Dear Family,
SRPC wants to be a church where conversions happen! Will you ask God to provide opportunities to have meaningful conversations with people? If you ask, He will! People are more interested in talking to us about Jesus than we are interested in taking to people about Him. Here’s a great story of a guy who took the time to dramatically care about someone who crossed his path. May God make us people who love others in word and deed.
“Julio Diaz has a daily routine. Every night, the 31-year-old social worker ends his hour-long subway commute to the Bronx one stop early, just so he can eat at his favorite diner. But one night last month, as Diaz stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform, his evening took an unexpected turn. He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife. “He wanted my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, ‘Here you go,’” Diaz says. As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, “Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you’re going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm.” The would-be robber looked at his would-be victim, “like what’s going on here?” Diaz says. “He asked me, ‘Why are you doing this?’” Diaz replied: “If you’re willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then I guess you must really need the money. I mean, all I wanted to do was get dinner and if you really want to join me ... hey, you’re more than welcome. “You know, I just felt maybe he really needs help,” Diaz says. Diaz says he and the teen went into the diner and sat in a booth. “The manager comes by, the dishwashers come by, the waiters come by to say hi,” Diaz says. “The kid was like, ‘You know everybody here. Do you own this place?’” “No, I just eat here a lot,” Diaz says he told the teen. “He says, ‘But you’re even nice to the dishwasher.’“ Diaz replied, “Well, haven’t you been taught you should be nice to everybody?” “Yea, but I didn’t think people actually behaved that way,” the teen said. Diaz asked him what he wanted out of life. “He just had almost a sad face,” Diaz says. The teen couldn’t answer Diaz — or he didn’t want to. When the bill arrived, Diaz told the teen, “Look, I guess you’re going to have to pay for this bill ‘cause you have my money and I can’t pay for this. So if you give me my wallet back, I’ll gladly treat you.” The teen “didn’t even think about it” and returned the wallet, Diaz says. “I gave him $20 ... I figure maybe it’ll help him. I don’t know.” Diaz says he asked for something in return — the teen’s knife — “and he gave it to me.” Afterward, when Diaz told his mother what happened, she said, “You’re the type of kid that if someone asked you for the time, you’d give them your watch.”
· Christmas Eve is an awesome time to bring a neighbor or co-worker to church. Services will be at 3:00p.m., 5:00p.m., and 7:00p.m. Who will you bring to hear the glad tidings of great joy?
· Our narthex will be transformed into Bethlehem Village December 18, 19. Should be awesome!
· Looking for work? We need nursery staff to work on weekday mornings for MOPS and women’s Bible studies. Call Sheri Garner at the church office.
· Worship this Sunday should be sweet. We will begin Advent with a preaching series on The Mothers of Jesus beginning with Tamar in Genesis 38. We’ll share the Lord’s Supper together. SRCS preschoolers and SRPC children’s churches will be singing in worship. It’ll be great to be together!
Love,
Ray
