A Real God

I met a guy named Gus.

Most of my Baylor friends came to Abilene with me this weekend to hang out and to see Switchfoot. We came back late Sunday night (tonight) after the concert. On our way back from Abilene to Waco God showed yet again that He is who He says He is.

Praise God for Lauren Keenum's small bladder.

We stopped at a convenient convenient store in Comanche, TX to relieve ourselves..and as we were about to go in someone in my car said something about telling the employees about Jesus. Sweet! I decided I'd go talk to one of them and see what happened. As I walked in, a Native American dude was chilling by the counter hanging out with who I soon found out to be his girlfriend who was working. I came up to him, said hi, asked how he was doing, and then...introduced myself. why? I don't know.

Gus and I made small talk about what he does in Comanche and where we're each from...the conversation was going so smoothly, because he was such an open and nice guy. He had tattoos on his arms and looked like he could easily be in a gang of some sort but he was one of the coolest, nicest, most genuine guys I've met. As we talked he explained how he actually used to live in Abilene, where he started going to the clubs. We talked about that (he assumed I did that kind of stuff as well) until I explained how in Abilene, you either grow up in an extremely conservative environment, or a dark one. I told him how I was raised in church and raised not to do that kind of stuff and how it was so different. This proved to be the answer to my silent prayer that God would turn the conversation towards something spiritual; there were a few times where I could have easily left with a "good to meet you, have a great night!"

But instead, he talked about how the churches he went to stifled him and made him feel controlled. I explained that I felt the same way when I was little, and wanted to rebel, but that it's not about rules and about 'going to church' but instead about a very real, tangible God who wants a relationship with us. I explained that I can hear his voice, that I follow Jesus, and shared the gospel. We talked for a while going on different tangents and crazy stories he had...he told me he died 4 times. He died twice of pneumonia; right when he [should have] died he suddenly got better and lived. Once he was with friends riding 4-wheelers and in a freak accident he got run over and [should have] died. I explained that God was clearly after him, loved him, and asked him what that made him think about life and his purpose for being on earth. We talked about that and I encouraged him.

Later he talked about how he is into parkour, and recently blew his knee in an accident jumping somewhere or doing something crazy. He couldn't parkour anymore or do anything crazy...couldn't even run! So I asked if I could pray...I said "I believe God can heal you, I've seen him do it." so he agreed to let me, I prayed just a simple prayer, like "Jesus please heal his knee, and I release healing and release your kingdom into his knee right now in the name of Jesus. Thank you God. Amen." I stood up, asking him how it felt.

"Better."

"What do you mean, better? How much better?"

"Dude it feels fine!"

"WHAT? Like 100% better??"

"Well I can feel the bones moving around and it still feels funny but almost!"

I was amazed. His knee shook and trembled like crazy as soon as I put my hand on it...I just couldn't believe what I was feeling!!! I asked to pray for it again, prayed a quick prayer, asked him to test it out one more time, and walked with him down an aisle and back to see if it was fully better.

It was.

I had him do things with his knee he couldn't do before. He was speechless and so stunned, and didn't know what to do. Honestly I didn't either!!! I just told him that God clearly is real and loves him, and what I was saying was real.

He was basically undone...and after I shared the gospel with him several times, we had to come to a decision. I asked if he had a personal relationship with Jesus, but he didn't give me a clear answer. He didn't know the Lord, I'm pretty sure...and when I asked him if he wanted it, he didn't really...he wanted it later, for when he and his girlfriend have their baby. He wanted a better life for his baby than he had..and so he would want to know God then. I explained that it's there for the taking now...but he didn't go after it. But as I left I encouraged him, he thanked me, asked for my number, and I just pray "Lord Jesus, PLEASE let him call me soon!!!!"

Praise God!