Part 5: These Boys
This is Part 5 in a series of update posts! If you haven’t read the previous ones, please click through the links below and do so before you read this one. Things will definitely make more sense that way!
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In the last part of this update, I mentioned a neighborhood boy named Shawn – once an enemy, now (through “the incident”) a friend. Here’s the second part of that story:
A week or so ago, in the midst of our church moving into a new building and the Lord providing a place for our own sudden move, I was driving into town with the boys. They’d spent a couple hours playing outside with Shawn and had even brought him inside to hang out for a bit. Now in the car, Silas says from the backseat, “Mom, I’m really happy!”
“Okay, why’s that?”
“Because Ethan and I just prayed with Shawn to ask God in his heart!”
“What?!” I almost stopped the car.
“Yeah, we were talking to him about God, and he kind of figured out that he’s not actually a Christian, even though he’s a Catholic.”
“How did he figure that out?”
“Well, we asked him if he thought he was going to Heaven, and he said he thought so, since he hasn’t done anything really bad, like murdering someone. We said that that wasn’t really how it worked, that you couldn’t get into Heaven by just not doing something terrible. You had to ask God into your heart.”
I was honestly blown away listening to him! The boys have been in services with alter calls before, and they’ve both prayed the prayer of salvation themselves, but we’ve never trained them specifically for evangelism.
“We asked him if he wanted us to pray with him to do that. He said ‘Yes’ so we prayed, and he repeated the prayer after us. When it was finished, I asked him if he meant it, and he said ‘Yes!’ I told him if he meant it, that God did come into his heart and he could go to Heaven!”
I kept glancing up at them both in the rear view mirror. “I’m so happy Mom, and I think Shawn is happier too!” Their faces really were happy; they’d been praying so much for their friend.
I told them how proud I was of them, and that even if that was the only reason God had moved us to Cobh, it was okay that we were leaving now, because God accomplished what He wanted to do. We said a prayer for Shawn and threw a little party in the car as we finished making our way into the city. What a gift, for God to let us see this little harvest in our neighborhood after such a hard year with these kids. And Shawn – we are praying and trusting that the Lord will continue the work He has started! Praise God!
