The Christian Wentback

Author’s Note: I have some time off during the days, so I’m going to take advantage and just push out as much writing as I can while I can.

I was told a story of our adopted yet true ethnicity in Christ, and how that is lived-out in a world of sin and sinners.

Juan was a native Mexican illegally living and working in the US as a construction worker. His boss, George, was a Christian. In fact his boss was a non-paid pastor of a “non-denominational home church” and so he made his living in construction. Illegal alien laborers are cheap and expendable because they have no legal recourse. This pastor took advantage of that as so many construction companies do, and he hired Juan.

Juan was a good worker, and so George kept him around. George, though he was a dishonest manager, would talk about Christ and Juan would ask questions. After a time it came to be that Juan became a Christian according to the ways of Protestants (I don’t know whether he was baptized Roman Catholic as a child, which may cause some of you a soteriological fit.) and was baptized. I am told that from that day forward he “devoured the Word”; assaulting George every day with new questions while they worked.

Some time passed and one day Juan came to George and he told George that he had to go back to Mexico. George, the non-paid non-denominational pastor of a home-church who supported himself through the exploitation of illegal alien laborers, was dumbstruck. He told Juan that he was the best worker he’d ever had and George asked him why in the world Juan would go back to Mexico.

Juan said, “I’m here illegally. How can I be a witness for Christ if I am a living as a criminal? It’s not right.”

I’m told that Juan is still in Mexico and still devoted to Christ and His Word. He is said to be doing well, and happy.