Tena is quite something. She is now in her mid-90s and on the hard journey through Alzheimer’s, but this story comes from when she was an early 80s. Despite the challenges, her faith has not changed. She is still a sold-out, committed follower of Jesus Christ.

One Sunday, Tena was attending an evening worship service at her church. As the service ended, Tena was exiting the church with others and getting ready to head home. In the parking lot of the church, two boys were skateboarding on the curbs and planters of the parking lot. Having practiced their ‘ollies’ and ‘kick-flips’ they were smoking cigarettes and leaning up against a car. That car happened to be Tena’s. What happened next is pretty cool.

She didn’t accost or accuse them. She didn’t yell or reprimand them. She talked to them for a minute or two and then told the boys she wanted to introduce them to a couple people. She led them into the church and introduced them to some of the church’s youth leaders. After making introductions, she left the group saying, “Well now you’ve met the right people! My job is done.”

She couldn’t know that her introduction led to a years-long relationship for one of the boys. One youth leader, Bill, started to meet with John. John came from a broken home and carried a lot of pain. Over the next few months, the meetings between John and Bill shifted from getting to know each other to other topics. They spoke of the deeper things of faith and hope. Eventually the day came when John and Bill prayed together that John might open his heart to Christ and start following Jesus. John continues in his faith to this day.

God invaded John’s life and he used an 80-year-old woman to do it.

That’s what God does.

Pastor Scott Elgersma