Holy Joe & the Religious Fanatic

Holy Joe & the Religious Fanatic

By S. R. Morris

God sometimes arranges events and circumstances

 in order to accomplish His will in our lives and others.

 

            Tony worked for the post office in New York City. As a newly baptized Christian, he found that his religious convictions were conflicting with his work obligations and requested a transfer. His new assignment was working the “graveyard shift” from 8:30 p.m. until 5:00 a.m. in a huge mail processing building located on Long Island.

            When he arrived at his new assignment, Tony heard people talking about a young man named Louie, who had an alcohol problem. They said he missed work so often that he was going to be fired unless he could stop drinking. So Tony began praying for Louie and hoping he would have an opportunity to tell him about Jesus.

            One night, as he was sitting on a mail skid reading his Bible, Tony noticed Louie as he walked by. He looked very sad so Tony called him over.

            “Yeah, who are you and what do you want?” Louie demanded.

            “My name is Tony. I’m new here,” Tony began to explain. “I just wanted to tell you that I found Christ by reading the Bible, and He has completely changed my life.”

            “Oh, you’re the one,” Louie said. “You’re that religious fanatic from across town.  I’ve heard about you.”

            “Have you ever read the Bible?” Tony asked.

            “No man. I never have. I’ve got to get back to work,” Louie said and walked away.

            Tony continued praying for Louie, asking the Lord for another�"better�"opportunity to share his faith. A few nights later, Tony’s supervisor told him to go to a room in another area of the building far away from where he had been working. Walking past dozens of seemingly endless rooms, he finally found the right room and was surprised to see that Louie was working right next to him!

            “What are you doing here?” Louie asked.

            “Louie,” Tony answered, “the Lord must want me to talk to you some more.”

            “Oh, no!” Louie replied with obvious frustration.

            Tony began working next to Louie, but whenever the supervisor left the room, Tony would take out his color-coded Bible and read one of God’s promises. When break time came, Tony mustered up his courage and asked Louie if he wanted a ride to the all-night deli for a sub.

            “Yeah, why not?” Louie said. “You can preach to me some more, but at least I’ll get a good meal.”

            As Tony drove on the way to the deli, he turned on the car’s dome light and told Louie to read the parts of his Bible that were shaded in orange. Louie reluctantly took the Bible and started reading the promises as Tony drove and prayed that God’s word would speak to his heart.

            In just a few minutes, Louie turned and said, “Hey, man, listen to this one!” and read the verse to Tony. “He that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37 KJV). He did that several times on the way to the deli and, on the way back, he read a few more.

            When they got back to the post office parking lot, Tony knew that Louie needed to ask Christ into his heart. He had never led anyone to Christ before and he was ‘scared to death.’ His knees were literally knocking together when he turned to Louie and spoke.

            “Louie, would you like to ask Jesus into your heart right now, and pray with me?”

            “Pray?” Louie said. “I don’t know how to pray.”

            “That’s okay,” Tony said. “You just repeat what I say.”

            “Okay, man.”

            Just as they began praying, the car alarm went off in the car next to them. The sound was almost deafening, so Tony yelled the prayer, “Dear Lord, please forgive me of my sins.” Louie shrieked out the same. Then, after Tony shouted out the next part, Louie screamed, “I accept You, Jesus, as my personal Lord and Savior.”

            As they finished the prayer, the car alarm shut off. Tony assured Louie that the Lord has heard his prayer and that, if he was sincere, the Lord really would change his life.

            After that, Tony was sent back to his regular assignment. He was sick and out-of-work for several days, but continued to pray for Louie.

            On his first day back at work, Tony walked into the huge lobby of the processing center where hundreds of postal employees were waiting to check-in with their time cards. All of a sudden Tony heard someone yell, “Praise the Lord, brother!” He turned and saw someone running toward him.

            Tony was slightly embarrassed as the clean-shaven, nicely dressed young man with the Bible gave him a big hug. It was Louie! The Lord had changed his life, and the people were now calling him “Holy Joe.” Louie’s life was changed with a simple prayer. 

Tony realized that the power of God had transformed his life when he accepted Christ into his heart, and that same power that changed Louie’s life, too. Louie was the first person Tony led to accept Christ, but he later admitted, “There is no greater reward in life than leading others to know Jesus.”

            “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”  (Romans 10:9 NJKV)

 

                Later, Tony heard God’s call and decided to go to college and train for the ministry.  He spent more than 20 years in the ministry, and wrote several books, including a guide to soul-winning. He passed away in the summer of 2007.

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