What an amazing email we received from Bill a few weeks ago! Bill loves Jesus. Bill is bold. Bill wants to see people in Heaven.
You are in for a real treat in the following story as you read about how God used Bill in the life of one of his clients:
Hi, Mark,
I wanted to share with you something that happened recently.
A month ago, a client called me and said one of his computers wasn’t working. The computer would turn on, but there was nothing on the screen. I was familiar with this computer because I was the one who originally built it for them a few years ago. This client works on cars in the back of his business and has a retail shop area in the front, and the computer was behind the counter.
When I arrived at their office, I investigated what was going on. The monitor had a message on it saying it couldn’t detect the computer, yet the computer was turned on and working. I checked the video cables and a few other things, but everything seemed fine. I decided to take the PC with me to my home office and see if I could find out what was happening.
I hooked up the computer to one of my monitors, and the computer came up. It was in the middle of a Windows update. Eventually, it completed the update, and the computer came up just fine. I thought, “This is weird. The Windows update wouldn’t have caused the monitor to go blank at their office.” I did some other tests to see if everything was working, and it was.
Usually, when something odd like this happens in my work, it’s because the Lord wants me to speak with someone about eternity. With eternal thoughts on my mind the next day, I took the computer back to his business, hooked it up to the same monitor, and it worked fine! At this point, I was convinced the Lord had pulled me out of my home office, so I could talk to someone out in the world about spiritual matters.
I had a feeling I should talk to Mike, who was the one who called me. I asked him how he was doing, and he said he was doing good. He started telling me a story of something that happened in the store a few days earlier. He said one of his customers walked into the store and was acting fine, but then, suddenly, this customer collapsed in front of him! He said the customer recovered, so they didn’t call 911. Apparently, this has happened to this customer before in his life, but he didn’t know why. When he would see a doctor about it, they didn’t have answers, so he just lived with it.
So, Mike is telling me this story, and I said to him, “You probably thought he was dying or something?” Mike said, “Yeah, I didn’t know what was going on.”
I then told Mike I was glad his customer recovered, and I continued and said, “If that was you who had collapsed, and you died, do you know where you would be?”
Mike said, “No . . . probably in the ground.”
I said, “Do you believe in Heaven and Hell?”
He said, “I’m not sure.”
I asked him if he thought he was good enough to go to Heaven, if there is a Heaven.
He said, “Yes.”
Right about this time, a customer walked in that Mike had to attend to, and he also had a phone call waiting on him, so the conversation stopped. I thought, “Well, this conversation is over for now. I think I’ll go witness to the other owner in the back office. So I went back there and talked with her, and we had a great conversation about Heaven, Hell, and the gospel, which is another story.
After that, I went home and thought, “Lord, I didn’t get a chance to finish talking with Mike. Oh, well, I guess that was enough.” As it turned out, it wasn’t enough.
I found out a week later that the day after I spoke with Mike, he went into the hospital for an infection and discovered that he had stage 4 pancreatic cancer! Because of this, and the fact that our conversation never finished, I wanted to talk with him again. Two weeks went by, and I called him on his cell phone, but he was still in the hospital.
I told him I knew about his cancer diagnosis, and we talked about that for a bit. Then I said, “Do you remember we were talking about the afterlife the last time I saw you?”
He said, “Yes.”
I said, “I would like to finish the conversation we started, but before I do, I want you to know that I had a feeling I should speak with you about the afterlife the last time I saw you, and after hearing of your cancer diagnosis, I know why.”
For the next few minutes, I explained to him that there is a God who created all things, the Bible is true, and he needs a Savior. The call lasted only eight minutes, but it was enough. I could tell he was listening. He seemed agreeable to the gospel message.
Eight days after that call, which is today, May 11th, 2023, Mike died.
When I found out he had died, I was a little upset because I wasn’t 100 percent sure he believed what I had told him. That night, I told the Lord I was a little frustrated, not knowing for certain whether Mike was saved or not, and my frustrations continued the next morning.
At around noon, I received a call from Troy, another one of my clients, and Troy happens to have known Mike. He was calling me because his email on his phone wasn’t working properly, so we spoke about that.
Afterward, I asked Troy, “Did you know Mike died yesterday?” He said he did know, and he actually saw Mike three days earlier. Troy is a Christian, so I explained to him that I witnessed to Mike and wasn’t sure if he believed the gospel or not. Troy said, “Mike’s wife, Patty, called me two days ago and told me Mike did believe the gospel two days before he died.” I was amazed. Not only did the Lord lead me to Mike to witness to him, but He confirmed to me that Mike believed the message right after I prayed about it.
There is one more element to the story that’s worth mentioning. Through the passing of Mike, it turns out my wife knows Mike’s wife, Patty! They used to be in Bible Study Fellowship 12 years earlier. Because of this, both my wife and I attended the funeral for Mike, and we saw Patty there. She confirmed that her husband leaned over and communicated to her that he believed the gospel. She said it was the “best news of her life.”
I’m so happy I spoke with him about eternity!
Bill
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Psalm 31:14, 15a
But I trusted in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God. My times are in thy hand:
Proverbs 3:5,6
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Remember to make the most of every opportunity. God gives them to us, and we just need to open our mouths and go for it!
Until the nets are full,
P.S. Last week, we had a little glitch on the website where orders couldn’t go through for a time, so we are extending the Tract sale for another week. Sorry about the technical hiccup!
https://markcahill.org/product-category/tracts/
P.P.S.
https://twitter.com/stclairashley/status/1663697492154654723?cxt=HHwWhoCxmb6D0pYuAAAA