Planting a Seed in a 15-Foot Hole

And I was down in this deep 15-foot hole with this other guy, and he was cussing and ran and raven and getting mad and screaming and yelling. But then he stopped and looked at me and he said something because you never really do get mad, do you? So I used to. I used to be a very angry young man. I said, well, I grew up in church and I saw the good side and the bad side of it. But then one day I stopped encountering church and I encountered my Savior Jesus Christ. Welcome to the Ignite with Barry McGuire Podcast, where Barry's book and passion for spreading God's love are guaranteed to ignite your life. Now listen in and prepare to have your life ignited. Well, I have your attention for a couple of moments. I want to share with you a story that happened a short time ago. I'm actually a construction worker. I'm an underground construction. I work for the local labor union around here. And we were putting in big pipe. I think it was like 24 inch RCP pipe, which is concrete pipe. You put it in the ground and all kinds of work. And we were putting in a manhole and it just kept falling apart. Kept falling apart. Kept falling apart. Kept falling apart. We didn't matter how the concrete was formed if we've made it more wet, if we put added calcium to it. It didn't matter what we did, we could not get the concrete to work. And I was down in this deep 15 foot hole with this other guy. And he was cussing and ran and raven and getting mad and screaming and yelling. But then he stopped and looked at me and he said something because you never really do get mad, do you? I said I used to, quite a bit. I used to be a very angry young man. He goes, well why were you so mad all the time? I said, well I grew up in church and I saw the good side and the bad side of it. But then one day I stopped encountering church and I encountered my Savior Jesus Christ. He goes, oh don't talk to me about that stuff. I said, hey man, you open the door to it. And so I continued to share my faith with him. In that moment it wasn't that he got down on his knees and lifted his hands and cried out to God and was saved. But for a bearded tattooed, a gnarly construction worker to get tears in his eyes and look at me and say, I don't know about everything that you're saying. But I do know I wouldn't like to be mad so often. I said, well the only way that happens is through Jesus. He just looked at me and said, okay, and we went right back to work. And it wasn't that I left the moment feeling like some great, powerful Christian because it wasn't this amazing experience that happened. But at the same time it was one of the most amazing experiences that I had ever had. I got to share with somebody that looked intimidating with confidence. I got to share with him the gospel of Jesus Christ. I got to share with him the love that Christ had for him and it didn't matter as past. It didn't matter what he looked like. It didn't matter how many tattoos. It didn't even matter that he showed up that morning smelling like weed and booze. But that Jesus loved him and could fix anything in him that was broken from addiction to anger problems. We went back to work and we finished the manhole. We got it done. We left and we went on. I don't know exactly where he's at today but I do know that by the help and the grace of the Holy Spirit that there was a seed planted in that man's life that day. And I do know that his word will never return void. So I trust and I believe that that certainly has been germinated and now he's a believer and he's a follower of Christ. I believe that. If you enjoyed today's episode, let us know and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review to help us reach more listeners. Remember, sharing your faith, ignites your faith. See you next time on The Ignite with Barry McGuire Podcast.