The Best Christmas Present Ever - You will not believe this!

This morning after the kids opened their presents, the phone rang. It was a call from two detectives with the Wichita Falls Texas Police Department. That is where we lived before we moved to Georgia. While living there, I became the Wichita Falls Police Chaplain Commander. On many occasions, Jana would cook dinner and some of the guys on the 2nd Shift (3 pm - 12 am) would come to eat on their dinner break. I would often ride "shotgun" with several of the 2nd shift guys. The call was from two guys who use to be on second shift but now are detectives.

I enjoyed talking with them and catching up with what was happening in their lives. One of the guys is named Steve. He was one of the funniest people I have ever known. We have spent hours in a patrol car talking, laughing, and even fighting a few guys. Steve had a Catholic background, had given up on that, and didn't have a personal relationship with Christ. Steve was living with his then girlfriend, had a mouth like a sailor, and thought that God was out to get him on most days. Needless to say, he was not the kind of guy who normally would be friends with a pastor...I guess you could say that we were an odd couple.

Despite all that, we were friends. I often thought, however, that my friendship was not having any spiritual impact on him. I would pray for him a lot, and invested myself in him the best I knew how. He was always good to me, treated Jana with great respect, and I really enjoyed being with him more than many "Christians" I knew at the time.

That all ended when we moved away from Wichita Falls four years ago. We moved on in our lives, and I assumed that Steve did as well. I thought of him often but just lost touch. This morning's call from him and another guy named Brian (another great guy) was a great treat.

THE BEST PART was that Steve told us that a few weeks ago that he had accepted Christ and last Sunday he had been baptized. He said that his journey to the cross was influenced by the relationship that we had, that God used all those hours together to help get him to where he now is with Christ. AWESOME!

I know that I say all the time that you have to invest in people and invite them to come with you to Piedmont Church, and never give up on investing in them. It may take years, but I hope you will get a great call one day like the one I got today. It was the best Christmas present that I could have opened.

Thanks Steve for making my Christmas a very merry one.