My phone rang and the number showed as a California number. I was in the middle of studying for the message tonight and did not answer. I asked myself, "Do I know anyone in California?" I could not think of a single person.
I finished my studies and listened to a voicemail left by the caller from California. The man sounded a little shaky and informed that he was a believer from L.A. temporarily in the area. He was battling a lot and needed a pastor to talk to. That was it.
I returned the call. I had no idea what a blessing that conversation would turn out to be for me. I introduced myself over the phone and learned his name. He told me a little of his situation. Further probing and I got the rest of the story.
Wayne told me he grew up in a home with a New Age father and Jewish mother and sisters. At age eight his father began sexually abusing him. He used his New Age religious beliefs to justify the abuse This lasted for six years. In response to the abuse Wayne embraced the homosexual lifestyle. He started entertaining those thoughts at age eight. He told me if his father had not abused him he would have ended up normal in his words. He eventually ended up in L.A. He said people in L.A. like to party. He settled into a life of work and homosexual relationship with his partner.
I gathered from his story he lived as a homosexual for nearly 30 years. He saw many friends die of AIDS. None of that changed his lifestyle. Jesus did. Jesus got hold of him. At one time he had 150 homosexual friends. They all turned against him because of Jesus but he said it was worth it.
One year ago he told me God revealed himself to Wayne in his living room. I don't know how. He just told me God made Himself real and he was saved and delivered from the homosexual lifestyle. He got connected to a new church reaching out to homosexuals and trusting God to save and deliver them. Over the past year John has witnessed to countless people sharing his story. Homosexual activists hate him he reported. Some of his former friends are already dead from AIDS. He told me homosexuals die a horrible death.
The purpose for his trip was to visit his family before he dies to witness to them. They rejected him. Even in his weakened condition, going from 240 lbs to 119 lbs today, they refused to listen to him. They preferred their homosexual son and brother than the new man in Jesus. They said he could reject Jesus and they would take him in or if not they'd throw him out. Wayne told me, "Jesus is too precious to me to give into my family's demands." They threw him out on the streets. He hitchhiked to our town. He needed help and someone to talk to and googled Baptist churches. Our church was the first one that showed up. A divine appointment.
I made arrangements to get him help and talked to him for a long while. He knows he only has a few months to live at best. He already has turned his thoughts toward eternity with Jesus. In what little time he has left he wants to share his faith, especially with homosexual people. He wants to show them a way out.
Wayne told me for the longest time he did not feel like a real person. He felt numb. The day he got saved and embraced the truth of God's love he reported he felt real. He felt alive.
It will take him three days to get back to his home and near his new found brothers and sisters in Christ. Those people are his family now. One of the last things he told me is, "If Jesus can deliver me He can reach and deliver anyone." What a testimony. Thank you Jesus for letting me be encouraged by Wayne today.
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