On my first Wednesday in Croatia, I joined Janko and his Bible Study group downtown at the Emmaus Center, where Janko hosts the study every Wednesday. I had been there this summer a couple of times and always enjoy the time of worship, study and fellowship, not to mention the great deserts provided. That is the first time I met Zdanko, and although we didn’t have the ability to communicate through language, we definitely had a connection. On this particular Wednesday night, he was completely surprised when I showed up at the study and he gave me a hug and touched his chest, saying how he felt when he saw me. After the study, we were sitting around talking and having fellowship with those in attendance, when I noticed him pointing at my boots and telling his wife something. She then told me that I had boots like the guys who have the show on Netflix’s called the Rust Brothers! It was a show Zdanko loved to watch, and my boots were just like those on the show. I immediately asked Kristina, his wife, what size he wore. She told me 42!
My mind immediately went to work on how I could get Zdanko some boots. You see, I know Zdanko is not a believer and has been coming to this Bible Study because his wife and daughter come. He is searching and you can see a stirring in his heart. Well, when I got home that evening, I immediately reached out to Travis Aaron, who was going to be joining us in the MiLO the next week. I asked him if he could possibly get by a boot store and buy some size 42 Tony Lama boots to bring with him. Travis went and found and bought some the very next day and brought them with him on Saturday. I couldn’t wait to give them to Zdanko at Bible Study, the next Wednesday, but I would not be able to make the study, because of some prior meetings. So I arranged to be at the Center before they finished for the evening and when I came in, I put the boots behind a curtain at the front of the store. I went into where the group was and saw Zdanko and his smile. I asked him to get up and join me by the door and when he got there, I pointed to the boots and said these were a gift! He was in shock, he wasn’t sure he understood me, he immediately asked his wife to come over and translate. I told him they were his, size 42, that were brought all the way from Texas.
He was smiling from ear to ear and simply couldn’t believe it. He started to ask me all kinds of questions why! With a few how’s and how come’s mixed in. After the initial shock wore off, he told me that he had always wanted cowboy boots since he was 17 and had never had a pair. Then when he started watching Rust Brothers, he saw their cowboy work boots that really re-elevated the desire to have them and here they were. He couldn’t believe how I got them there so fast and I explained I had some team members that came from Texas and brought them when they came. As we sat down, Zdanko’s smile wasn’t fading and he kept shaking his head in unbelief. Then he turned to me and asked me to share my life story of how I came to know Jesus. That is the why, we always speak about in the ministry. To love people where they are and love them till they ask why. For Zdanko, God elevated the opportunity for me to love him through a pair of cowboy boots, that he had always wanted but never owned.
I shared my testimony and he listened intently to my every word. After I completed, he told me that earlier today, he was at work and something was bothering him. He stopped work and took a book out of his pocket, a small book of scripture verses for people to read for specific issues or things. He felt like someone was praying for him and for 3 hours he read and felt those prayers. This evening he realized that someone, was me, thinking and praying for him to allow Jesus to have his heart. Zdanko didn’t confess and profess Jesus as his savior that night, but you could feel the spirit tugging at him. My guess is that God will continue to tug and will use the gift of those boots as a reminder, that Jesus loves him and wants to have a relationship with him. |
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