Accidental Christian

There was a young single man, working in the secular world, the only one of his immediate family who was not a member of the church. His brother was a gospel preacher. His sister, a teacher at a local christian pre-school. His father, a deacon in the Lord's church. His entire family lived for the Lord and offered many prayers on behalf of this man. Yet, he continued to live the life of the world. There were not many worldly pleasures he did not pursue or partake of. He worked in a factory for many years, working much overtime, the money coming in handy for the purchase of drugs and alcohol and guns. He purchased a house and a truck, took vacations and spent his money enjoying himself.
For Mother's Day, this man asked his mom what he could get her that would make her happy. She asked for only one thing, that he come to worship with her on Mother's Day. (He would have preferred to buy her something.) But, wanting to please his mother, he got up early that Sunday in May. He showered and combed his long, curly hair, securing it in a ponytail. He put a earring in, (a miniature handcuff), put on his only suit and went to church. Out of his comfort zone, he walked into the building and sat in the pew with his family, his mother's happiness evident on her face. The service seemed to go on forever but the man convinced himself this was for his mother. The invitation was finally offered, the final prayer finally said, and the family made their way to leave, anticipating the nice lunch that would follow. As they made their way to the back doors, an older gentleman approached the family. As introductions were made and hands shook, he took notice of the young man with the earring and ponytail, and taking the young man's hand, he snarled, "Why don't you get a haircut". The young man felt the anger rage inside him. In another place, at another time, that old man would have found himself picking himself up from the floor, and he would have needed help. The young man thought about this incident all during lunch. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He wanted revenge, but he didn't want to go to jail. He finally decided the best way to get even was to go to church everytime the doors were opened, just to annoy that older gentleman. He told himself it wouldn't be long until his constant presence would give that old man a heart attack. And he smiled. And so, Sunday after Sunday, Wednesday after Wednesday this young man came to church---coming just to aggravate this old man. He made sure he did his drinking on Friday night instead of Saturday so he would be able to come to church. He didn't take extra shifts on Wednesday night so he could come to church.
I know you can guess what happened? This young man began to change. He discovered several things that caused him concern. He discovered there were several Christians, even an elder, who worked with him at the factory, and he wondered why he'd never known they were Christians. He noticed many of the lessons were negative, lessons about how sinful denominational practices were and he didn't understand why folks needed to hear so much of that. But, then there was a gospel meeting. He decided to attend, a decision that would change his life forever. For the first time, he heard about grace. He decided he had to have it. He became a Christian that very night. He took a leave of absence from the factory and attended preaching school. He came back to work in his home town at a small, struggling congregation. He kept his factory job, determined to make sure others knew he was a Christian. It wasn't easy for him to change all the bad habits and some of his old wild friends were uncomfortable with this new man and the life he lived.
This is a true story. I share it with you as a follow up to yesterday's question regarding eternal significance. There were so many events in this man's life that were indeed eternally significant. They were not accidental. Those events were used by God to bring salvation. Those events were used by God to bring this man to a life of service in the Kingdom. Those events are already leading others to salvation. And those events were used by God to bring me the most amazing, godly, Christian husband. Praise God for each of those eternally significant events!

Peace
Neva