Wednesday, February 8, 2012

February Prayer Letter

February 2012

Dear Praying Friends,

I drove up to our church building still rejoicing over the wonderful service we had just had the previous Sunday with two first time visitors.  The five young men blocking the front door of our church, however, were not rejoicing.  I greeted them and asked to get through, but they simply stared belligerently.  After an uncomfortable minute or two, they sullenly allowed me to work my way through them and open the church door.  They walked out to the parking lot and disappeared from sight.  I dimly heard a popping sound but didn’t think much about it. 

After working for a while, I began wondering about that ominous sound.  I went back outside to find my car covered with obscene and insulting graffiti and the driver’ side rear view mirror destroyed.  We have gotten used to cleaning spit off our church windows and cleaning up the trash left in front of our door, but this was a new twist.

I drove to the carwash in a haze of confusion and hurt.  I didn’t even know those guys, why did they do this?  As I got out of my car, an angry man ran up yelling, “I was next, you cut the line!”  I immediately apologized and offered to back out, but the man’s demeanor changed instantly.  “No, that’s ok, it is enough that you apologized.”  I quickly washed my car and parked. Going back, I inserted the coins into the machine for the man.  “Why are you doing this?”  He asked.  “You are much different than all the men I know, what makes you so different?”   There in the car wash, I shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with him.

Later, I realized that if those teenagers hadn’t vandalized my car, I wouldn’t have been at that car wash at that moment, to share Jesus Christ with this man.   Only God could take an act of hate and turn it into a beautiful opportunity to share the love of the Savior.

In awe of God,


Mark Hale

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