The Phone Call

The Phone Call - Tuesday the 10th of July...11:23pm...and I'm sleeping like a baby.

Something wakes me up...I hear my cell phone ringer blaring out from the office. I manage to stagger out of bed and race to the office only to get to my phone just as it rolls over to voice mail. I check the caller ID and it's not a number I recognize.

I try to call the number back...and it just rings off the hook. I hang up and then my voice mail notifier dings. Well, at least whoever called left a voice message. I call my voice mail...

[Freeze Frame]

Rewind about two weeks ago. I'm at lunch with my mother and a friend of hers. I'm talking to her friend, a 60'ish man born and raised in the Catholic church. I'm sharing some Gospel truths with him and I had just shown him a Million Dollar Bill tract. A waiter passed by and saw the Million. He says "Hey that's cool, I think I've seen those before..."

I hand him one and say, "Here, you can have one too."

He says "Oh wow, cool, thanks man."

Then I said "Well, has anyone asked you the million dollar question."

He pauses "No."

I ask "If you died today, do you know where you would spend eternity?"

I've never seen someone react like that to the question...he kind of stepped back, made this hand motion like digging down into his belly and pulling something up as he said "Well, you know I think that deep down I have some good things in my soul - so I think I'd go to heaven."

I said "Well, there are some really, really hard truths that we'll face on that day - and it's not at all about how good we think we are."

He looked at me with a very profound...kind of "Wow...I think I know that" look on his face...he was speachless.

I then said "I know you are at work, and probably can't talk about it in depth right now, but what time do you get off work - or is there some other way I can get a hold if you if you'd like to keep talking about this."

He immediately says "Oh yeah...can I give you my name and phone number?"

I scrambled for a piece of paper...he writes down his name and two phone numbers as he explains that his cell phone is out of minutes right now, but that I should be able to get a hold of him a the hotel he's staying in. He writes down the number and the room number and emphasizes to me very, very carefully that I have to hit the right room number to get a hold of him.

I said..."I will talk to you soon." And he went on his way.

I tried calling him a few days later, his cell phone, sure enough was out of service. I called the hotel and dialed his room. The guy that answered said "Oh yeah, I know that guy, but he moved out into his own place".

On Monday the 9th - I stopped back by the restaurant and asked for him. The girl said he wasn't scheduled to work that day. I wrote my name and cell number on the back of a Million tract and asked her to please be sure he got the message (and have her a Million too).

I left it at that...not knowing if I'd ever hear from him unless I went back while he was working.

[Unfreeze Frame...back to that phone call]

I call my voice mail and I hear this emotional plea: "Hey Keith, this is ----- ...I can not believe what's going on, I'm spinning, I don't know what's going on. I think I opened the door like ten years ago. I really need your help. Please help me. Thanks".

I was floored, I froze...my wife was freaking out at the look on my face - she thought that someone had died.

I tried calling the hotel back, a lady picked up at the front desk. I asked for the room number he gave me before - but she said no one was in that room anymore. I asked for him by first name...she couldn't transfer me unless I knew his last name.

I dropped to my knees and cried out that God would protect him until he heard the truth. That whatever he was going through that the Holy Spirit would grab hold of him and lead him.

I'm going over to that restaurant in about 20 minutes to see if I can help him out...whatever it is...and to pour out whatever the Holy Spirit wants me to into this guys heart. Pray for me.

More later.