“I wish I knew what this God wanted.”
Manuel*, a native Belgian in his early 30s, moved on rather quickly from the basic chitchat he initially traded with Rey Garcia, a chaplain with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team. This man was living in fear, and he wanted answers.
So on Tuesday afternoon, God led him to stand near Rey at the memorial in front of the Brussels Stock Exchange. Many people were drawn to the memorial set up in honor of the victims of the March 22 terrorist attacks in the Belgium capital. They would linger, pay their respects, chat briefly. But something was different about Manuel.
He seemed nervous. Rey, a retired federal agent, is well-trained in noticing things like body language so he picked up on that right away. Rey quickly found out the French speaker did know some English, and the two conversed as best they could about the memorial, Belgium citizenship and other extraneous topics. As the ice broke, Manuel confided he was so afraid that he rarely leaves his house in Brussels.
“With him saying he doesn’t come out, and he’s standing there, I knew that was a definite God thing,” Rey said. “One of the things he said was, ‘What is the answer?’ I said, ‘I believe that God is the answer.’
“[Manuel] looked at the memorial, and he said, ‘I wish I knew what this God wanted.’”
Rey’s answer was as matter-of-fact and sincere as the question posed:
“I said, ‘What God wants is you. That’s why you’re here today. God brought you here. You hear a lot of people talking about religion, but what God really wants is to have a personal relationship with you. He loves you. He would like for you to love Him.’”
The conversation continued, frequently touching back on Manuel’s anxiety. Was peace even possible? Rey shared that it was. He pulled out two small booklets—Steps to Peace with God. One was an English translation and the other was in French, Manuel’s native language.
Together, they walked through the booklet, coming to Romans 10:9 which says, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
This was so key to Rey that he paused to make it the focal point of the conversation.
“I really talked to him, really spent some time talking about the sacrifice of Christ for our sins,” Rey said. “He kept talking about how evil man is, and that’s why he was so afraid. Not just because of the terrorism, but even before the terrorism. I told him that’s because man is sinful. You were born that way. I was born that way. But I told him God would forgive him of his sins.”
It made sense for Manuel, who very soon after bowed his head and prayed to accept Christ.
“I gave him a great big hug right there in the street and rejoiced with him,” Rey said. “He actually hugged me back. He had a big smile on his face when we let go. We were having fellowship. We were like kindred spirits out there after talking and sharing. He really did grasp what was going on.
“Right before he left, he just looked at me and he said, ‘I really feel like I have peace. I really feel peace in my heart right now.’”
Manuel shared his contact information with Rey so he could get plugged into a local church. Rey said as Manuel left, he exuded a sense of relief which was so opposite to the nervousness displayed when they first met.
It was almost like the “proverbial anvil had been lifted off his chest,” Rey said later.
With Manuel on his way, God was still moving in this young man’s life. Within a half-hour of Manuel’s decision, God allowed Rey to cross paths with some local pastors who happily accepted Manuel’s information and plan to follow up with him.
For Rey, the whole encounter was just a reminder how God can cut through anything to reach His children.
“We have language barriers, we have things that are obstructions, but God cut right through that,” Rey said. “That was my biggest impression. Here we have two people from two different worlds, two totally different languages, two totally different cultures. We have very little in common, and Christ, He just cut through all those barriers.
“[Manuel] was able to hear the Gospel in his own language, and the Lord took care of the rest.”
*Name changed to protect privacy.
You can have peace in your life, too.
