Dear Faithful Friends,

Over the last few weeks I’ve taken my daughters to Veterans Park in the mornings so my wife can have a little alone time. They play and I spend some time in the Word.

Last Thursday morning there were a lot of distractions and I had trouble reading without interruptions (potty breaks, daughter throws up from spinning around too much, food needs, etc.). So needless to say, I was a bit bothered when the apparently homeless man started to dig for bottles in the trash can next to me, while I was spending time with my God.

He looks at me and says “That’s a good book you’re reading.”

“Yeah,” I reply. Then God reminded me of my calling. “Excuse me, can I ask you a question?

“Sure,” he replies.

I ask him, “If you were to die would you go to Heaven or Hell?”

Then he throws me for a loop and answers in the reverse! “I’d go to Hell.”

” Why?” I continue.

“Because I’ve been a bad person”.

So I tell him the Gospel and let him know that he can’t be so bad that God would not forgive him. Then the close, ” Would you like to accept Jesus now as your Lord and Savior?”

He wants to, so I invite him to sit with me and I explain repentance and what it means to be “born-again” by opening up my Bible and turning to John 3:3.

He understands. We pray. John Gibbs then proceeds to tell me he has 2 daughters as he watches mine play. They are both 16 but don’t talk to him anymore. His wife recently left him because he was sent to jail for a week. He lost everything on a drug bust.

I’m literally fighting back tears and offer him the rest of the bread we had bought at the Farmer’s Market along with a basket of strawberries and an apple.

I gave him a “Passion-Tract”, told him he can get free food at our church, invited him to service and that he should ask for me so I can give him a Bible. I ended up annointing him with oil so that the 20 year paralysis on his right side might be healed.

Praise God!!!

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At Supercuts on Friday, in the middle of my haircut, my 4 year old D.D. asks Barbara, the hairstylist, if she knew Jesus .

(During haircuts, I like to wait until the end because I hate long uncomfortable silences).

D.D. then asks if she was going to Heaven, then asked how she knew that! I was stuck. I had to follow my daughters lead and then had to endure an uncomfortable silence because Barbara wasn’t talking after this.

I wonder if shoe polish will cover the razor-induced bald spot behind my left ear?(kidding!).

By: Pastor Steve Sanchez