Greetings Friends,
I hope you are experiencing the love and the grace of God in
tangible ways today. I wanted to provide
an update, as to some of the things that are going on with our family here in
NY. As you can imagine, with every move
there is a lot of work involved, so we have been consumed with cleaning,
painting, unpacking, etc. We’re anxious
to begin our journey here and we are excited about what God is going to do in
this small corner of the world.
My wife and I fully understand that we are in the beginning
stages of the work that God has for us here and we are excited, but neither of
us were prepared for the news we heard yesterday. I’d like to share it with you, as God
comforts us in knowing that we have heard his voice and we are where he wants
us to be.
About 3 weeks ago, I was speaking to my sister’s
mother-in-law, who lives just down the road from us. She was insistent that there was a man who
needed to speak with me, from Pine Crest Bible College. I wasn't opposed to meeting him, but I didn't
understand the importance of this meeting.
Needless to say, my sister’s mother-in-law approached me a couple more
times to see if I had heard from the man who wanted to meet with me.
One day, I was checking my mail at the Salisbury post office
and noticed that she pulled in the parking lot.
When she saw me, she handed me a little white piece of paper as she
said, “This is the man who wants to meet with you.” The paper read-“Pablo Molina.”
I found Pablo on Facebook and sent him a friend request. We began a short dialogue through instant
message and arranged our meeting. I met with
him yesterday (Saturday) at 6:30 pm in the cafeteria at Pine Crest Bible
College.
In our meeting, Pablo shared a story of two brothers who he
remembered. The older brother was
my brother Greg who was tragically killed in 1994 in a train accident. I was the younger brother in the story. God used the death of my brother to save many
people in our family, but our family didn't know what happened to Greg. Listen to what happened, just a couple of
days before his death…
This was just revealed in its fullest form yesterday – 19 years
later. I believe God providentially stored this information for our return here. He is mighty to save! None of his work is in vain. It’s all for his glory!
What a great way to open this chapter of our
new journey. Obviously, this was 19 years ago so this is "based" on a true story. I've re-created the event according to the way I remember the pizza lab, how I remember my brother and combined it with what Pablo shared with me, so that you can understand what literally happened here.
God bless you!
Jimmy
It was April 1994, when Pablo turned over the key to the fifteen passenger van that would soon escort him to Dolgeville, NY. Pablo was responding to the voice of God, as he pulled out of the Pine Crest parking lot in route to the Pizza Lab in the Village of Dolgeville.
It was at the Pizza Lab, that Pablo would minister the
gospel of Jesus Christ each Saturday night.
His heart was heavy for the youth that had wandered away from God, in
this small town. Pablo loved God and God
had given him a burden for this small town and the youth that lived there.
As he walked into the small pizzeria, he received many
glares from the troubled teens, who he was seeking to share the good news with
that night. As Pablo sat down, many of
the teens drifted to the back of the restaurant towards the game room, to stay
as far away from this preacher as possible.
Pablo felt their unwelcoming hearts, but knew that God had called him to
this small restaurant to bring hope to those that rejected him.
Pablo approached the counter and ordered the Pizzas’s
that he would share with the teens, in hopes that God would open a door for him
to speak into their hearts and encourage them.
Although, most times he would be rejected, mocked or made fun of for his
beliefs, occasionally he would have an opportunity to share the gospel with one
of these teens. He even had the
opportunity to pray with some of these kids at times. He knew that his work was not in vain.
The kids that he had an opportunity to pray with asked for
prayer regarding their home life, some struggled with drug and alcohol addictions;
some were exposed to physical and mental abuse, some lost parents to death,
some lost siblings, some came from broken homes. They were all good kids that had high hopes
for a future, but wandered from God and were lost.
As Pablo sat down at the booth that would ultimately become
his pulpit for the next two hours, he looked up and observed one of the two
brothers that would taunt him the most.
He thought these two brothers might be twins but he wasn’t sure, because
one looked older than the other. The
older brother stood at the counter in his long black trench coat, waiting for
the owner of the Pizza Lab to exchange his wrinkled up dollar bill for four quarters.
As he walked by Pablo’s table, a strong odor of alcohol
followed him as he hurried back to the game room. Pablo observed him handing the four quarters
to the younger brother that would eventually deposit the two quarters into the
pool table.
Pablo had heard that these two brothers liked to drink and that
they liked to fight. As a matter of fact,
the front of the Pizza Lab had become their boxing ring on Saturday night. They would drink, smoke marijuana and occasionally
use harder drugs and come to this place waiting for their opponent to be
exposed. Once exposed, the herd of teens
would flock to the front to watch the fist fight unfold. Many times, the local police would arrive and
separate the teens and send them home.
However, this Saturday night would be different. The purpose that Pablo was sent to this place
would be fulfilled tonight. The only
fight that would take place on this ground tonight would be the war in heaven
over one young man’s soul. This was a
special day and all the angels in heaven would be rejoicing over the one sinner
that would soon turn to the Lord.
As the light on the open sign went out, the group of teens
moved towards the front door. Each would
be dispersed to a different location.
Some would head home, some would walk the town, and some would drift to their
drinking or smoking spots.
Pablo cleaned up his table as he began to prepare to depart
towards his home. As he was cleaning up,
he noticed the older brother (from earlier) in the black trench coat, picking
up the pool sticks in the back room.
Pablo made eye contact with him and struck up a small conversation. As they moved towards the door, approaching
the small crowd that lingered in front of the Pizza Lab, Pablo began to dig
deeper into this young man’s life.
They continued their conversation outside for a while and
eventually they were the only ones standing there, as the crowd dissipated. The young man began to open up to Pablo,
sharing many of his struggles openly with him.
He didn’t know how to get out of the bondage that entangled him. He wanted to live rightly and he desired to
do well, but he didn’t know how. Pablo
shared the hope of Salvation with this young man. Pablo shared the gospel with him. Pablo told him that he could be a new
creation in Christ if he believed and that there was a way out of sin and
bondage. The “old man” full of anger,
hurt, and pain could die and the “new man” could be resurrected.
The young man wanted to be new, he wanted a hope and a
future, he wanted to be forgiven and cleansed from any bondage that had made
him a slave. The picture from heaven was
beautiful as Pablo led this young man to the Lord. The angels in heaven rejoiced as they
welcomed the soul of this once lost sinner, into the holies of holies. The Spirit of God was awakened in this brawler’s
life, as he whispered; “amen.” Heaven erupted
with singing and praise! He was
new! He was saved! He was a part of the holy family of the
King! He left that pizzeria a new man in
Christ.
Pablo was excited about the opportunity the Lord had given him
that night. He hopped in his van with
his heart pounding, thrilled about the miracle God just performed. His heart was happy as he drove towards home. But the truth is, Pablo didn’t fully
understand the significance of this moment.
He didn’t fully understand how God would use this moment to impact a
person, a family and a whole community.
To be continued…
