God Brings a Midnight Visitor

As the months went we knew little of David. But thanks to the modern wonder that facebook is to all of us, from time to time I was able to shoot him a message, and let him know we were praying...but that was about it. But rarely would I hear anything back. And then, all of a sudden, in mid to late November David initiated chatting with me via facebook one evening.

"I want out," he said.

"Out of what," I asked?

"Out of my life. I don't want to live like this anymore, I want out," he said.

"Let's figure out when we can get together," I replied. I suggested he meet us Sunday morning, come to church with us, and we can spend the afternoon together, but Sunday came and went. We didn't hear anything from him, and then, well then we got busy with a visiting group of 20-some women here from Ohio bringing Christmas cheer to Cancun.

So, Wednesday, November 30th rolls around. It had been a long day. It was about 11:30 p.m. We had just begun to drift off to sleep when the security from our neighborhood called to say there was a teenage boy at the gate looking for me.

"It's David," I exclaimed to Julie.

"Well, have him come in and sleep on the couch and we can talk more tomorrow," says my compassionate wife, Julie.

And so I walked to the gate, and escorted him to our house. I got the feeling he was already planning on staying as he immediately took off his shoes and socks.

"What do you need - what can I do for you," I asked him?

"I want to change. I want to be different. I want to go back to school. I don't want my life to go on the way it is," he replied.

"We can help you find a place to live, and we can help you get back in school, and we can help you get pointed in the right direction, but you have to understand that what you need more than anything right now is God. Do you understand that? Can you see that," I asked?

"Yes, I know. And I'm ready," replied David.