A couple of months after my first visit I was back in NY for a few weeks. The night I was to return to Maryland by bus George and I preached at a church, after which the pastor invited us to his apartment for coffee. The apartment was in one of the many “projects”.
After a time of coffee and fellowship it was time for George to drive me to the Port Authority bus station. The pastor and his wife asked us to wait just a minute. They went into the kitchen and returned with a small paper bag – within which was a can of Del Monte Fruit Cocktail. “This is a gift for your mother,” they said.
That can of fruit cocktail remains one of the most precious gifts I’ve ever received. It reminds me of the “widow's mite” of the Gospel – others were giving to the Temple treasury out of their surplus and abundance, but the widow was giving out of her poverty.
On another visit I went to visit a pastor and his wife early in the morning. After they welcomed me into their apartment and gave me coffee the pastor said, “Brother Withers, would you please excuse us for a while? My wife and I have not yet had our morning prayer together and we need to do that before we do anything else.”
"Of course,” I replied. As they went into their bedroom for prayer I enjoyed my coffee and read. To see people putting spiritual values above social convention is encouraging to me and something I need to see as an example and practice in my own life – I still haven’t caught up with those folks.
On yet another visit my mission was to visit my friend Carlos Ramirez and encourage him to return to actively following Christ. Carlos and I had met in Maryland and after he returned to NY we kept in touch. When I became aware that he was moving away from the Gospel I knew that I had to see him and encourage him.
After a few visits to Carlos, and getting connected to some of Carlos’s Christian friends (I recall one night we all went to a Billy Graham Crusade at Shea Stadium), Carlos recommitted himself to a life of discipleship – the last thing I knew was that he was attending Nyack College in preparation for vocational ministry.
Prior to Carlos’s recommitment he had been involved with a girl who had no use for the Gospel and she was pretty distressed that Carlos was getting serious about Jesus again. During one of my visits to Carlos’s neighborhood one of his Christian friends said, “You know brother, Carlos’s old girlfriend is pretty angry with you and said that she is going to kill you.” So far she hasn’t tracked me down.
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