Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Left Turn Donald
An incident that happened at our church this past Sunday reminded me of a line from a “classic” Clint Eastwood movie, “Any Which Way You Can.” In the movie, Clint has a pet orangutan named “Clyde” who rides in the passenger seat of his “pick-em-up” truck. In once scene of the movie, Clint and Clyde are stopped at a traffic signal next to a group of bikers. The bikers and Clint exchange some words causing Clint to give Clyde the command, “Right-turn Clyde.” Clyde promptly extends his right arm knocking the whole group of bikers to the ground.
This past Sunday a man named Donald showed up at our church from literally off the streets. Donald had just been released from the prison about 10 miles north of our building. He was on a 30 mile walk to get to Melbourne and a half-way housing program for ex-cons called “C.I.T.A.” Sorry, I don’t know what the letters stand for.
Donald told us that he had passed several churches on his walk south. He said he kept hearing a voice telling him to “turn left” as he passed each church. Donald said he ignored the voice but it kept getting louder as he passed each church. Then when he passed our church he said he couldn’t ignore the voice any longer as it kept saying, “Turn left Donald.” So he came inside during Sunday School. My fellow elder Jeff met him and began to study with him. The first thing he told Jeff through tears was he knew that he needed to be baptized into Christ. He had studied the Bible through on line courses in Prison and didn’t need any convincing on what he needed to do to get right with the Lord.
I was brought into the conversation after services started. I met Donald and Jeff shared his story and their study with me. When we had a moment to ourselves, Jeff told me that chances were we would never see Donald again after services. Sadly, this has been our experience but we both came to the same conclusion almost immediately, this wasn’t our call. The Spirit was working on Donald’s heart and that should be enough for anyone.
Jeff Baptized Donald into Christ shortly thereafter. A good friend of ours, Shannon, gave Donald a ride to Melbourne. I don’t know if we’ll ever see Donald on this side of eternity again. I do know that his “left turn” will make it possible for us to see each other again in Heaven.
This past Sunday a man named Donald showed up at our church from literally off the streets. Donald had just been released from the prison about 10 miles north of our building. He was on a 30 mile walk to get to Melbourne and a half-way housing program for ex-cons called “C.I.T.A.” Sorry, I don’t know what the letters stand for.
Donald told us that he had passed several churches on his walk south. He said he kept hearing a voice telling him to “turn left” as he passed each church. Donald said he ignored the voice but it kept getting louder as he passed each church. Then when he passed our church he said he couldn’t ignore the voice any longer as it kept saying, “Turn left Donald.” So he came inside during Sunday School. My fellow elder Jeff met him and began to study with him. The first thing he told Jeff through tears was he knew that he needed to be baptized into Christ. He had studied the Bible through on line courses in Prison and didn’t need any convincing on what he needed to do to get right with the Lord.
I was brought into the conversation after services started. I met Donald and Jeff shared his story and their study with me. When we had a moment to ourselves, Jeff told me that chances were we would never see Donald again after services. Sadly, this has been our experience but we both came to the same conclusion almost immediately, this wasn’t our call. The Spirit was working on Donald’s heart and that should be enough for anyone.
Jeff Baptized Donald into Christ shortly thereafter. A good friend of ours, Shannon, gave Donald a ride to Melbourne. I don’t know if we’ll ever see Donald on this side of eternity again. I do know that his “left turn” will make it possible for us to see each other again in Heaven.
