Yesterday was a day of contrasts.
I left home at 4:30 a.m. to get to the Guatemalan capital in time to pickup up supplies, run errands, get a new pair of much needed tires and still make it back to Chichicastenango at a decent hour. With all the vehicles on the road these days, the three hour one-way trip can be extended for hours when the traffic is bad — which is pretty often. So I left early.
On the way into the capital I came around a bend in the road and saw police trucks blocking the right lane their lights flashing. As I slowed and moved over to the other lane, I saw a body. There on the cement road, legs and arms where hanging out from underneath a hastily thrown scrap of nylon that covered a dead man’s face.
I was reminded of the fragility of life here — where one misstep can place you in front of a speeding bus and where each decision we make leads us on a path to somewhere that has consequences.
I don’t know the dead man’s story, whether he was drunk fromt he night before and stepped onto the highway at the wrong moment, if he fell from a bus, or was just not watching the traffic when tragedy struck. I hope he knew Christ before he stepped onto that highway.
Later that day, I was at a mechanic’s shop getting a noise checked out on our van. They told me to drive around with one of the young technicians to see if he could hear the rattle I was describing. We hoped in and I introduced myself. He was about 18 and his name was José.
As I drove around with him, we talked about his dream to start his own mechanics shop some day and how he is learning from the older mechanics now to get himself ready. We talked for a while, then I asked him about his relationship with Christ. He said he would like to accept Christ, but he wasn’t sure that Christ would accept him.
We made it back to the garage and parked. There in a cement parking garage, I had the privilege of explaining the Gospel to José and leading him in prayer to accept Christ. I left him with a tract and encouraged him to read the book of John from the Bible he has at home.
It was a day of contrasts. I saw one life that was lost to this world and another that was won for eternity.
Please pray for José; that he will grow in his new faith, connect with a Bible-teaching body of believers, and truly live for Christ.
Remember there are thousands of lives around each of us that are stepping toward eternity every day. Talk to them about Christ. Your voice just might be the one that they listen to before they take their last step.
~ Michael
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