From the street, the home and property looked interesting. The garden was slightly over grown, the weather-board house looked to be in need of painting and maintenance in comparison to the one attached to it and I could see numerous bird cages in the closed-in veranda. The front door was open so I opened the gate, walked up the path and knocked.
Not only did the cages on the veranda contain birds – of all colours and sizes, but so did the hallway. The singing and chirping of the birds was amazing. While I waited for some response to my knock, I was creating a picture in my mind of the owner of the home and the birds, expecting to see an eccentric, unkempt old man or lady come walking up the hall. I could hear a radio on down the back of the house so I knocked louder. Eventually I heard some movement followed by footsteps slowly making their way towards the front.
The hallway was quite dark but I glimpsed him, and my mental picture appeared to be as accurate as the man making his way towards me. He looked to be in his early sixties, quite tall, rather hunched, unshaven, with long grey/white hair. Perhaps he looked a little eccentric, but he was not unkempt. When I introduced myself and gave the reason for my visit he introduced himself as Frank. His face wore one of the saddest expressions I’ve witnessed.
As he began to feed some birds he told me he was an atheist. In my work I’d had people tell me that before. But if they would allow me to pursue their beliefs as to how they arrived at such a conclusion, often it was the result of praying or crying out to God for intervention in times of great hurts or tragedy. But when no answers or responses came such people would give up their pursuit of God, believing all their efforts to be a waste of time, “falling on deaf ears.” Frank’s face and eyes told me that perhaps this was the case for him, but he revealed nothing to me.
He was respectful and polite as he gave me his ear in answer to his questions. He also listened as I shared the reality of Jesus Christ. Frank did not tell me what had happened in his past and neither did I ask. But I did say that Jesus Christ understands hurts and tragedies, because the Scriptures clearly show us that He went through them – and that He did so for each one of us. I thanked Frank for his time and left.
A few weeks later I was back in the same street and I met a lady outside her home across the road from Frank’s home. She was a Christian lady, and she told me she “saw me there the other day” and then went on to say that both Frank’s sons had died in car crashes about twenty years earlier. A few years after those tragedies, his wife had died in great pain over a long period, from cancer. No wonder the deep sadness in his eyes!
Some months later I knocked on the door of the home next door to Frank’s. A lady answered, we spoke at the door for a while, she then introduced herself as Elizabeth and invited me inside. Elizabeth asked lots of questions about God and the Bible and, “why do you do this work?” She said that she came from a church back ground and was familiar with some Christian terminology, but not the reality of it. Her perception of religious ministers was one of “black coats, white collars, long faces and some with hypocrisy written on them.”
Over a coffee, she told me she had once done a small study with a group of people, a basic study which gave some explanation to Christianity. I was surprised to hear that because in our chat it was not apparent that she knew a lot about the promises of Jesus Christ and how they could personally apply to her.
I mentioned to Elizabeth that in my work, I was finding out that many people with church affiliations or backgrounds knew about Jesus Christ, but there were very few who knew Jesus Christ in the way He has revealed Himself to us in the Bible.
Not long into the conversation, there was a knock on her door and a rather tall, casually dressed man with short gray/white hair entered. It was Frank. But quite a different Frank in appearance – I failed to recognize him as the same man whom I’d met earlier and he didn’t recognize me either. I would like to report that the change I saw in this man since that previous meeting was attributed to Jesus Christ – it may well have been – but Frank gave no such hint of it being so. What I do know is, that each person I speak to in this work of sharing the reality and power of the Lord Jesus Christ, is a person given by God and as such, I leave the results with Him.
He joined us with coffee and as he listened to our conversation, he gently and politely added comments and opinions – a few of them with expressions of doubt and skepticism. I now knew why, so by God’s grace and wisdom I was able to bring words that ministered to both of them at the same time. Once again, I had the pleasure of witnessing God touching two hearts and two lives, both individually and uniquely.
To this point, neither Frank or Elizabeth shared their background with me, but it was apparent that life had not always been easy and pleasant for Elizabeth either – in fact sometimes it was downright miserable for her she said. I found out later that some years earlier, Elizabeth had lost her son in a motor cycle crash and also her marriage had broken up.
As one ministering in people’s lives, I don’t have to know what another person’s past has been – God knows the details, so all I’m called to do is listen to them, remain open to the Holy Spirit’s leading and He’ll give me the words required to meet the innermost needs of that person.
Later, in another visit, Elizabeth did share a little of the past, and she also prayed a prayer inviting Jesus Christ into her life. As a result I also encouraged her to continue to pray to the Lord and read a portion of His Scriptures daily, which would allow God to minister to her. As well, I asked her to consider again undertaking some basic Biblical studies that would enable her to feed her spirit and strengthen her knowledge, understanding and faith in Christ, for both her spiritual and practical needs in life. “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” 1 John 5:11