In my previous blog entry, I shared with you a story about doing a memorial service at the John Hancock Center in Chicago. In that story, I shared with you about how God directs us in ways that are often unexpected but that He will also be with us.
In this edition, I want to continue the story that is perhaps likened to times when the Lord used the most undeserving and unusual means to get His message through to people. To our surprise He may even use a donkey to convey His Will to people so undeserving of His grace.
Read more about that story here. Leo’s Memorial
Let me tell you the rest of the story that came as a result of doing the memorial service in the most unlikely of ways.
If you read the first article you will undoubtedly understand my reason for amazement. The memorial service was of a man who never had a personal relationship with the Lord but in fact had the most unusual of acquaintances. One of which was a personal friend, Hugh Hefner. Likely you recognize that name; he is the founder of Playboy magazine and has established the iconic brand of the Playboy Bunny. Leo was in the advertisement and created incredible and iconic household brands.
The gentleman shared with me that he had known Leo his whole life. He went on to share that one of the things that Leo did for his employees was encourage them to have experiences that are outside the norm of their daily life. He would take members of his team on field trips so that they could have an understanding of how the world operated.
One such trip that they took was to the Joliet prison. This prison is for hardened criminals! The man told me that as he went into the prison in the doors slammed behind him that, “Something shuttered within my own soul,” He offered. He described that his life was a mess and that he had done things that were tantamount to being in prison himself.
He shared with me that as they toured the facility and he met different ones that his heart was grouped with great fear and that he couldn’t wait to get out of the place. Because of his personal relationship with Leo he told him all about it and questioned what this could mean. He shared with me that Leo simply said, “I don’t know. Do I look like a preacher to you?“
That put this gentleman on a quest to find someone who could help me understand what was going on. He said that he questioned his sanity or perhaps he needed counseling but all Leo recommended was to go see one of those preachers because they seem to have an opinion about everything.
One of the places that he went to was a church just down the road from where he lived in downtown Chicago. As he went in to chat with the pastor, he was amazed of the boldness that the pastor had about his situation. He told me that the pastor simply said, “You need to get saved. God is calling you to repent of your sin and become a follower.”
At that very moment my newly introduced friend told me that he humbled himself to accept Christ into his life. With tears in his eyes he wept as if that journey had just begun. He told me that he experienced this transformation 20 years earlier. As we stared out from the large windows at the John Hancock Center he sadly stated that he did not believe that Leo knew the Lord.
He stated that, “I often told him of the peace that I experience through that experience and the hope that he too could know of this joy.“ Yet, he shared that Leo would often say, “Good for you but that’s not for me.”
My new friend and I shared some quiet moments together as we each looked out to the Chicago skyline from those windows on the 44th floor of the John Hancock Center. He told me that, “Even God could use a man like Leo, if for no other reason but to bring me into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” He continued, “Yet, while denying himself the same joy and peace that I experience every day in my walk with Jesus.”
I am often reminded of how Nicodemus sought Jesus out in the evening and how Jesus said that you must become like a little child to enter the kingdom of heaven. It also reminded of how God not only uses miracles in our lives but sometimes even tragedies to convey his message to us because you see, God can use anyone or anything He chooses for His glory.
As Christians we as challenged to allow God to use us to make a difference. He is looking for the most humble and undeserving. That is you and that is me!
As Christians we as challenged to allow God to use us to make a difference. He is looking for the most humble and undeserving. That is you and that is me!
