What a change!

“Taste and see that the LORD is good.” (Psalm 34 verse 8)

Yeah, it’s really amazing to see. Earlier in my blog you could see a video about Salvador who decided to follow Jesus and was baptized. He was at that time addicted to alcohol, was considerably overweight, lived in a house full of cockroaches and other vermin, had a collector’s mania (he had collected an enormous amount of newspapers and books, his house was full of them!) and he thought about ending his life.

We’re still with Salvador now. His house is 200 meters from the house we are renting now. A while back we were driving behind him in the car. We saw that there was something carved into the back of his car. Someone had scratched a word with a sharp object.

The word was “cochino. It means “pig” in Spanish.

We asked Salvador about it and he told us he just bought a new car. And that an acquaintance of his had scratched this word into it. He knew who had done it and he was extremely angry about it! He had looked at what it would cost to remove the word and it would be so costly that he decided to leave it there. He drove around for two years with the word ‘pig’ on his car.

Until one day he decided to forgive the man who had done this. He went to him and talked to him and forgave him.

Two weeks later we walk into his village and share Jesus with him. He sees and experiences that what we share is true. He’s sleeping soundly for the first time in years. Together we read the Bible and he keeps saying:‘what a peace!‘. God was already at work in his life. He was a‘person of peace‘.

Another two weeks later he was baptized and received the Holy Spirit and was born again.

The story of his baptism and the video went all over the village. When we drive through the village with him, we hear young people shouting, ‘sect!’ And Salvador’s getting calls, even from the village government. They’re worried about him: “They’re going to take everything away from you. But he knows we’ve come in Jesus’ name and he’s got his back.

‘Let them talk. They’re gonna see it! Everyone is going to hear about Jesus here!” says Salvador.

It’s been 3 months now.

Salvador’s lost about 50 pounds. His house is cleaned up. He went back to work yesterday (harvesting olives) for the first time in years.

Last week the neighbor (a cousin of Salvador) came to look into his house. She saw how beautiful everything inside had become.

She said, “Salvador was in bad shape. He drank a lot and was very unhappy. His life was a mess. I worried about him, but I couldn’t change it. Talking didn’t help. And then you came with the message from God. And now he’s completely changed. He looks handsome now and is cheerful every day. And you are not only a help to him, but also to me – I like having you around. Let the people in the village talk! I see what has happened and how he has changed. This is a work of God.

It moves me as I write this down. In this whole thing, we learned so many new things ourselves. God is so good. Where He is, order and peace reign and life is good. There are no worries. But is there a peace that you cannot imagine. Right through a whole bunch of struggles and hassles – because there certainly are. Unbelievable! I’ll write more about it later. But in that struggle there is a Way, a path you walk on that is completely silent. Like the eye of a tornado. This is what is available to every human being! The solution is not ‘The Last Reformation’ or any other movement or church direction. The solution is Jesus. He is that Way.

Make sure you know him.