“You made my day” -Francis Chan
I just met Francis. My friend handed me a cupcake and as I was finishing the last bite of it (which was too large to fit in my mouth). As I was chewing I saw Francis walking down the hallway opposite of the green room and I started chewing as fast as I could. I didn’t even have it finished and I thrust my hand out to him and said,
“I just finished a cupcake”
He replied with complete honest enthusiasm “That’s Great!” like he may have believed me to be mentally challenged! I told him that I flew all the way from North Carolina so I could hear him speak and went on to explain that I had never heard his name until my boss played his sermon at work and that his last sermon (Part 5 on April 5th) made me dance! He laughed and said that was wonderful because most people at his church were not dancing!
I went on to explain that I was leading the group of college kids through The Irresistable Revolution and I felt God putting it on my heart to share the podcast with those 17 students. I told them how some of them were new believeres and that I didn’t want them to get stuck thinking about the establishment and being available to think outside the box and with scripture. I told them how we would pause the sermon and just dive in deeper into what Francis saying. In between my explosions Francis was saying “praise God!” it was so wonderful to see him talk. He moves just like he does on his stage! I told him that we don’t put him on a pedestool but that we just know he is speaking truth. I even got to slip in that I have experienced a new emotion where I hear truth and it brings tears to my eyes. Francis explained that is the Holy Spirit resonating with MY spirit! And he just seemed so excited to hear what I had to say. God I praise you for giving me one moment in time to encourage a servant of yours who is sharing truth with the world. This alone made the entire trip worthwhile.
During the end of my talk my new friend Matt was poking my hand letting me know that one of the main guys Dwayne looked pissed that I was holding onto Francis. I did not care but did know that Francis had somewhere to be. Afterwards both Matt and Fran were blown away that in a MINUTE (probably less) that I could go from introducing myself and then diving right into the freaking deep stuff! Fran was particularly blown away by that!
I just got my two books signed, one as a gift to Jonjo and I apologized to Francis for talking his head off. He laughed and told me it made his day. We talked more abouttje Spirit and he mentioned the story he told about Craig Groeschel and how he pulled over and fell to his knees crying. And I told him he would never have time to hear the story but that the identical thing happened to me as I was driving listening to his sermon. He said it made his day to talk to me. And that may be the second time I said it but it is a big deal. I also told him how I am staying with his high school pastor and that I thanked his church for being willing to look after a total stranger!