I looked into the blank stare of an older man standing in his doorway and sheepishly offered him Bible studies, as I was instructed to do by my superiors. He said, yes, although at the time I thought it was only a nice way of getting me to leave his doorstep. Over the next few weeks, I dropped off Bible study guides at his home in hopes that he would fill them out and ask me questions about them when I came back. He never seemed very interested in God, and I wondered if I was wasting my time. Then one day everything changed.
While I talked to the man on his porch, tears welled up in his eyes as he told me of all the deaths in his family lately. That’s why he wasn’t consistent in filling out the study guides. He had been spending much of his time traveling to funerals. Discouraged and heartbroken, he expressed his only desire was to have hope to see his loved ones again. It was then that he asked me to come back to tell him more about heaven and salvation.
A week later we studied those topics, and by the end of our study, he readily accepted Christ and asked when we could study more. The man I didn’t think was interested in God told me he believed God sent me to his door to help him get back on the right track.
In all honesty, that’s what the SALT (Soul-Winning and Leadership Training) program has been doing for me so far this semester. Just months ago, I wasn’t interested in knowing God. But through my religion classes in SALT, I have found a power and clarity in the Word of God that I’ve never seen before, despite being raised in the church all my life. Through the outreach program that SALT offers, I’ve found that life has more meaning when I live for something other than myself. Now I know that God sent me through this open door to help me get my own life back on track – and that’s exactly what He’s doing.