Today, I am celebrating something for which I have spent nearly a year crying, hoping and praying. I am celebrating the birth of a new brother in Christ. He is one of my readers. We have neither met nor spoken, but I love him with all my heart.

I knew of him, but I was reminded of his existence on October 11, 2010. On that day, I found out that we lived in the same state. I also found out that he was in big trouble — the kind of trouble that dogs you wherever you go. How? Through a mutual Acquaintance.

From then on, whenever I was prompted in the Spirit, I addressed my posts to him. I warned him, outed and deplored his sins (but not him) pleaded with him, encouraged him, tried to restore him, fire-and-brimstoned him, and, in my faltering and imperfect way, tried to love him.

I knew he went in cycles because the Spirit’s prompting went in cycles: warnings followed by reassurance, hating the sin, loving the sinner, rejoicing in how Jesus had made him, urging him to come to Christ.

Then he — and I — would go around again: stronger warnings, more desperate reassurance, stronger pleading with him to accept Jesus. He would open the door a crack, let the Light in.

And then, something would happen. Sometimes, I could see what it was, sometimes not, but he’d be back at square one, denying Jesus. Denying the One who had given him the raising, the culture, the accent, the talent, the success, and even the failings and trials that were fodder for gossip, head-shaking, and laughter everywhere else.

That’s what makes this man’s salvation so extraordinary. See, he didn’t accept Jesus amidst peer pressure or community censure. He wasn’t attending a prayer meeting, didn’t respond to an altar call.

He was at a professional event — the kind about which people say, “Everyone who’s anyone will be there.” Such events hold a lot of promise: renewed acquaintance, money, success, career advancement, triumph over one’s adversaries, sexual favors, and more. In the face of all that, he said, “I’ll take Jesus,” and he said it to anyone who would listen.

I know what you’re thinking: This is where his story spirals down into some bad Christian movie script. Guy who was clearly created (by Jesus, ahem!) for greatness through the employment of phenomenal talent, bows out of the spotlight, restores one undervalued person, and retires to the shadows to sit in some small-town church and sing happy songs for the rest of his days.

Ya think?

What about Miriam? Prophetess, singer, dancer.

David? Prophet, warrior, musician, songwriter, poet, king.

Solomon? Architect, collector, curator, self-help guru, king, and the wealthiest and wisest man who ever lived.

The Proverbs 31 woman? Textile designer, businesswoman, farmer, wife, mother, land trader, philanthropist, teacher.

Tabitha? Fashion designer (and famous, at that), philanthropist.

Paul? Tentmaker, writer, circuit-riding evangelist.

And that’s just off the top of my head.

But what about Jesus’ admonishment in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”?

Let’s see what Jesus says in Mark 10 when Peter asks about it in a roundabout way: “Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.”

“Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

You offer it up, Jesus says, you’ll get back more than you ever dreamed of, but you have to offer it up. You got it from Jesus, you offer it back to him, and just see what happens. If you want to stay first in His heart, you don’t go back the way you came.

That’s what my new brother in Christ did, in faith, hope, and love.

Today’s posts are all for him — and all for Him. I love you both.