#i think we Christians are sometimes to quick to make fun of the Pharisees instead of learning from them | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

maloned · 7 years

Text

Celebrating my 2nd Birth! 20 years!

My life would have been very different if it wasn’t for a series of events I experienced 20 years ago. This is a quick telling of my 20-year relationship with Jesus of Nazareth.

An Unchurched Home I grew up in an unchurched, irreligious home. My Cuban-American family did not attend church regularly, say grace at the dinner table, talk about religion or say bedtime prayers. We did keep some religious customs, which many Hispanic families adhere to for cultural and traditional reasons. I was baptized as a child and receive first communion at our local Catholic church. Apart from that, we never really attended church. Occasionally, we would attend an Easter service, but in no way was that an annual tradition. The most Christianity that I was exposed to was ABC’s annual airing of the Ten Commandments and the NBC Jesus of Nazareth mini-series. My home had little Buddhas around the house, my mother practiced reading Tarot cards and used the Ouija board for more than fun and games. My family would sometimes visit family members’ Santeria ceremonies (Practiced by many Caribbean nations; a Roman Catholicism and Yoruba hybrid, an African religion which Voodoo shares in heritage).

I grew up apathetic to all of these things. I brushed them off as superstition and silliness. I loved science, science fiction and heavy metal. I saw Christians and religious people to be ignorant and weak minded, the kind of people who sucked all the joy out of life. I found the humanism taught in Star Trek more appealing and reasonable. My love of heavy metal made Satan, whom I thought of as a fiction figure, seem pretty cool.

I had a few relatives who were practicing Christians. My uncle Alberto, my Tía Niña and my cousin Isabel attended a large Hispanic church, La Catedral del Pueblo. I’m ashamed to say that I unfairly had an unflattering opinion of them. I had that stereotype opinion of them being religious fanatics and zealots. Plus, I didn’t like the fact that that church bought and closed down the local skating rink to use the building for their Sunday services.

I only had one close friend who came from a religious home, Argelio. Argelio sporadically spoke to me about his family’s faith, but he and I mostly enjoyed our time tinkering with computers. I did not have Argelio’s capacity for working with and fixing computers. I never have. But by looking over Argelio’s shoulder, I was able to learn graphic design and gain above-average computer skills. I’ve seldom told Argelio, but my life is richer because of what I’ve learned from him and the opportunities he has given me. I’m currently working with Argelio, the second job he’s gotten me, which expanded my skills and has blessed my family materially and even more immeasurably. But the greatest of these, was meeting for the first time someone who is Christian and whom I also thought was pretty cool.

I found out that my great grandmother, my Mima, attended Reverend Espinosa’s evangelical church and she use to take me when I was a very small child. My grandmother tells stories of me singing from stage in front of Reverend Espinosa’s large congregation. Reverend Espinosa was an influential evangelist in the Cuban community in Miami.

A Series of Events My mother was going through her own transformation late during my high school years. She started attending La Catedral del Pueblo regularly. My cousin Isabel married Angel, one of the associate pastors at church, and they built a closer relationship with my mom. I started seeing my mother, an avid reader, reading the Bible instead of her Reader’s Digest. I became mildly curious about what was going on with her, but I couldn’t stand the few times she took me to that church. The Spanish services were extremely long. I felt like they spent hours at a time standing and singing. I didn’t take it well when Angel invited me to church when he bumped into me at Publix, my after school part-time job.

I wasn’t the best student. I had difficulties reading and focusing in class. I’d rather spend time drawing, using my imagination or socializing with my classmates. I was a ‘C’ and ‘D’ student. I only did well in science and in computer classes, which I still love. I was a lazy kid and I hated chores. My grandmother warned me: You better get a college education if you don’t want to do physical labor. I just brushed that off. Then, in the middle of my junior year in high school, my mom confronted me about my failing grades. She told me that I had better turn things around, get into college or start thinking about getting a job after high school to pay rent. That confrontation hit me like a ton of bricks. I was confronted with a single thought: I’m going to be a bum.

The combination of the fear and the curiosity in my mom’s transformation led me to seek help wherever I could. I felt the need to seek God. I didn’t know how, so I looked for my old pocket Catechism, a Roman Catholic cliff notes on Church doctrine. In it was the Lord’s Prayer, the guide Jesus used to teach His disciples how to pray. So I began to recite that prayer every night, until I committed it to memory. I would then say a prayer in my own words after reciting it. I would ask God to bless my friends and family and to help me make something out of myself. I wasn’t much of a recreational reader, but I’ve always loved movies. So I started to watch that old Jesus of Nazareth mini-series and the Ten Commandments to learn a little more about this faith that my mother was now entrenched in. I wondered why my mother didn’t go to the Catholic Church, where she had me baptized. After watching the Ten Commandments and Jesus of Nazareth, I began to build a case against Catholicism. The use of iconography and images certainly went against all of Charlton Heston commandments. I also found a lot of the Catholic Church’s practices to seem more like those of the Pharisees, the villains in the Jesus of Nazareth mini-series. I didn’t see the Church holding the same principles that Jesus portrayed. Jesus loved people. He met them where they were. He wanted to lift the up, not tear them down. Years later, my mom told me that she knew that the Catholic Church was not going to be the place for me. She knew that I would end up in a Protestant church.

Curiously, my life started taking a few turns. I began to take my studies more seriously. I had an internal desire to do better. My work ethic, both at school and Publix, increased. I asked to be moved to the front of the class and began paying attention in class. I started taking interest in the subjects. My eyes were open to all the wonders I was missing out on. Mrs. Grill enthusiastically took me into the wonderful world of literature. Mrs. Morgado taught me logical and high level math. Mrs. Chin and Mr. Margolis cultivated my love of science. My grades started to turn around. My teachers and supervisors took notice and that year I was awarded turnaround student of the year and got a promotion to stock clerk at Publix.

I could easily argue that these changes were not due to anything religious. But I would eventually concluded that these things were not coincidental.

I wasn’t able to make up for all my previous academic years in time to graduate with the rest of my classmates, but after a few weeks in summer school and a semester in night school, I got my high school diploma. I had done it. I couldn’t believe it. I was even able to walk in a graduation ceremony. It was the last year that my high school would have a ceremony for those students who graduated in summer school.

A Future I was very proud of all the improvements I made, but I was far from where I needed to be. Now I had to go to college and I was so afraid, full of self-doubt. I barely graduated from high school; how was I going to be able to go through college? I registered at Miami-Dade Community College and I was terrified of the entrance exam. Many of my friends and high school classmates didn’t do well on the test. They would have to register and pay for a few semesters in non-accredited remedial reading and math classes. These classmates graduated from high school on time with respectable grades. If they couldn’t pass the exam, I certainly wouldn’t, I thought.

At this time, my bedtime prayer was the only religious activity that I was committed to. But that commitment led me to make some changes in my behavior and the way I thought. I found myself trusting God in more areas of my life, but kept a healthy level of skepticism. I asked God to help me do well in that exam. Circumstances, I believed, were in my favor. I had to take math classes during my senior year of high school and in that final summer school semester, since I was still making up for all my previous years of laziness. During this time, my classmates didn’t have to take any math. Only three years of math were required in high school. Many of my classmates elected out of math their senior year and decided to take other fun courses like woodshop, home economics or left school early for work study. But taking math my senior year greatly aided me in that entrance exam. I couldn’t believe it while I was taking the test. I knew this stuff. It was still fresh in my mind. So, by God’s sovereignty, I passed the test and I would not have to take any remedial classes.

Right after the test, I went straight to orientation to register for my first classes. The exam result was very encouraging, but there were still many doubts in my ability to navigate any higher-level learning. I registered for English, math, humanities, American history and civics. My nervousness quickly turned to excitement. I was blessed with great professors. These professors loved the subject matter and would lecture with a lot of enthusiasm. It was contagious. I continued sitting in the front of the classroom and became very proficient in note taking. I absorbed those lectures and they would encourage me to learn more. Reading and studying became easier. In college, there was no busy work and homework to turn in for a grade. You just needed to learn the material, pass two tests (a midterm and final), and write a term paper. I couldn’t believe it. I was loving school. I liked high school, but I enjoyed it because I got to spend my days with friends, go out for lunch and play sports in P.E. Now I loved school, but not for the hot girls in class, but for the expanding of my mind and the world around me. But something was still missing.

I was beginning to see a bright possibility of a future. I thought I knew what I needed, but in that search, God led me to what I was really lacking. I did not know what I wanted to major in. I finished my first college semester will all ‘B’s. Those were the best grades I had ever gotten. I was more than satisfied. I thought of majoring in computer science. I had a love for technology, but the thought of it didn’t draw me in. I was proficient with computers, but certainly not an expert. My grandmother invested in a computer when I was in high school. That computer is what facilitated my friendship with Argelio and helped me learn many of the skills I still use today. But there was another piece of technology my grandmother bought for our family that really captured my imagination: a home video camcorder.

The summer before my senior year of high school, my grandmother took my mother and me on a trip to Europe. We traveled through Spain, France and England. The coolest part was that she bought a video camera for the trip and she entrusted me to capture the trip on video. She must have been impressed with my VCR timer recording skills. I recorded all the beautiful sights, all the marvelous landscapes and the ingenious architecture in Madrid, Paris and London. I loved that camcorder.

FIU Production Class

When we returned home, I couldn’t get enough of that camera. I pushed my friends, Alex, Leo, Argelio, Dany, Magdiel, Ruben, Sohail and Chaka, to star in my homemade productions. Alex, Ruben and Chaka’s natural comedic skills made great subjects for these after school blockbusters. That love for the moving picture struck me when I learned that Miami-Dade College offered an associate degree in film and broadcast. Alex had taken some broadcast classes in high school, but it never occurred to me to do the same. Regrettably, it should have. Our high school, South Miami Senior Hight, was a magnet school for television production. I would love to have been in that class when Alex told the whole school that he wasn’t wearing pants under the anchor’s desk. So Alex and I both signed for the AA program in broadcast. I had chosen my career and in doing so, God led me to meet the person who would lead me to my eternity.

An Invitation The class was Introduction to Mass Communications with professor David Gravelle. I walked in the first day of class with one of my best friends, Alex Toribio, and I took my now tradition seat in the front of the class. Alex and I got the last two seats at the front row to the displeasure of another student. Her name was Damaris Fernandez. “You beat me to the front,” she exclaimed. Alex, the gentleman he is, took the initiative to offer her his seat next to me. She quickly joined our little circle of friends. She couldn’t resist Alex’s contiguous humor and our enthusiasm for film and television. The three of us formed a small study group. The group mostly comprised of Alex and Damaris always asking for a copy of my very detailed notes. We had a lot of laughs in that class. Alex was, as always, hilarious and he was very easy to bounce ideas off of. Damaris opened up her fun-loving side when she hung out with Alex and I before and after class.

The time with Damaris and that mass communication class would lead me into a relationship with Jesus of Nazareth, a love for a church and a means in which to serve it.

In that introduction course, I found out what I was good at, what I was meant to do. I could not believe it. I got my very first ‘A’ in that class. On the final day of class, Damaris, whom had become very comfortable with Alex and me, asked me if I could give her a ride home. On that ride home, Damaris began to tell me about her relationship with Jesus Christ. Between her and Argelio, I now knew two pretty cool people who were Christians. Somehow in the conversation, curiosity grew in my heart. I now wanted to know more about Jesus and Christianity.

Damaris invited me to a play her church was performing at. Coincidentally, it was at my mother’s church. She told me that there was a young adults group that met there on Friday nights.

A Love for Christ On a Friday night, in April 1997, I decided I was wanted to visit that young adult service at my mom’s church. I dragged my good friend Ranses Rodriguez with me. I didn’t want to go to a den of weirdos alone.

It was a nice service. It was an all-Spanish service, but the message penetrated my heart. The message was about the freedom that comes from obedience, obedience that comes from a grateful heart. I don’t know why, but I became very emotional that night. I felt like that message was directed right at me. I was confronted with the realization of everything God had done for me. I had a great family, my only problems were self-inflicted and He had delivered me from them. All He asked in return, for all His love and favor, was a relationship with Him.

At the end of that service, they asked who in that auditorium would want to make a decision to enter into a relationship with God and accept the gift of salvation, paid by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I began to weep, and I remember Ranses stunned, sideways-look at me. They asked if whoever wanted to do so to walk to the front of the congregation. The minister prayed with me and invited me into that relationship. I haven’t turned around since that day.

A Love for Church My heart was now open to Jesus. My prayers became more intimate. I wanted more, but to be honest, I really didn’t like my mom’s church, La Catedral del Pueblo. The church was very traditional, it was in Spanish and, to be honest, it was boring. That’s not the kind of place I would want to invite my friends.

A couple of week after that, I attended Damaris’ play at La Catedral del Pueblo. It was a very creative production, I never had seen or thought something like that would come out of a church. Damaris’ young adult pastor spoke. Pastor Gilbert Gomero’s words were plain, easily understood, heart piercing and in English. Now this is something I can wrap myself around. My short experience in communications and the arts taught me the importance of getting a message across.

After that service Damaris invited me to visit her church the following Friday. I loved her church, El Buen Samaritano. This church service starts with music, but not your typical traditional hymns or anthems. These songs had rhythm, they were a combination of many Latin music styles and the songs were bilingual, with both English and Spanish lyrics. Pastor Gilbert Gomero’s message was funny, inspirational, motivational, substantive and captivating. The youth and young adult services weren’t your traditional church services. They were a hybrid of concert, theater and many other forms of art, which made the Gospel -- the good news of Jesus Christ -- easy to absorb. Damaris’ church was not close, but this is the place I wanted to be.

TOP: Iris Mundo's Cell. BOTTOM: Jiggaz

At the service, two ladies, Iris Muñoz and Rosemarie Rivera, welcomed me and, along with Damaris, invited me to visit their small Bible study group the next Thursday. El Buen Samaritano, like La Catedral Del Pueblo, was and is a big church. It can be a little intimidating. But the church’s small groups, which they called “cells,” were small intimate groups that met in homes all around the community. Iris’ cell group welcomed me right away. It was easy to open up and speak with these people. I never felt like they had any ulterior motives, except to make me feel accepted and part of the group. The small group was a great place to grow in our walk with God, to build relationship, to build trust and accountability. I made some great friends there. Janet Cruz, Willie Peña, Orlando DelValle, Maria Benavides, Lydia, Denise & Damaris Castillo, Jose Rivera and Visenta “Pambe” Portillo. Jose, Rosemarie and Pambe would become some of my closest, lifelong friends. The cell cemented my desire to make El Buen Samaritano (EBS) my home.

If EBS was going to be my church, I needed to visit on a Sunday morning. From the get go, I knew there was something special about what I was about to walk into. I drove into the parking lot to be welcomed by friendly parking attendants, but what caught my eye was the line outside the church waiting to get in. This was the first time I saw the church in the daylight, I had only visited at night for the young adult service. I was stunned to see the large arena-sized building that was being constructed behind the existing church. Sunday mornings were all in Spanish, but the service transcended any language barrier. The Latin music inspired worship had the congregation motivated for a thrilling message by the lead pastor, Melquiades Urgelles. His messages were so accessible and moving. Pastor Urgelles’ sincere heart and authenticity was transparent. He was and is a man who lives humbly in service to God and his flock. You would never know that he is and was the pastor of what was the largest Hispanic church in South Florida at the time. From then on, EBS was my church and I only knew him as Pastor.

An EBS Baptism.

It was then time for me to go public with this commitment. Iris, now my cell group leader, approached Damaris and I about getting baptized. So in August of 1997, I took the plunge. I had been baptized as a small child, but this was my believer's baptism. Baptism is really just a public profession of an inward decision. It doesn’t have any supernatural power. But something happened to me after I existed those waters. I still had a lot of bad habits and behavior at the time, but I experienced a movement of conscious, a conviction of the Holy Spirit to start allowing God to transform me outwardly, to make a distinction between who I was before and who I was going to be.

Things changed from then on. I didn’t want to speak the same, desire the same things or do the same things. I wanted to share this new life with everyone and anyone I could. There was a time that I was bringing my grandmother’s van full of people invited to church and our cell group. Jesus’ great commission to make disciples of the whole world became very important to me.

A Love for Drama

My portrayal of Satan at Holy Night 1997

I had made a lot of new friends in our small Bible study group, but I was still relatively unknown to the majority of the congregation. Pastor Gilbert Gomero saw an opportunity to use that. The EBS youth produced an annual Halloween spectacular called Holy Night. Gilbert knew Damaris and I enjoyed film and theater and asked us to host the show together. Damaris was well known in the church, so he asked her to be the primary host and he asked me to play her antagonist, Satan himself, since I was a relatively unknown. Our conflict wrapped around funny, modern takes on well-known Bible stories using popular culture motifs to communicate the Gospel clearly to the youth and young adults in our community.

Soon after that, Damaris moved back to Puerto Rico, but by then I was no longer a visitor at EBS – I was a full fledge member. Then Gilbert moved to the EBS New York church plant and I was asked to take over the drama team with the EBS youth.

The EBS Leader Class

Around the same time, Iris asked me to become her cell group assistant leader. To do so, I attended a 6-week leadership course. The course taught public speaking, hospitality and shepherding. I went on to lead a small youth group of my own, the Jiggas, and direct the youth drama team for three years and direct three Holy Nights. I loved serving in drama and with the youth. I built the relationships that would shape the rest of my life during this time. Ruben Legra became one of my most influential mentors, Berman Cespedes and Danny Detres became my brothers in the faith. Best of all, that initial leaders course is where I first shared a class with a girl named Lucia Ponce, the woman who would go one to become one of my best friends, my partner in life, my wife.

A Love for His Word I was required in that leaders class to give a five-minute speech on the topic of my choice. I chose to speak about the validity and authority of the Bible. The Bible, God’s Word, was a topic of great curiosity early in my faith.

My mom bought me a leather-boud King James Bible with a Scofield Reference Bible Commentary a while before my conversion. It was a beautiful book with thick heavy pages with a gold trim. I still have that Bible and it still has that new leather smell. Soon after I got saved, I pulled that book out of the nightstand and began to read it. It wasn’t easy, as anyone who has ever tried to read the King James translation would tell you. But I knew, from that Jesus of Nazareth TV mini-series, that scripture had utmost importance in a devoted walk with Christ. That mini-series had formed much of my opinion about Jesus. But now I needed to know more, to go to the source.

Jesus would always say, “It is written.” He would always reference “The Word of God” when making any statements. So I knew it must be important to know what it said. When I first began to read, the first thing I read was the book of John. In the very first chapter, it said: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” I learned then that the Bible wasn’t only the way to know about God; it was the way to know God.

As a new believer, I had a very strong belief in the existence of God and the person of Jesus Christ, but I had a lot of doubts about organized religion and their use of holy texts to take advantage of laypeople. Even though I made a profession and commitment to God, and I believe that I found an authentic Church with many genuine believers who wanted to practice the kind of love Jesus taught about, I wanted to know what exactly this faith taught and believed. I didn’t want to learn it from a religious institution that had a confirmation bias; I wanted to learn from someone who would challenge my beliefs. If this faith has a strong foundation, it should be able to stand against criticism.

FIU Religious Studies: My Judaism Course

So when I graduated from Miami-Dade College and transferred to Florida International University, I continued television productions studies with a certificate in film studies. I was interested in enrolling in a minor. I considered computer science again, but I decided on religious studies with a concentration on Judeo-Christian studies. I took courses on philosophy, Judaism, the Hebrew Bible, New Testament studies, archeology and church history. I studies under professors and with classmates from all different faiths and backgrounds. The classrooms were great environments for healthy debate and discussion. My favorite professor was Erik Larson, a renowned Bible scholar, church historian and one of the translators of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The courses challenged my faith many times, but at the end it strengthened my beliefs and I grew a love for church history, biblical theology, scholarship and apologetics.

During our Archeology course, I was offered the opportunity to take a semester in Jerusalem. It would have been a semester of mornings excavating ancient ruins and lectures at night led by some of the world’s most famous religious scholars. I never asked my parents. It was very expensive and I didn’t want to burden them with the cost. At the time, I was designing websites on the side with Argelio and I would not have been able to afford it on my own. Years later, I mentioned it to my grandmother and she became very upset. She said that she would have made-it happen so I could have had that once in a lifetime experience. It goes to show that you never know unless you ask.

A Ministry and My Mentors There was a period after Gilbert moved to New York that EBS went without a lead youth pastor. Volunteer leaders like Ari Ponjuan and Cesar Perez led the youth until Pastor Wilmer Urgelles took the reins of the ministry. Wilmer would end up being a great friend, mentor and the most influential person in my faith.

One night, after exiting our cell group leader’s meeting, I saw Wilmer, the worship leader at the time, tinkering with a computer and video projector on the floor of the main sanctuary. I curiously asked what he was doing. Wilmer told us, Danny Detres and I, that the church was going to retire their old projector slide lyrics system and upgrade to a video projector and use PowerPoint for lyrics and message references. Wilmer asked me if I could troubleshoot something for him on PowerPoint. Wilmer looked up when I quickly solved the issue and asked, “David, aren’t you studying video? Would you like to take the lead on video, both running lyrics on Sunday morning and video as a whole?” I would serve in the production ministry, which handled all the audio-visual necessities of the church. At that moment, I saw a big piece of the puzzle fall into place. I knew what I needed to do. At the time, our church was on the forefront of creativity when it came to church services and using technology to facilitate the spread of the Gospel. I knew than that I wanted to be instrumental in that process and God had been specifically preparing me for that.

Willow Creek Art 2006 Conference

Wilmer and Jose, who was previously my cell supervisor but now the production ministry leader, became my two most influential mentors. Wilmer and Jose taught me the value of an authentic love for Jesus Christ, God’s love for people, intimate relationships with people and the value of exillence. I got the opportunity to grow beyond video and contribute in the programming of Sunday services and other ministries. Wilmer exposed me to the seeker sensitive movements started by pastor Bill Hybels and Willow Creek Community Church and to Andy Stanley and North Point Community Church. Wilmer, Jose and a group of us would travel to Willow Creek conferences in attempts to continue to transform our South Miami-Dade church’s heart for those who don’t have a relationship with God. Today, EBS is “Una Iglesia para Todos” – a church for everyone.

A Family

Ruben, Berman, Danny and Pambe.

My heart expanded because of what the extended family God gave me. While at EBS, Pastor Wilmer would cast a vision of a church where the environment and culture lent to the building of intimate relationships. Sometimes we never saw the forest through the trees. It seemed like it was a vision that we couldn’t attain, but all the while those relationships were being forged while we all worked tirelessly on the mission God had given us. Till this day, some of my lasting relationships were built at EBS. I couldn’t imagine a life without Berman, Ruben, Danny, Pambe, Jose, Wilson, Julio, Ricky, Eddie, Ari and many others.

God blessed me with even more than an extended family. In 1999, Wilmer visited a Willow Creek conference for the first time. When he returned, he brought Ari, Cesar, Karen and I together to begin working out a new vision and mission for the EBS youth. The new vision: “To become a group of believers with an authentic love for Jesus Christ.” The vision was cast to the entire youth leadership at a conference we hosted at the Dadeland Marriott. It was an existing time. But I received a different mission from anyone else that day. The vision was of a beautiful, curly haired girl. Her name was Lucia. I traveled to the conference with Danny and I’m sure he got tired of hearing me talk about her. She was at the conference with this really big guy. I needed to know if she was with that guy. So during lunch, I dragged Danny with me to sit at the same table as Lucia. I sat right in front of her. Danny had everyone at the table laughing. So everyone, including myself, were feeling very comfortable. I struck up a conversion with Lucia. It was pleasant. But I wanted to take it to another level. That’s when I threw caution into the wind and asked Lucia straight up, in front of that guy. I wanted to ask if they were dating, but I asked “Are you guys married?” Lucia replied with a loud resounding “NO!” I felt so embarrassed for that guy, but elated for myself.

Over the next few weeks, Berman and I would sit in the far right wing of the church’s auditorium on Sunday mornings. “Why are we sitting here?” Berman would grill me week after week. That was until he noticed. “You’re just sitting here to check out that girl!” Berman exclaimed when he realized that I was sitting in a prime spot to check her out when she would make her entrance into the sanctuary, way after the music had ended. Lucia and her family were notoriously late to church on Sundays.

I needed to find out more about this girl. After the service, I was sitting in the production booth, when I asked to Jose, “Who’s that girl? She’s beautiful.” Jose head spun around and said, “That’s Lucia, she serves in the kids ministry with Rose (Jose’ wife). I don’t remember how that conversation ended, but then I noticed Jose talking to Rosemarie, signaling and pointing at me and Lucia. Oh no, I thought. Then, moments later, while I was walking to my car in the parking lot, I see Rosemarie talking to Lucia, signaling and pointing at me. I told the wrong people, I thought.

It was the middle of Holy Night season, the annual Halloween show I directed. One night, at a planning meeting at Karen’s house, Jackie Vargas shows up with Lucia. I could tell already that this was part of the church-matchmaking proces. I was very happy to see her and to hang out with her, but I needed to take control of this situation. I was going to ask Lucia out.

Our wedding

I was looking for the right opportunity, and then it landed on my lap. Lucia showed up to audition for Holy Night. I noticed her when she was filling out the signup sheet. I can’t remember anything else from those auditions. I spent the entire night mustering up the courage to talk to her. At the end of the night, after all the auditions, when everyone was leaving, Lucia walked over to me to turn in her form. This was my opportunity, so I took it. “Hey, you want to hang out sometime, on a date.” I wanted to make sure to say it was a “date.” I didn’t want to end up anywhere near that “friend zone”. She said “Yes.” Wow! But I had to play it cool. So I responded, “Cool. I’ll give you a call then. I already have your contact info (motioning to the audition forms).” Lucia smiled and we began a great two-year courtship that ended with a wedding there, at EBS, the place where I fell in love with my God, His church and now my bride. Sixteen years and two wonderful daughters later, God is still blessing us. Full Circle

FIU Graduation

Our wedding was a culmination of my things. Graduation day at FIU was right around the time we walked down the aisle. It was a very exciting and scary time. I couldn’t help but reflect on everything that God had done for me. I met and married the person whom I would be spending the rest of my days with and I was about to walk down the graduation aisle. I never thought this day would come. There I was, a kid close to not graduating from high school, now about to graduation for a four-year university with A’s and B’s.

But what now? I was faced with the reality of supporting a new family. At the time, Argelio and I owned a web design company, but it was a small company that helped us while I was in college. I needed to find a job in my new career. Our professors would tell us that we would not be able to find a job in television in a big market like Miami. We needed to move to a small market, get experience and then try to get into the big markets. I really didn’t want to move. I didn’t want to move Lucia away from her family. I wanted to be close to my friends, my family and my church. I felt very uncertain. So I prayed.

Soon after that, the head of the FIU mass communications department, Mr. Delgado, emailed the class about an opening in the editing department at WFOR (Channel 4), the local CBS-owned station. I thought all the TV stations in town were northeast of downtown, but I would prefer that commute distance, rather than possibly moving out of state. But I was surprised to discover, on MapQuest, that CBS 4 was in Doral, minutes away from where we lived. I was filled with excitement about the possibility. Editing was my strong suit; it was my love. How great would it be to get a job editing at a TV station near home? I continued to pray.

WFOR Supervising Editor: Evy Woods

I sat in the CBS 4 lobby waiting to be interviewed when Evy walks out and said “David?” I looked up and responded, “Yes?” She said, “You’re David, Mirta’s grandson. I’m Evy, Julia’s daughter. I was at your wedding.” The supervising editor at CBS 4 was Evy Woods, the daughter of one of my grandmother’s best friends, who happened to be one of the few Christians who associated with my family. Evy took me on a tour of the station and offered me a job to be an editor for the morning and noon newscast. I couldn’t believe it. This could not be a coincidence. God answered my prayers.

While I was there, Evy introduced me to Bill Sendelback, the satellite and feed room coordinator. Bill was one of the only other Christians who worked at the station. I had many great co-workers at CBS 4, but Bill was one of my closest friends and mentors while working there. He kept my feet planted and fully grounded on the foundation that is Jesus Christ in an environment not conducive to staying above reproach.

A year after I started, I was promoted to coordinating editor for the morning and noon broadcast. A couple of year after that, I was nominated for an Emmy in editing. When I left WFOR eight years later, I was the video supervisor for their television programming. God blessed my time while I was at the station. We were able to buy our two first homes and we had our first daughter, Olivia, seven years after I started working there.

Conclusion I’ve always been a skeptic. I believe God intervenes in the lives of humanity, but I believe that these miracles are the exceptions, not the rule. They seldom happen. They would be natural if they happen regularly. But somehow, I believe that God has shown me favor, to the point where I can’t believe that it’s a coincidence. It all started with prayer. When my mom converted, I prayed and God saved. When I was failing school, I prayed and God motivated and saved me. When I needed a job, I prayed and God provided. When our business failed, I prayed and God had mercy on us. Every time I have prayed, He has answered. God gave me my education, my salvation, my career, my family, my health and a living. I thank God for these past 20 years and I can’t wait for the rest of eternity.

Today

Olivia's Baptism

In April of 2008, our time at EBS and with Wilmer ended. EBS becames a spanish only church. We still loved EBS, but it was time to find a new home. Pastor Wilmer himself brought us to our exisitng home, Fellowship Church. Wilmer said, FC is a church that shares our vision for reaching people. Since then many of our friends, whom never gave church a chance, came into a relationship with Jesus at FC. I remember when Robert, a long-time agnostic whom we'd prayed for many years, found FC on his own and was transformed into a Christ Follower. His conversion was catalist for other friends to find God. It will be 10 years, next year, since FC has been our home. Our daughters grew up here, our oldest has already been baptised. In the last 20 years, my biggest desire is everyone could discover what I have found in a realtionship with Jesus. FC challenged me to put that desire into action. I pray that this Easter, you would join us and many others celebrating what Jesus did for all of us. We'll be waiting for you.

(Editied by Joel Delgado)

#Christianity #Jesus #Easter #GoodFriday #Ressurection #blog

0 notes