“Ahora Yo Creo”
Changed by Jesus #42
By Luis Eduardo Villalobos, Peru/D.C.
Like almost every single Latin-American, I was born and raised Catholic. Eight years ago, I left my home country, Peru, for Washington DC. This was right after I became a believer and truly understood the good news of the gospel. How did this happen?
Nada de Jesus
I had basically made a mess of my life. I tried other religions, everything but Jesus. Nada de Jesus porfavor, NADA.
One night I found myself in a mess. I started to cry in my room, and I cursed the God of the Bible. It is funny to think that I looked for him to blame him, rather than pursuing his love. Te odio, I thought. ¿Por qué me hiciste esto? (”I hate you…Why did you do this to me?”)
I cried all night. After insulting and pouring all my rage against heaven with my fist high, I just felt so tired of crying and surrendered. I got on my knees for the first time with a true heart and said, “Si en verdad existes, Jesus Nazareno, aqui estoy [If you truly exist, Jesus of Nazareth, here I am]. I heard about you ALL my life in school, but who are you? I am here on my knees. I dare you to reveal yourself to me.”
And He did. He changed my life forever. Gracias, Jesus.
Todo de Jesus
In the U.S, I struggled at the very beginning to find people in the Catholic Church who loved Jesus as I did. It was more about Mary and the Saints. The church was full of young people, but they didn’t want to know more about Jesus.
Several times, I tried to share with my Catholic brothers some parts of the Bible that I found amazing, and they looked at me as if I was crazy. For them, Jesus was only Sunday mass and a ritual, but not for me. The Jesus of the Bible was alive in my heart.
I am a normal guy. I had a worldly life until I was 22 (for which I have repented), but now I do believe in Jesus. And even though I’m the same guy, there is something different now. Ahora yo creo. Now, I do believe.
El Tipo Real
When I started to attend a Protestant church, my pastor’s blog had a YouTube link to Mark Driscoll’s Church Needs Dudes. I was like, ¿Quien es este tipo? (Who is this guy?)
The podcasts of Mars Hill Church impacted me so much that I started to send them to many of my Latin American friends in the States and to my friends back in Peru. I burned innumerable amounts of CDs and shared them. Este tipo es real, they will say (this guy is legit).
This was (and still is) a great opportunity to share the gospel with them, and to tell them that it is not about church, it is not about Mark Driscoll, and certainly it’s not about me, but it’s all about Jesus.
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