A few months ago Tommy was the guy at the Motel Church who
was picking a fight with Don, the kind, elderly gentleman who weighs about 80 pounds
and is confined to a wheelchair.
During that incident one of our fellow servants pulled Tommy aside and let him know that we don't treat our friends that way.
Weeks later, Tommy stayed after the message and helped fold
chairs and put away tables. I walked up to him after we were all done and
placed my hand on his shoulder.
"Thanks for your help today, Tommy." His eyes
started to fill up with tears.
"Are you going to be ok?" I asked him. He nodded
and looked away as the tears started to roll down his face.
The next time I heard about Tommy it was from another
resident who told me that Tommy and Don had tangled again at the corner gas
station. This time Tommy threatened Don.
"I told Tommy he wasn't welcome to come back to the
motel church until he could straighten himself up," my friend told me.
I disagreed with that. "But the help Tommy needs is
over here with us," I said. "Tommy needs Jesus. How can he get help
if we make him go away?"
Tommy kept coming to the Motel Church every Sunday, however.
The confrontations with Don subsided and Tommy kept mostly to himself, but he
was there and he joined in whenever we talked about Jesus.
This morning as I got out of my car and started to open my
guitar case, Tommy came over to me. "Keith, I wanted to ask you if I could
share something with everyone after you're done."
I could see he was serious, and very emotional.
"Ok," I said.
"I also want to sing two songs but I need to say
something before I sing," he explained.
"Uh...what songs are you going to sing?" I asked
him.
"'Because He Lives' and 'Lord I Lift Your Name On
High'", he said.
"Alright, then."
So, I kept my teaching shorter than usual to leave room for
Tommy. After I was finished I invited him to stand up and share what the Lord
had placed on his heart this week.
I wish you could have seen him. His face was glowing. He had
tears streaming down his face. He had to stop more than once because the
emotion was so nearly overpowering. But he got through it.
I stood behind him and placed my hand on his shoulder.
Partly to let him know I was still there, and partly to assure him that he was
doing a great job.
Tommy told everyone what a sinner he was. "I know
everyone is a sinner," he said. "But I'm the worst sinner of all of
you. I mess up all the time. I'm stupid. I do dumb things. But Jesus died for
me. He left Paradise - gold streets and the angels in heaven worshiping him
night and day - and he came down into this filth, and he died for all of
us."
Then Tommy sang, "Because He Lives". I joined in
and a few others who know the words did too.
After that, Tommy told us more about how much Jesus loves
us, and how much we all need to make sure that we are right with God because we
don't want to hear God say, "I never knew you".
Then we sang, "Lord I Lift Your Name On High"
together.
It was glorious. So beautiful. To see Tommy - broken,
simple, sincere - of all people, stand up like that in front of everyone and
preach a message so heartfelt, so sublime, so tearful, and wonderful, and
amazing...it was like a dream.
What I love about this so much is that it was totally, one
hundred percent, God. It was all God.
Tommy told me privately how this last week God had gotten
hold of him. "I started thinking about God, and about the scriptures. They
all just kept coming to me, over and over, and before I knew it, two hours had
passed," he said. "I looked down and realized I hadn't even touched
my beer in two hours!"
The verse that came to my mind was, "the
kindness of God leads to repentance" (Romans 2:4)
This all goes back to that first confrontation Tommy had with
Don a few months ago. At that time we didn't chase Tommy away. We explained
that Don was our friend and that we don't treat friends like that. We also
affirmed that Tommy is our friend too.
It goes back to that simple "Thank you for your
service" that one Sunday when Tommy helped put away the chairs with all of us.
It goes back to the reminder that the help Tommy needs is
only found in Jesus.
"I'm such a sinner," Tommy told me this morning.
"Why did God choose me to give this message today?"
I took him to 2 Corinthians 4:7 and read this to him:
"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this
all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."
I said, "See Tommy, God loves to do extraordinary
things through ordinary people like you and me because that way everyone knows
it was God - not us - and He gets the Glory for it."
"But I'm such a sinner," Tommy said.
"So am I," I said.
"I don't understand why he would choose me. He could
have chosen anyone else."
"God loves you, Tommy. He loves you. That's why He
showed Himself to you and touched your heart this week."
Tommy just smiled and nodded his head. I could the tears
forming again in the corners of his eyes.
As I looked around I could see everyone's face was full of joy. We had witnessed a true miracle today.
God had touched Tommy's heart. Then God touched our hearts through Tommy.
As I got in my car to drive back home, Tommy said, "Pray for me!"
"I will," I said. "Just keep following Jesus."
"I don't always do that," he admitted.
"You can do it," I said. "Just keep your eyes on Jesus. He's with you."
"Ok," Tommy said.
So, join me this week in lifting up our new brother, Tommy. Pray that God would continue to reveal himself to Tommy.
Pray that Tommy would spend many more hours away from his beer - wrapped in the arms of Jesus and becoming more intoxicated by the Spirit of God's presence.
Pray that others would listen to the Gospel message that Tommy preached today. I'd love to share even more testimonies like this one with you as we continue to serve at the Motel.
Let the Kingdom come!
-kg
