Embrace the Mess of Sharing Jesus: Dan’s Story

The former drug dealer shares a story about when a friend from his “old life” came to live with him.

His mate had become curious about Dan’s changed life…

Love is a verb

“It’s really easy to talk about loving someone, but it’s a much harder thing to actually just do it. Love is a verb.”

“I moved up to the Sunshine Coast [Queensland] from Canberra. My life had been drastically changed by Jesus. My friend, who wasn’t a Christian, was curious about that change and he moved up here as well. My wife and I said, ‘You can come stay with us for a month to get on your feet.’

“That month turned into six pretty quick — and tensions rose. There were a whole bunch of different things that caused tension — one of those being our different beliefs — and those discussions got quite heated sometimes.

“Tensions also increased when his dog got my dog pregnant — that always adds a bit of “fun” in a household. Then the addition of puppies nine weeks later definitely added a bit more tension to that.

Hope 103.2 is proudly supported by

“I didn’t find the push back (to my faith) too hard. It was kind of expected. It’s something that I would have done when I was an atheist.

“I would have definitely pushed back on someone saying that they had their life changed by Jesus.

Time, prayer and beach baptism

“It was a messy process [relating well with Dan’s friend] and so… it took a lot of love, patience, kindness and empathy.

“A big thing as well is that I really encouraged him to pray.

“I said, ‘Seek and you’ll find, knock and the door will be open to you.’ God is there waiting and you just have to seek Him.

“We host a worship night every Tuesday night. During one of those nights, he got to experience a side of Christianity that he’d never experienced before. He said that he had an experience of ‘definitely feeling God’ and feeling His presence.

“From that point on, he started praying a lot more and we started going over the Bible a lot more.

“There were tangible personality differences. It got to a point where he was ready and he said he wanted to commit his life to Jesus.

“I ended up baptising him in the ocean ,just out front of our house.

It will not always go to plan

“The main encouragement I would give anyone who wants to share their faith more is just to do it – but do it with the people around you.

“Do it with the people you know and spark up conversations about what you believe. Find out why you believe it and share it with the people around you.

“There’s going to be situations that are uncomfortable, but it’s pretty clear in the Bible that it didn’t always go to plan for the apostles and people in the early church either. That shouldn’t discourage us from sharing the gospel.

“We should definitely persevere and endure, and we have to trust in God and the Holy Spirit, because He’s the one that changes hearts. He’s the one that changes lives.

“We’re just the ones sharing the message.”

Article supplied with thanks to The Journey by yesHEis.

About the Author: yesHEis provides various resources to help share your faith in relatable ways.

All images: Portrait, Supplied