Loading summary
Transcript23 lines
- [00:03]
A
Life is like a roller coaster, but it's so much better when we go through it together. It's true. We are better together. And this season, I'm asking our podcast community to do something together to make a difference in the world. There are hard things going on around us. Hurricanes, floods, fires, people hurting. And as followers of Jesus, we show up in the hard stuff and we build relationships with people who need us. We give. Each week, I'm bringing you a short piece of an interview with a special guest, and each week you'll hear more about what we can do together. These are short episodes, less than 10 minutes, so come join us.
- [00:52]
B
We take for granted words of encouragement. You said at the introduction, this podcast is for you. And we live in a moment that we take that for granted. Like some people might feel, oh, yeah, that's nice. They don't actually realize this is an effort put to serve them. Actually, that's an example to say sometimes when we grew up in a stable environment, we take that stability for granted.
- [01:23]
A
Yeah.
- [01:24]
B
And for me, words of encouragement really feed my soul.
- [01:31]
A
Me too. That is my love language. Words of encouragement.
- [01:34]
B
Words of encouragement. Yeah. And that's a book.
- [01:38]
A
The Love Language is by Gary Chapman. It's a great book.
- [01:41]
B
Yeah. And so, for example, in this letter, when I was 12, let me mention this very decisive moment in my life. I got into the program when I'm seven. When I'm 12, it's the end of that moment of me being rebellious and fighting a friend of mine. I was involved in a fight. He fall down. He wasn't in the fight, but I fell down. He was in my back. He fall down with me, knock his neck in the sidewalk, and end up in a coma for two days. That's the worst fight that I was involved in. I didn't provoke the fight, but my. My friend is in a coma. And so I do remember I was taken to Dulce's office. Dulce was my Compassion center director.
- [02:30]
A
Okay.
- [02:30]
B
She was a leader from the church. And I do remember I was crying, sweating dirty, and. And I knew this was the end. That's why my mother asked me, do you remember you almost lose the best opportunity of your life and the police is coming. And that was a moment for me to reflect on the path that I was taking. And I think of that, and it is hard not to cry, remembering God was so gracious to me that day through Dulce, because I gave her all reason to keep me out of the center. I gave her all reasons to be ashamed of me and yet that day she. I never forget, she kneeled down and she looked at my eyes and she said, jonathan, why you fight? We love you. You don't have to fight. That's the only thing that I remember in the conversation. The police came, they took the notes on what happened. But my friend woke up from the coma two days later, and I was released. Everything got clarified, and that's the moment I gave my life to Christ. I couldn't continue on the path that I was taking. God was giving me grace, and I was giving him bad behavior, being rebellious.
- [03:53]
A
So did you pray when you gave your life to Christ? Was that by yourself? Were you with your mom or Dulce or.
- [04:02]
B
It's a funny story, because the night came and I do remember there was a. We didn't have a tv, but there was a show I saw in the church, and it's called the 700 Club.
- [04:19]
A
I think we're all familiar with that here, most of us listening to the podcast.
- [04:24]
B
And I say, I made my decision for Christ 700 times in this 700 club because they portray this story of a guy involved in fights and in a gang and in a ghetto in New York. And that was. I feel connected to that story. And I'm crying and I'm waiting for the guy at the end to repeat the prayer, like, do you want to come to Christ? If you want, pray with me. And so I said, I came to Christ 700 times in the 700 Club because in the church I repeated that show in Dulce's office every time because I wanted to be safe, I wanted to be different, I wanted to take a different path. And the reason I. That story came to mind is because of this letter. I got baptized at 12 after that 5. And the first thing the church did is they gave me the chance to preach to the. To the children.
- [05:21]
A
Wow.
- [05:23]
B
And I share that with nothing like.
- [05:25]
A
Just putting you on the spot right there. Go for it.
- [05:27]
B
And so she said, here, keep on preaching. That is wonderful. That's words of encouragement that, that, that from wanting to be part of again now I wanted to be a preacher.
- [05:40]
A
Wow.
- [05:41]
B
That's what the local church helped me to see hope. To have hope. Not only to be a positive view of the future, but to have actually hope. And hope is the ability to make things for. Make that future to happen. Being positive is just a feeling.
- [06:01]
A
Yeah. Would you say, though, that that hope that you had, like, explain that to me in terms of your hope was in Christ? You knew that at that moment it was hope for your future? That the possibilities were there. Did you feel that God could make those possibilities happen for you?
- [06:23]
B
Yeah, it was both. On one side, understanding the grace of God through the church and the love of God poured into me when I didn't deserve it. So that's one aspect of hope. And the other aspect was the church gave me opportunities to grow and develop.
- [06:44]
A
Come back next week to hear more about Jonathan's story. To see how we can make a difference Together, go to Candace.com and click where it says the word compassion. You'll see more about my story and be able to change the life of someone like Jonathan. Go to Candice.com, click where it says compassion, and join me until next time. Be grateful all day, every day. Candy Rock Entertainment all rights reserved.