Jim’s Journey

Jim Johnson had just started a new job working for a heating company . One of his first assignments was to service the furnace of a farming family , Dan and Clara Oster , southeast of Greeley , Colorado . They wanted their furnace checked for the winter season . An older man , Phil , was training Jim . Phil soon found a furnace part that needed replacing , so he left Jim and went back into town to purchase the part .

Jim soon completed his assigned task , sat down in the semidark musty cellar , and began smoking cigarettes . It seemed to Jim as if Phil was taking a very long time . Being quite bored , he noticed — and began to read — some old Christian magazines . Having a good bit of time , he sat there smoking and reading . As he continued reading , the Holy Spirit began to work on Jim’s heart . Things from his past began to stir in his mind . His grandmother had been a Christian , and Jim had been baptized years before in 1958 . But his family had left the church as quickly as they had joined it .

Phil eventually returned to the farm with the furnace part . He and Jim installed it , cleaned up their mess , and were ready to leave when Mrs . Oster began talking with Jim . “ I read some of your church magazines in the cellar . My family were once members of your denomination , ” Jim shared . Mrs . Oster shared her faith with Jim . Jim’s encounter with the Oster family stayed with him . A couple of years later , during a hospital stay , a church elder came to visit him . Jim shared his story , the Holy Spirit continued working , and Jim and his wife were baptized . Jim says the kindness of the lady who had saved her old religious magazines had changed his heart

.The Oster family for whom Jim did his work are my in - laws , so he shared this story with me . No doubt , if someone had seen Jim sitting in that cellar smoking cigarettes , they would not have held out much hope for a conversion story . But God saw Jim’s heart . “ People look at the outward appearance , but the LORD looks at the heart ” ( 1 Samuel 16 : 7 , NIV ) .

We must never stop praying for family members and friends who have not yet given their hearts to Jesus .

Sharon Oster