called. I told him about this guy, and Zach's predictable response was "I don't want to talk to anyone that's religious". I said, "he's not religious, he's a Christian. And I'm going to save his card for if you ever need to talk to him."

I don't know what, if anything will come from this. But I do know, with every fiber in my being, that last night's encounter was not an accident, it was a divine appointment. And I am so thankful that I responded to God's nudge to speak to that guy. I'm even more grateful that he responded to God's nudge to take it a step further. I'll be praying...