Something beautiful

On Monday, a 93 year old South African man stopped by the book table and asked if we had any French Bibles. I told him that we just had the Gospel of John in French, but if he left his contact info, I would get him a French Bible and send it to him. Instead, he said that he would come back today, while we're doing book table. Today at 2pm, I was walking down Camden High Street, past The World's End pub. It was raining quite a lot, so we were delayed in getting the table set up. As I walked past the pub, I looked up to see D standing there, waiting. I walked up to him grinning. "You followed through and came," he responded. "Oh course I did! This book changed my life," I said laughing. I gave him the French Bible, and we stood there, in the rain, for 45 minutes talking about the Gospel. It was a beautiful time. He told me that he had travelled all the way from the Isle of Dogs (on the other side of London) to meet me today for the Bible. My phone rang a few times, and I didn't care. Listening to this old man tell me some of his story and share about how hard it is to believe in God when he's seen so many horrible things done in the name of God (I can only imagine- he's lived through many global and local wars, including being a black man during Apartheid), was heart-wrenching. I told him that he made me think of Simeon, from the Gospels, who waited his whole life to see the Messiah, and that once he had met Jesus, he was able to die peacefully. D is 93. He doesn't profess faith in Christ yet, but he is searching and hungry and asking a lot of questions. I'm praying that the Lord's word falls on an open heart, and that the Holy Spirit opens this dear man's eyes, and that he'll soon be celebrating like Simeon did when he met Jesus. Come Lord Jesus.