Sitting on the Side of the Street in Downtown São Paulo

Well, I had an interesting encounter the other day. I sat for 2 hours on the side of the street in downtown São Paulo. Through networking, sort of, I came into contact with a man who has known fame and travelled the world as a musician. However, those days have gone for him and he’s now at the bottom, nearly rock bottom. He expressed to me his despair and seemingly hopeless situation. Without details, he is in a tough spot to say the very least. I’ve never experienced anything close to what the man is living through. But I tried my best, through the power of the Holy Spirit to listen and be a friend. I’m truly concerned for the man. I also shared the Gospel as clearly and simply as possible. It turned out to be difficult to have the conversation with him, as he is a very talented and intelligent man. But He was somewhat surprised by the simplicity of the Gospel. His idea of Christianity was way off and when I shared what the Bible says about having a relationship with God – that it depends totally on the work of Christ and not on our works – he was in awe.  He couldn’t understand how God, God’s Word and the local church could be of much help to his situation.  But I tried to explain that it is the only source of hope that he has.  I read this morning the following, which I shared with him via e-mail: “Because we are the handiwork of God, it follows that all our problems and their solutions are theological.” (By A. W. Tozer in “The Knowledge of the Holy”).  Well, to make the long story short, we parted ways and he remains in contact through e-mail. I’m asking you to pray for the man. He needs it. He needs Jesus. Pray that he can come to the point where he rests completely in God’s grace and love and can follow Christ as his Savior, and find the solution to his greatest problem.

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