Old Faces, New Places

Its hard. Its hard to run into people from your past. That knew what you were like and what you did back then. Its hard to know even if its an attack from the devil, a condemnation or an opportunity to share with them your new life. This week, that has been the case for me.

I haven’t set out purposely over the last year and a half to go back to my past and tell those people what has happened.  Little by little though, in random, odd places, some of these people have reappeared, God bringing them forth, for me to share with them my new life. In my church for sporadic times, at movie theaters, at restaurants, at work, at weddings,parking lots, different states, park benches, through letters, the list goes on and on. My first thought: Run, get out. Its uncomfortable to run into old faces in new places. Even though its a new season, its still hard. Its like looking in a mirror and seeing all the bad that you have done and those people represent the bad, the old, the hurt, the confusion. God things have come out of these encounters, not just good but (God) things. Things that can only happen through the power and grace of Christ. An opportunity to disciple a friend and lead him eventually to Christ, relationships restored, forgiveness shared at a wedding, twenty or so people gathering around and hearing of God’s goodness. God’s grace truly has been poured onto me in these instances.

This week I ran into two girls from my past, one was my waitress at a restaurant and another I passed by at work. It was hard. Every bone in my body, screamed in fear. I had cut off all my communication to my past and hadn’t talked to any of these people in two years almost. How would I explain to these girls that I had gone through a transformation that was well, “unexplainable..” How would I tell them that this religion that I had absolutely refused from my parents, was not a religion at all but a relationship with the God of the universe and that I now had it?? And how could I possibly explain that after years of refusing this relationship and years of anger towards God, that God Himself had now called me into the spreading of his love?? Crazy, Crazy, Crazy!

I don’t know what would have happened if I had shared. I don’t even know still if it was an attack but I know I don’t have to have fear in those encounters because God has conquered my past and my sin and given me a new life. The next time I have an encounter with my past I will proclaim, “This is who I was but it is not who I am now!”

Thanks for reading ya’ll. Today is my 50th blog post!
Have a blessed day,
Joseph.