Brooks
When
we were with the province and district leaders in Kigali, Rwanda, one
of the young men, Jean Paul, shared his life so openly and honestly with
us. He is just one of the many who are finding hope in the midst of so
much loss. Here is his story:
"I felt so lost. My mother and
father died when I was young. Life was hard. I was on the streets and
using drugs and marijuana. I thought that no one loved me. I had no
parents; I had no one. So I was wondering, who can love me? Maybe it
will be my friends who were using drugs with me. I was with some people
then who were Christians but I didn’t see any love. They talked about
God's love, but I didn't experience it with them."
"In 2010 in April, I went to
look for work for the day because I was hungry. I was with a friend and
we worked the whole day (Saturday) on this (Justin's) house. That man
(Justin) told us to come back tomorrow, which was Sunday. We were
surprised because Sunday is God's day and we knew that man is a
Christian. Why did he tell us to come back on that day? My friend and I
didn't care, so we worked on the house that day. About 8:30 Justin came
out and asked, 'You aren’t going to church?' We lied and told him we are
7th Adventist. He told us, 'If that is true, why did you come to work
yesterday?' Then he told us, 'It doesn’t matter. Let's go inside and
talk about the Word of God.' He invited us into his big home and said,
'Come, you are free to come in.' We were so dirty and the house was so
big and so clean and we didn't dare sit down, but Justin insisted. Our
shoes were stinking and very, very dirty and our clothes the same. We
were thinking, can I really sit down?"
"Justin showed us love. He
said, 'Don't worry; just sit.' Never in my life had I sat in such a
beautiful home. I thought to myself, 'This must be how it is with God's
love.' We were very, very shy, looking down and away from this big man.
On that day I can tell you that I really, really felt the love of God.
When we left we had so many questions. A very important person has just
invited us in. It was like a dream. I said, 'This place we worked today
is like paradise. This is not usual. We worked, we were invited to pray
and to come again. Then with this kind of love, it must be the truth he
is speaking about.' Little by little I quit that habit of using drugs. I
started sharing what happened to me with others. That's how I became a
disciple and now I am experiencing and giving the love of God. I didn’t
know that Jesus loved me. What Justin did for me now I want to do for
others."
Note: Justin is Team Trainer and Leader in Rwanda. Jean Paul is now one of the church planters in the region.
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