Preparing the Way

In the years before I became a Christian, I don’t ever recall anybody engaging me with the gospel. I often would hang around down in Newport Beach, leaning against a wall with a tough-guy look on my face. I remember seeing the Christians walking around and handing out their religious tracts. In my heart, I was saying, Please, come and talk to me. But I was too proud to ask.

I noticed they would engage other people in conversation, but when they came to me, they would sort of look at me and just thrust the tract in my hands. But I didn’t throw it away. In my room at home, I had a big drawer that was filled with religious literature. And every now and then, I would pull out that drawer and read through this stuff, trying to make sense of it all. I needed someone to show me the way, but I don’t remember anyone doing that.

The way that I ended up hearing the gospel was by going to a Christian meeting I wasn’t even invited to. I saw this girl on my high school campus that I found attractive, and I wondered why a cute girl like her would be a Christian. So I went to the meeting to check it out. The last thing I ever planned on doing was becoming a Christian. But I heard the gospel for the first time in a way that I understood, and I gave my life to Christ.

As I look back on my life, I see there were unsung heroes who helped prepare the way for my conversion. And we can all identify people who made a contribution—people whom God used in our lives. Will you be that person for someone today?