Wednesday May 10, 2017

 

Several years ago my wife Annie and I had the privilege of accompanying the evangelist the Rev. Nicky Cruz and his wife Gloria to Guatemala for a two-week crusade in some of the poorest parts of the country. After visiting a few of the many towns on our agenda, we returned to Guatemala City for a couple of days of rest and relaxation. We were relaxing, laughing, and having fun one afternoon at the apartment of a friend when the house phone rang. I noticed that in the joy of the moment, nobody took notice that the phone was ringing. For some unknown reason I decided to answer the call. Obviously not knowing who was calling, in jest I decided to say: “Hi you have reached the offices of Bobby Cruz Jr. in Guatemala”. To my surprise it was Nicky’s secretary Karen calling. She said. “Bobby thank God you answered are you with Nicky?” Immediately I noticed by the tone of her voice that something was terribly wrong. Instantly my demeanor changed and I replied, “yes I am”. She then proceeded to tell me that a young man in Puerto Rico had just murdered Nicky’s brother Francisco Cruz.

 

Francisco was a Pastor in Puerto Rico and he also led a drug rehabilitation program. One night a young man knocked at Francisco’s door and asked the pastor if he could help him with some gas money. Francisco told his wife that he would be stepping out for a few minutes and asked the young man to follow him to the gasoline station. Once there, Francisco filled the young man’s tank with gasoline and shortly thereafter the same young man Francisco had just helped beat him to death.

 

A few hours after having received the phone call, Nicky, the friend whose apartment we had been relaxing at, and I were on a plane headed to Puerto Rico to bury Nicky’s brother. Evidently Nicky was suffering a gamut of emotions, however two days later when it came time to bury Francisco, Nicky publicly forgave the young man who had committed the crime.

 

I was speaking with Nicky a couple of days ago, now several years since the death of his brother, and I asked him how he was able to forgive that young man. His immediate response was, “I opened my heart to God and I placed my eyes on Jesus, since I knew I had to be careful because danger was right around the corner”.

 

As believers, the temptation is to close our hearts to God and take our eyes off Jesus when bad or difficult things happen. However, as Nicky would say, be careful “because danger is right around the corner”. As believers we should never focus on the circumstances no matter how good or bad they are. We need to always fix our eyes on Jesus the one who overcame death.

 

In closing, I want to invite you, your family, and your friends to hear Nicky speak on Sunday May 21, 2017 at Casa de Alabanza Miami. We are hosting two speaking engagements one at 9am and the other at 11:30am. This is a free event but tickets are required. You can download your free ticket at www.nickycruzmiami2017.com