Joshua's Courage: Journal 7

11-5-07

Meet The Time Lord, The Doctor, and Ryan Wade. These three are all the same person, a wonderful young man from Saintfield, Northern Ireland. Ryan and I met two and a half years ago at Saintfield High School, where he introduced himself as The Time Lord. He was ridiculously hyper-active and crazier than me and all of my Freshmen put together.

I didn't get to know him much the first year, but last summer, we met again. He was still crazy, but as we did "youth group" events at the church in Saintfield, Ryan became more interested in God and the people who serve Him. He became attached to me and I became attached to him. We hung out and got to know each other on a level he had shared with no one else.

Eventually, he broke down his barriers and we talked about God. I have never felt so moved by the Holy Spirit as Ryan asked me questions and I presented the Gospel, not in the normal fashion, but in a way I knew his unique personality would grasp it. He left for the night without me knowing what to expect. The next day, because of God alone, he came back and told me he had prayed; he wanted to be a different person. I gave him my Bible and had the whole Ireland Team sign it. He was absolutely thrilled.

As we sat in class today watching the movie about Cam Duncan, I thought of Ryan. God gave me a moment of courage, an opportunity to share the Gospel and actually DO something I said I believed in. Because I trusted God I made an incredible new friend; a Christian brother in a foreign place. When I think of Ryan, I do not only think of my courage, but his too. The courage it took to go against his culture and stand up for what he believed in, instead of following all his friends. I miss the Time Lord, but someday soon we'll be together again.

My prayer for myself, my wife, my friends and my students this year is that we will live for the truth, like we actually believe what we say.