About three years ago I met a middle-aged man who had been working as an art conservator during the former GDR (German Democratic Republic), the Socialist Germany. He had been fired after the reunification of Germany and was since then jobless. He had been through a hard twenty years, most of that time in the solitude as a divorced artist with two children who didn’t stay in close contact with him. This lonely man restored a painting and a nice plaster statue I inherited from my grandfather.
Two years after doing this work for us this man called out of the blue. He wondered how we were doing and gladly accepted an invitation do dinner. As he was with us he opened up and shared the secrets of his heart with us. Despite the fact that he called himself an agnostic, he started opening up to our story with God. He showed more than just a passing interest – he showed a real hunger and thirst for righteousness and for answers of life. He asked us if we would be ready to keep the contact and talk to him more.
This story may not seem too dramatic but it is for us. Just a day or two before this Georgia and I prayed that the Lord would bring open-hearted people to us so we could start another Alpha Course. We are, it seems, on track. Serving people and praying for them opens the most distant hearts and gives us the opportunity to see people come to the Lord. God is building his church even in hard areas like Berlin, Germany.
