I want to tell you a story about a young man that I met 29 years ago. His name is Juan Ramirez. I met Juan in Mexicali, Mexico in 1973. Juan was the boyfriend of a young girl who was a member of the church I pastored. She stated he had a very hard life. He was abandoned by his father when he was 8 years old. He stated that he missed his father and blamed God for his father leaving.
I went to visit him in Mexico at the urging of his girlfriend because she stated that he was a drug addict and heavily involved in gangs. She stated at the age of 13 he joined the gang and began to smoke cigarettes, marijuana, snort cocaine and also do Crystal meth.
When I met Juan, he was a very hard young man that didn’t want to hear anything about God. I told him that God loves him very much and this is not the life that he should have. He wasn’t disrespectful but he did not want to hear what I had to say. I told him that I would continue to pray for him and God was not going to let him go. Sometime later trying to pass drugs and entering in the United States illegally Juan was arrested and sent to jail for approximately a year and a half in Calexico, Mexico. When I learned about his detention I sent him a letter and in the letter I once again told him how the Lord God loved him. He stated one thing that really stuck out in the letter was the scripture I quoted from the Gospel of Luke 11:13 which said if we’re being evil knowing how to give good gifts to our children how much more has a heavenly Father wants to give us good gifts.
When he was released from prison he was back-and-forth still involved in drugs and the gang. At some point in time the Holy Spirit using the Word of God and my persistence brought Juan to a point where he accepted the Lord Jesus Christ. He is now a minister with Victory Outreach and Mexicali, Mexico.
Juan stated about three weeks ago he began thinking about me and he still had the letter. He decided to Google my name and we made contact With one another. He stated that my encouragement and giving him the love of Christ and as well as the letter that I wrote 29 years ago is what helped him come to the saving knowledge of Jesus. I want to let you know that the Word of God never returns void. It does not matter if you don’t see instant success when preaching the word. This is a lesson in loving someone into the kingdom of God and seeing the Holy Spirit use His word to change their lives.
The picture to your left is Juan who is standing in the first row. He is the young man in the middle throwing gang signs. The second picture is now Juan who leads others to Jesus as a minister in Victory Outreach in Mexicali, Mexico.
Dr. Timothy Emerick