Durel,
a friend who lives on the street, came by today to give us some
bad news.
Dani Ciorba is dead.
To most people this news doesn’t mean
very much. Dani had lived on the street from age five. During the
years, he had been taken off the street and welcomed into several
different houses and shelters. He had been told very much about God,
heaven, and hell. He, over nineteen years of living on the street,
had not only learned how to swear and fight, but how to pray and
talk like a theologian. I saw Dani for the first time in January
2002. He looked so sick and so beaten up that I really didn’t expect
him to live through that winter, but he did. He also lived through
part of the next winter, but something big happened January 4, 2004.
Dani’s time on earth was up.
Dani died.
January 3, 2004 was an
important day in Dani’s life. Maybe even the most important. I
believe it was the day of God’s last call to Dani. Who knows how
many times in Dani’s life God had called and Dani had refused? But
the call
last Saturday was different.
It was His last call.
Saturday when I went to the station
with Heidi to call the kids to the club, a soldier came up with Dani
and told me to take him with me. So I invited Dani to come to the
Bible club. He refused. The soldier told him to come. He refused.
Some of the other kids asked if he
would come. He refused.
One last call…One last refusal.
I didn’t realize until today that it
wasn’t out of chance that so many people tried to get Dani to come.
Usually when he refused to come I said, “O.K.” and kept on going.
Yesterday, person after person invited, called, and tried to
convince Dani to come.
It was God’s love being stretched out
one more time. It was God saying to Dani,
“Dani, you’ve refused Me so many
times, but here I am again…this time say ‘YES!’” But no…one more
refusal.
The last call…The last refusal.
God offered Dani the choice to be
like the thief on the cross and to live with Him in paradise. Unlike
the thief, but so like many of us,
Dani said, “No.” If I had told Dani,
“Dani, tomorrow you’ll be found dead here on the station floor.
Your time to choose God is now or
never!”, he would not have believed me.
He would have said that I’m just
another one of those pessimistic people who won’t leave him in
peace. What peace?
How do I respond to God’s call?…To
the warning that my time may be short?
Am I like Dani?
Where is Dani now? I believe he is in
the hell that he knew so much about and seemed to fear so little
here on earth.
I believe that he’s now in his new
eternal home…a very sad one, but a very avoidable one. Dani went to
hell with his eyes wide open.
He wasn’t deceived. He knew all about
God. He knew all about hell.
He knew all about what he needed to
do to avoid it, but he refused.
Dani was a nice guy sometimes. He
helped many people at the station. He was kind of like a brother or
friend of some sort to everyone on the street, but that wasn’t
enough and Dani knew it. Dani knew that he was a sinner and that sin
separates us from a Holy God.
He knew that only Jesus' death on the
cross would pay the penalty for his sins. Dani knew that if he asked
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, into his life to forgive his sins, it
would mean a change and that wasn’t what Dani wanted.
Dani knew that if he died, he would
be in hell; so no one can say that God wasn’t fair. God gave Dani a
last chance.
Does a loving God send people to
hell? Yes, but not before He calls, and calls, and calls.
God watched Dani abuse himself for
years. God sent help after help after help to try and encourage Dani.
Dani said, “No.”
God sent Christian after Christian
after Christian to show Dani his sins and a better way.
Dani said, “Yes, I see the error of
my ways, but I’ll keep living in it.”
Is a God Who sends people to hell
loving? Yes.
What about us?
Who knows when our last call may be?
So many people die every day that there is no real reason why one of
us
shouldn’t be one of those thousands.
Has God been calling us?
If He has, then I think that we would
be wise to make the choice today so that we don’t end up like Dani.
Remember: God loves everyone and is
calling each one of us.
Don’t refuse His call.
It may be His last.
Benjamin
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