Dear Faith Family, 

Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded.  For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told, (Habakkuk 1:5). 

“Hey Karl give me a call if you have time.”  Those words were posted on my Facebook feed followed by a telephone number.  What shall I do?  I know what you might be thinking.  Don’t do it!  It’s a scam!  Hold on.  Can I give you some context before we decide? 

Those words came from a friend of old.  He lived just down the street.  From first grade until the day I turned eleven, we played ball together.  We ice skated together.  We played for hours in the marsh and the adjoining bay.  Fishing.  Crabbing.  Tying a bicycle to the dock and repeatedly riding off the dock and into the bay.  We even went to school together (same grade).  I’m sure we owe those teachers and apology! 

But I haven’t laid eyes on my friend or even talked to him in over 50 years!  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I dialed the phone.  There was a pause after I identified myself.  A sentence or two into the conversation were his words, I’m in shock!  When the phone call ended, I was beside myself almost in tears of sheer joy for reasons that I hadn’t seen coming! 

Instead of fifty years of small talk about the good ole days back in the hood, he began with a story.  He told me that he had been sharing his powerful story with others and was compelled to share it with me.  And so he began: “I remember standing in my driveway.  We were probably eight or nine years old.  And you were telling me about Jesus.”  Wow!  Didn’t see that coming.  In fact, I don’t remember the encounter. 

His next words may not be what you were expecting, “I was mad.”  My friend identified himself as a Jew.  He didn’t know who Jesus was.  And he was mad that I was talking about Jesus.  Slow-forward (or so it might seem to me) some fifty plus years.  Now he’s sharing the story of how God worked in his life leading him to faith in Jesus! 

My childhood best bud is my brother in Christ, and I didn’t even know it until Monday night!  Are you kidding me right now?!  Like in the days of Habakkuk, I can hear my Father saying, I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.  Think about it.  That friend down the street (the friend who had three dogs: Peppy, Cindy, and Sandy – the mean dog / the friend whose dad had cases of soda in his garage / the friend I played hockey with at the end of the street on Off’s pond) is my brother and I get to live eternally with Him in the presence of our Savior! 

Wonder what surprises God’s working on in your world?  If I could tell you, you probably wouldn’t believe me!  Oh well.  Just keep your eyes open.  And don’t be afraid to make a phone call? 

Dancing a jiggety-jig, 
Pastor Karl