Jeremias

It was money that first attracted Jeremias to our organization.  After his mother left and his father died, the teen was strapped for cash.  When he learned that we financially reward Scripture memorization, he promptly signed up.  Asked one day about the meaning of the verses he recited, he confessed that he understood absolutely nothing.  Nor did he care.

After a year away from our city, something within compelled him to return.  He visited our church with friends, where he heard a hymn: “The love that you showed in redeeming my captivity was so great that you didn’t spare your own life.”  Its captivating melody echoed deep within his soul, bringing him back to our congregation.  This time God opened Jeremias’s heart to comprehend and believe the gospel, and his life was transformed from the inside out.

That was fifteen years ago.  Jeremias subsequently moved into a hut on our organization’s property, where he matured in many ways as he completed middle school, high school, and a pharmacy degree.  From early in his Christian walk, he showed remarkable gifting in evangelism, preaching, guitar-playing, and hymn-writing, liberally blessing our church with these skills.

In 2018, as a newly arrived foreigner struggling to grasp the language, I found Jeremias’s sermons not only easily understandable but also spiritually powerful.  Tall and authoritative in the pulpit, he repeatedly captured my attention with his wit and storytelling, then brought the gospel alive from the pages of Scripture with authentic testimony and applications.  My exhilaration in settling here permanently was capped by the hope of hearing him preach for the rest of my life.

My attitude toward Jeremias plummeted the next year, when he asked my son Afonso to move out of his hut.  Shortly afterward, when our church assigned responsibilities to members, Jeremias was made director of both evangelism and music, with me as his assistant in both areas.  I realized that this arrangement was not only the perfect use of our similar talents, but also God’s provision to repair my relationship with this brother in Christ.  By the time Afonso was considering college options, I had warmed back up to Jeremias enough to request his advice.  In that context, Jeremias gently asked me about the resentment I’d felt towards him in connection with Afonso’s move, and we cleared that past baggage from our friendship.  How freeing that felt!

Music training, hymn translation, guidance for Afonso, parties, trips, song recording, and audio editing are among the activities Jeremias and I have done together over the years.  I hosted his graduation party and invited him for the anniversary of my conversion to Christ.  He taught a women’s seminar with Stélio and me and wrote a play about my life for my fortieth birthday party.  He now serves a key role in our national Bible bee (remembering how God used Scripture memory rewards in his own life), and the two of us play music for church each Sunday.  Such avenues for ministry and mutual edification with members of Christ’s body are always a blessing.

In 2022, with his pharmacy diploma in hand, Jeremias began seeking employment, working part-time in our bookshop during eight months of his search.  Last May, he finally acquired a job with a local pharmaceutical importer, yet soon found himself pressured towards ethical compromises in an environment hostile to his faith.  Requesting prayer about the situation, he expressed interest in returning to our organization if a full-time position should open up, even outside of his field.

Sure enough, that opportunity came, and Jeremias accepted!  He will share my office, managing our organization’s finances and other routine administration under my supervision.  I’m grateful that my new co-worker is already a friend and ministry partner whose experience in our church predates my own.  His job demands impeccable integrity and meticulous attention to detail, and after all God has done in his life so far, I believe he is up to that challenge.

When we sat down to begin training on Friday, Jeremias asked if he could pray, and I wholeheartedly agreed.  Expressing gratitude to God for his new employment, he requested enablement to fulfill his duties with excellence, and patience for me as I orient him in the coming weeks.  Will you join your prayers with his?