What would you give to someone that has had everything in life? From roaming the dirt roads on bare feet of a small neighborhood in El Salvador, to driving an expensive Lexus on the pompous roads of California, from not knowing how to use a toilet, to having a half a million house in LA. The things that are of most worth paradoxically are the things proven useless when it comes to the human heart.
“Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble with it.” Proverbs 15:16.
There is a longing so deep in our soul that the mere intention of filling it up is not only rendered useless, it also exposes our inability to do so and creates an even deeper longing of heart.
As we walked the kids back home from church, a loud voice with a heavy accent yelled at us in English. As we stopped, this man with a sweaty face, short pants, huge brown work boots and a noticeable smell of alcohol, approached us. The conversation went on and on, and I was confused.
Between saying that he was 3000 years old to having an apologetic discussion, I didn’t know if we were talking to a scholar or a completely insane (and drunk) person. As time passed, I realized we were talking to both. Migrated to the United States at the age of six with his mom, he grew up in the streets of a neighborhood that was not his own, learned a new language and made a life in a strange land. He went from being a dishwasher at restaurants and making sandwiches at Quiznos, to being a surgeon doctor after graduating from UCLA.
Life was going well for him, but the more he tried to fill his heart, the deeper the abyss became. A fat paycheck was not enough. Instead of it being his salvation, it was in fact his condemnation. One night alcohol and drugs charged their toll and he crashed his luxurious Lexus into a fast food restaurant. He tried to run away, but it was not long after that he found himself in jail.
Years later in the midst of abuse, the emptiness of soul and the influence of methamphetamines, made him understand the vanity of life. So with the flames he himself started, he burned down his opulent house and whatever was left of his American dream.
He was sent back to the same streets he used to roam barefoot on at the age of six. But what he thought was home was not anymore. He did not belong here, neither there. He became known as the drunk guy that wasted the life of a well paid doctor in the United States, which is the dream of any Latin American. But he understood something all those who criticized him didn’t: Not all the money in the world could fill the human heart.
As we built a relationship, we could discern when he was just talking nonsense and when he was sharing his own needs. I need to say that this relationship required lots of patience, but it was fruitful. The word of God and the Holy Spirit started a small but of invaluable worth change. He went from blaspheming to acknowledging that he believes in Christ. He still drinks, but God has started to restore him. Please pray for him as God continues to impact his life, and pray that God will send more people that can show him His path.
In the pictures there’s a letter he wrote. It might not make much sense, but it’s of huge meaning to us that have been through the long process of loving him and caring for him. Also primarily and most important to God, this quarantine has been used to reach a soul in deep need of His grace. The next time you see someone like him, please do not forget that we’re in the same need of grace that he is.
What would you give to someone that has had everything in life?
The only thing they lack. Jesus.
By Steven Bolaños
Vida220 El Salvador Leader
Steven. Such an awesome story brother. Love you. Proud of you!