It’s amazing the things you recognize when you stop to pay attention. I was at the Taco Bell on Garrisonville Road waiting for my order when a disheveled man rushed in and rushed right back out. He was wearing shorts and a T-shirt and flip flops. He must have gone through the drive-through and didn’t get enough hot sauce. Know him?
I used to be that guy. I was in the small room I rented in a 4-bedroom home lying on my bed with nothing to do. My roommates were all still working. The attack on Israel had only happened a few weeks ago, and a thought had run through my mind. It was a verse from 2 Chronicles:
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Granted, I didn’t remember the entire verse. I just remembered the idea of humbling ourselves and praying and seeking God’s face. It was this idea that made me curious about what the church had been saying about the attacks. What it might have meant. I used to go to a church in San Antonio that was part of a larger fellowship founded by the late Pastor Wayman Mitchell in 1970. So, naturally, I searched YouTube for The Door Church and landed on a sermon preached by Pastor Harold Warner who was one of Pastor Mitchell’s first disciples and first disciple to get sent out to the Tucson area. When I didn’t find a sermon where the pastor was talking about the attack on Israel by Hamas, I settled on a sermon entitled, “Your Young Man Shall…” This sermon was originally preached at the January 2023 Prescott Bible Conference, but Pastor Warner had more to say specifically to his local congregation on the subject. The overall theme of the message was the “Pentecostal Promise” of Acts 2:17.
“In the last days, saith God, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh: your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.”
Pastor Warner had six months prior preached a similar sermon entitled, “Your Old Men Shall…” This message was a follow-up to it. The sermon outlined three lessons for young men from the story of Othniel in Joshua 15:13-19. When I watched it the first time, it seemed to be about the need for men to find something to do. Watching it again almost three years later, I realized it was about more than finding something to do.
I was starting to doze off when I heard it.
“Trust in me and step out, saith the Lord. Do not be lazy. Do not set on your backside, saith God, but step forward in faith. Believe in me. Pray unto me, and I will do it, saith God.”
As soon as I heard, “Do not set on your backside…,” I immediately sat up and wondered, “was God speaking to me?” A part of me wanted to continue in my sin, even though it left me bitter and angry. I had finally got a grip on my finances and believed that if I lived within my means, I’d be fine. Of course, I wasn’t fine. I wanted to have a relationship. I wanted community. I remember getting up off my bed and sort of pacing until finally I decided to sit on the floor. I was so half-hearted that getting on my knees seemed like too much of a commitment. I hadn’t prayed to God in several years at this point. The last thing I remembered praying to God about was for a job back in 2009. Of course, I tried to return to church several times in the intervening years, but I just wasn’t ready to surrender. I think I remember telling God, “I’m not sure I’m serious,” and then asking for forgiveness. The tears started to flow, and at the end of my prayer, I got up, walked over to my computer, and sent an email to the Pastor of the Potter’s House Church in Woodbridge.
I wasn’t expecting Pastor Colona to respond in forty-two minutes. I figured I would fire off the email about coming back and maybe I wouldn’t get a response or maybe if I did, I would just ignore it. Pass it off as another phase I was going through. Pastor Colona replied, “…if you want to sit down and meet for some coffee, I’d love to sit down with you.” He invited me to call to set up a time to meet. I was still hesitant. I told him that my heart was heavy, and I didn’t think I could face calling him or anyone at the moment because I had been down this road before. I was better able to express myself in writing anyway. He came back the next morning and offered to meet at a Panera.
Driving down to the Panera in Dumfries, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. There was no turning back now. I didn’t want to waste Pastor Colona’s time after he agreed to meet with me, which I often did with other people. I pulled into the parking lot, took a deep breath, got out of my car, and walked into the Panera.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says,
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take."
All we have to do is be willing to get up off our backside, find a local church, and be part of a community of believers where real discipleship happens.
I recognized Pastor Colona immediately despite his back facing the entrance. He was sitting on the far-right side of the restaurant next to the windows. I walked up to him and shook his hand. It was as if we were old friends seeing each other again, except it was God who arranged the whole thing.