“The goodness of God…”

“Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” Romans 2:4

Everyone seems to think that “hitting someone on the head with a Bible” will win them to the Lord, or preaching to someone until they are “blue in the face.” Not so.

Years ago, when we first moved to our land in Fond Parisien, Haiti, we had to hire some tough guys to take a machete and clear the land. The surveyor who came to survey the land could not even put a foot on it because of the dense thorn bushes and other bushes that would “send flying daggers” when you came near. We hired about 20 locals, and some of them were mean. Well, almost all of them were mean!

Later we gave them jobs, but two of them were worse than mean. One was Mezelus, and one was Lulu. One morning, Bobby was trying to talk to all of the men and a “discussion” started. These two men were very disrespectful to Bobby, and so I yelled at them in Creole and told them to be quiet while their boss was talking. They talked even more! They were so loud and disrespectful!! I got mad and went over and told them they were fired and tried to rip their badges from their necks. Mezelus wrestled with my hands, but I finally got it. I told them both to leave and that they were fired!

A few days later, all of our workers appeared at the gate with these guys, begging to let us give them another chance, and we did. We had no problems with them, but one day, Mezelus got very, very sick. The guys carried him inside our orphanage courtyard and laid him on the bench. He was in agonizing pain. We quickly got him into a car and took him to a very good hospital. He had to undergo surgery, and as I remember, it was an appendix. We paid all of his hospital bills. After a while, someone came and told us that Mezeuls had been released.

I never thought any more about Mezelus until Sunday rolled around. Our Haitian pastor, Pastor Varius, was preaching, and right in the middle of his message who comes walking up the aisle but “Mezelus!!” We were all shocked! He said, “Let me have the microphone because I need to talk!” We were all in such “shock and awe” that the pastor handed him the microphone! He began to talk… “You know, I gave Pastor Bobby and Madamn Sherry a lot of problems; me and Lulu. Madamn Sherry got so mad that she fired me and Lulu, but she and Pastor Bobby gave us another chance! Then, I got really sick! I had no money for a doctor or hospital, but Pastor Bobby and Madamn Sherry took me to the hospital and paid all of my bills! I am alive today because of it! Now, today, I want to give my heart to Jesus and become a Christian!” We all could hardly breathe!! Mezelus accepted Jesus, prayed, and became a devout Christian! He works in our orphanage yard, and I see him each morning! He is “more of a Christian than I am!” He is so sweet and kind!

What made this “mean old varmint” come to Jesus??? The “goodness of God!” Today, if you have the chance to do something “good” for “someone bad,” do it! Let the Lord use you to show people “His goodness!” Sherry