“I could just take some drugs, put my jacket straight, sit at the side of the water and drop backwards. Then it’ll all be over”. “Are you telling me that you wanted to commit suicide?” “Mmh mmh”.
“Then it is even more wonderful that the Lord saved you yesterday”. “Yes”.
This was a conversation I had with someone lately. But some time before I had this conversation, something else had happened. The person was sleeping in the Shelter and was black-sleeping in a bed, in my nightshift. Somehow, the evening I went for work, I had asked God to save someone through me this night. A person came down to tell me someone was in his bed, so I came up to check it out. Indeed, a Scottish man was sleeping in the bed, and when he came out and down I found out he hadn’t paid for his bed this night.
He seemed to be sad, but that wasn’t because he was caught. He started telling me about him being separated from his wife and children. It caused him to come to Amsterdam. In our situations there is always hope with the Lord you know. The Lord is never outwitted, and was planning and preparing. First of all my heart, but also the heart of this man. I asked the Lord for wisdom how I could start to mention His goodness for us.
“You miss your wife and children right?”
“Yes, ….”
“The feeling you have of missing them, is the same feeling of separation that God feels towards mankind. His love for us is so great. He knows what you are feeling”.
“….”
“But He didn’t stop there. He had His Son send down and be punished for our sins, which caused the separation. See, God has pain because of the separation with mankind, and He did something about it. He stepped in and took our place of judgment and punishment: death.”
I knew by talking that he had heard more of the gospel before, but never was invited to ask the Lord Jesus to become his Savior.
“You know, when I was young I went to church and stuff”. He tried to indicate that he did his best to be good enough for God, so I told him:”When you go to the MacDonalds, you do not become a hamburger”. “Ha”. “And when you go to church, that doesn’t make you a Christian either” “That makes sense…”
“Do you want to know how you can become a Christian?”
“Yes”
“When we ask Jesus to forgive us, and to enter our lives, He will” So, I asked him a question:”Would you like to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior”?
“Yes… does that take long?” What a wonderful question!
“No, it can happen within one minute”. So we prayed, and he got saved. Also, he experienced the peace of God flooding in his heart. His appearance changed. By that time I had already given him a bed, so he could sleep.
This is just one story of a man, sleeping in the Shelter.
And the story about his salvation from (eternal) death: Two days later I found out that he was in a desperate situation, and I received another blessing through this. I had heard he wasn’t only saved for eternity, but also from killing himself. How desperate can people become? But the Lord is not outwitted, He is at work through us by Holy Spirit. If you think you became a hamburger by going to the MacDonalds, you are mistaken. The Lord is drawing a line in the sand and invites everyone to come on His side, for free. Will you please ask forgiveness, when you have never done so, and invite Jesus to come into your heart. Tell Him that He is your Savior from today on. Be washed with His precious blood from a sin-stained life, and start a new Life, with a clean slate. Please become His child now. He loves us so much.
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