So, there was this guy . . .
I was walking from the parking lot this morning at church, to the sanctuary for second service (I know, I know, I know . . . I SHOULD have been at first and then popped into a Sunday School class, but I didnt, so get over it), and a guy comes up behind me. Pleasent sort of guy who was also coming from the same lot.
He pointed out the water bottle I was holding, and we kinda chatted about the weather and a few other small things. He asked me how long I had been going to Grace (4-5 years now), and then we were just talking along about stuff.
Anyway, turns out he was headed for the Spainish service there at GCC. And we were talking about school, since he had asked what brought me out to CA, and he mentions that this coming September he is starting to take some pastoral classes in Spainish. Apparently he is going to be working on his Master’s Degree to become pastor.
He put it quite plainly. There are not enough solidly trained Spainish speaking workers.
This made me happy . . . first that he had found a way to get that training . . . and secondly because someone out there is now finally taking the spiritual needs of the Hispanic community seriously and providing the Biblical training to equip willing men to go out and work in their own world. Now I dont know that he is doing anything special here, or if he is just seeing the needs around him. I dont know if there is a new program out there that will train these guys to work with their neighbors. For all I know he is just going to take classes at TMS and then go into Spainish language work. But he has seen the need for good preaching and is DOING something about it.
His name is Alberto . . . and he is older then most guys starting school, much older. But he feel that it IS important, so he is doing it.
Why cant we ALL be like him?
Why dont we see a gap we can fill, then make the intermediate steps a priority so we can suffciently fill those gaps?
Secondarily to this, I just saw how he was so excited about the opportunity he is taking up that he would just start talking to me, a stranger! I cant say that I have ever seen him before, and certainly not in any context that would tend to bring that sort of disclosure . . . but here he was telling me all about what God has provided for him. Which was just awesome! Why arent we all more like this? Why do we feel that we need to HIDE the things that are going on in our lives?
Alberto has been on my mind all day now, and all we did was chat as we walked the two blocks to church together.
I challenge you to leave THAT sort of impression on the people you meet as you go walking down the sidewalk.