Sunday, January 17, 2010

Only God Can Do Stuff Like This

Jon was a long term project. His sister, Vicki, had been praying for him for 24 years. Around the first of January Jon saw the Colt McCoy I am Second commercial running on ESPN. He was out of town, but he went to his computer to check out http://www.iamsecond.com/ as soon as he got back home to Boise, Idaho on Jan 7th.

As Jon watched film after film, he was amazed how Jesus changed lives. Jon called Vicky, who lives way off in Atlanta, to see what she thought of the site. “It’s good, keep looking at it” she told him.

Jon spent 6 hours . . . yes, 6 hours . . . looking at videos. Then his heart could not hold back . . . he fell to his knees and talked to Jesus. Confessing. Worshipping. Putting his faith in He Who is First.

Find an I am Second Group” caught Jon’s eye on iamsecond.com. As he clicked on the page, up popped a Google map right around his house. Jon didn’t know it, but that part of the website had just gone live 3 days before. But in God’s providence there already was a group registered near him. Probably not another one for 500 miles, but God had a group right there for Jon to find.

Jon called Vicky to tell her the good news that he now believed in the Good News. Vicky’s joy overflowed to Mike R. Mike R knows Scott, one of our Board members who lives in Orlando. Scott knew I’d love the story, so he sent it on to me.

The rejoicing went from Boise to Atlanta to Orlando to Charlotte, where I was when I got Scott’s forward of Mike R’s forward of Vicky’s hallelujah email message. As I joined in the email celebration, Mike R asked where I am Second is headed next. When I responded that actually I was in Charlotte that very moment discussing launching there, Mike R mentioned that Apartment Life, the ministry he’s with, had just started work there.

A few hours later . . . I’m sitting across the table at a Starbucks in Charlotte talking to Nick, AL’s brand spanking new regional leader. Discussing how we might partner together. All because Jon trusted Christ in Boise a few days before.

The fingerprints of God . . . all over that whole thing. I can’t help but believe in a sovereign God who WILL accomplish His plans, and often in a way that only He gets the acclaim for pulling it off.

Also challenges me NOT to give up when praying for someone. For we never know when or how God will cause the spiritual dominoes to fall.

Here’s what Vicky told us later—

“I want to personally thank every person involved with this website for helping to bring my brother Jon to Christ. Jon and I were not raised together. We share an earthly father who struggled to give either of us what we needed emotionally. But now, after I have been praying for him since he was 15 years old - 24 1/2 years of prayers, God has drawn us together as children of the same heavenly father. A father who can love Jon in a way that he has never experienced before.

“The work that you are doing has such great eternal impact. My brother who was lost up until this day is now absolutely blown away by the love of Christ and his new life in him. And I have the privilege of sharing this with Jon and having new life breathed into my own spiritual walk - if DOES matter what we say, what we do, where we put our efforts, and how we nurture these over the years.”
People are looking for hope and change and God. Would you like to be there when they come looking? Register your group or ministry at http://iamsecond.com/join/.

Blessings.

Mike Jorgensen