"We had a neighbor we rarely saw.  He was never outside in his yard or driveway.  We would see him ride out our lane never looking left or right. 

         There came a day when we were having company and needed parking space so I parked my truck in his spare driveway.  He came out to see what I was doing.  We began to talk.  I asked him why we never saw him out.  His response upset me.  He said, “I just sit in the house and hate my life.”  Wow!  I had lost my son about 2 months prior due to an apparent suicide.  My antenna popped up.  Over the next few weeks, I told him my story.  Gradually, I could see relief on his face.  He knew that I had been through hardships similar to his.  I related this to my wife, and we began to pray for him.

         The church had just begun its BLESS evangelism model.  We used that model, although not necessarily in the order designed.  We began to share our meals with him.  Sometimes he would answer the door and other times we just left it on his porch.  This began our listening stage and eating stage, though we weren’t eating “with” him.  He had a young son who would come to the door when we stopped by with a meal or dessert.  We began to win his trust and friendship.  I had been mowing their grass for about a year, the serve S.

         Little by little, he began to emerge from his shell.  We asked him if he would like for his son to attend church with us on Sunday.  A few weeks later we asked him for help with a job at our house and he was quick to agree to help.  During this visit, he said we could take his son to church.  We asked him if he would like to go with us.  The next day was Easter Sunday and he agreed to go with us as well.  He has missed just a handful of Sundays since then.    

         This is a man who did not believe in God.  He said if there was a God, he wouldn’t have anything to do with him.  …But he eventually began to pray and he related just a few days ago that the first time he really prayed, he experienced a peace within that stopped the devilish voices in his head and that he physically felt a warmth flow through his body.  Over a year later he is still in church and has accepted Jesus as his Savior.  He and his son come over for dinner every Wednesday for supper with us.     

         None of this was our doing.  BLESS is the vehicle God used when our neighbor was ready.”