Pastor Steve's thoughts

It all started with a cup of coffee and a simple question. The Comcast repairman arrived on time to do a phone installation this week. He came to the door in his uniform and my dog gave his typical greeting of loud barking. The repairman introduced himself and got right to work.

I offered him a cup of coffee and to my surprise he said, "Yes." We struck up a conversation and he asked me what I did for a living. I replied, "I’m a pastor at a church here in Eugene called Grace Community Fellowship." There was a slight pause on his end and I added, “Do you go to church?” He said, "No."

We spent the next 30 minutes talking and I found out the following:

Currently married with no kids
Married once before with a son in another state.
In the Army and a member of Delta Force
He was in Somalia and had some bad experiences
Played minor league ball for the Ems after his stint in the army
After high school he had a scholarship to Stanford for baseball and threw around 92mph. Instead he went into the Army.
I found out where his wife worked
What he likes to do for fun
He is a part time motor cycle mechanic on the side

We found some common ground. Both of us went to small high schools. His graduation class was 17 and mine was 24. Both of us finished in the top ten of our class. :) I had lived in Texas and we talked about that experience. He worked for the same company (in the same town) my brother works for currently.

I then said something like this, “I had a major change in my life when I was a teenager. My father died with I was 15. For the next few years I was angry, confused, and drank extensively. Everything changed for me when I was 17. I made some spiritual decisions that made a lasting impact in my life. I decided to commit my life to Jesus. My problems didn’t go away, but things sure changed. . .”

As he left my house that morning he asked, “Now the name of your church is Grace Community Fellowship? I might check it out. I haven’t been in a church for a long time.”