Dietrich needed a different kind of drink

My friend and I were standing on the corner when a young man who appeared to be a late teenager approached us as asked, “Either of you twenty-one?” Now, I can’t remember the last time anyone asked me that! (It was dark!) “Well, sure. What do you need?” And, of course, he wanted one of us to go into the nearby store and buy him a beverage he wasn’t old enough to purchase.

My friend said, “We can’t do that, but we can offer you something a whole lot better.” That got his attention and he responded eagerly, “What have you got?” My friend said, “We’ve got Jesus–that’s what we’ve got!” (Blew our cover real fast!) He seemed a little taken aback. Then he said, “My grandma told me that if I came out here, she was going to pray for me and she’s at home right now praying for me. I can’t believe this!”

Just beneath the tough-guy-image was a very humble and sensitive young man. He said his name was Dietrich and, all his life, his grandma had been telling him about the Lord and praying that he would be saved. “She’s a strong Christian!” he told us. I said, “Dietrich, your grandmother’s prayers are going to be answered tonight. God has had his loving eye on you since before you were born. Every day of your life, he has been watching you, calling out to you, longing for you to come to him, and tonight is the night.” Dietrich just looked silently at us as though he couldn’t believe what was happening.

After we had shared with him for nearly an hour, Dietrich said, “I feel like I want to be saved, but I just don’t know if it’s time.” We both assured him that this was absolutely the time; God had arranged this whole encounter and it was a moment he couldn’t afford to allow to slip away. He agreed to pray with us and willingly prayed for forgiveness and confessed Jesus as the Lord of his life. He said, “I don’t know if I can do this.” but we assured Dietrich he didn’t have to change his own life, he only had to yield himself continually to God and that God would not only lead him, but would give him the strength to stand. He promised to go him and tell his grandmother what had happened and allow her to help guide him in his new life of fath.

Dietrich told us he was twenty years old and wants to live the rest of his life for the Lord. Put him on your prayer list.