Catching the morning bus up the coast from San Francisco, I rolled into Leggett, a little town on the Eel River in Mendocino County. The moment I stepped off the Greyhound, I was surrounded by towering redwoods, their earthy scent thick in the damp May air.

    The hostel I’d chosen wasn’t your typical bunk-bed setup—it was a cluster of cozy little cabins that felt more like a family camping trip than solo travel. At the heart of it all stood a larger cabin, home to the kitchen and a welcoming common area where travelers could swap stories. My plan? A couple of peaceful days tucked away in nature, far from the noise of the city. I needed some space to gather my thoughts and hopefully get my stolen luggage back from the Oregon Police.

 

I’m not Christian Material!

            Travelers from all over filled the hostel, including a lively group of 15 friends staying for the weekend. I had no idea at the time that it Memorial Day weekend, was a national holiday. Among this group was Leila, a sweet and friendly girl who struck up a conversation with me. As we chatted, she casually mentioned that they were Christians from San Francisco. That caught me off guard—I had never met anyone who introduced themselves as a Christian right from the start. It wasn’t what I expected at all. She didn’t fit the image I had in my head of someone “religious,” and that only made me more curious.  In my journal I wrote,

“I’m not Christian material, but they seemed really great people.”  We hung out most of the evening playing Trivial Pursuit … it was fun!“

Saturday, May 26th, 1990

             By 6:30am the next morning I was up and about. The frogs near the river had been croaking all night and it was raining hard. Walking into the large cabin to get a cup of tea, I heard singing! Turns out it was the Christians who were having breakfast together. They looked so happy and were having a great time. There was something different about them from all the other people I had met along on my trip.

           “Back to the stolen luggage saga! That morning, the Oregon police showed up at the hostel—with my bag! A lot of my stuff was missing, but to my relief, the most important things were still there: my rolls of undeveloped film from the trip and the little mementos I’d collected along the way. Honestly, those were the only things that truly mattered—everything else was just stuff.” My journal records,

“It’s an awful feeling that someone else was going through my stuff, so I cleaned it all out. Oh well, maybe they needed it more than I did.”

The Good News     

                It was pouring with rain all day and everyone spent most of the time in the large family cabin together. I hung out with the Christians, playing games and chatting. Later that day, Leila and I spent time talking about life and she shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with me. This was the first time I had ever heard the story of Jesus dying for our sins and what that even meant for each of us.

                   Though up to this point my journal has recorded me saying things like, “Thank God,” or asking, “Please help me God”, they were cries for help to someone I didn’t know.  I had always hoped there was a God and that life had more meaning. That’s why I left my home and took off traveling to see if I could find it. In London I had felt the weight of darkness inside me, the heaviness of living without any true meaning and the thought of dying without any hope. Removed from everything I had known in life, famil, friends, work, even having my luggage stolen all worked together to show me the fragility of life and how empty my soul was. At this point in my physical and spiritual journey, God in His mercy truly prepared me to hear the gospel.

 

God is Love                 

               While we talked, she shared verses from the Bible. Maybe the gospel is a word you don’t know much about. Me neither back then. It simply means good news, and that’s something that we all need. Back in 1990, my idea of God was in the cold, stone churches in every village, town, and city of England. They had appeared dead and empty, and God was just a distant idea to me.  

                She shared that God loved the world so much, that He sent His Son to die for us. That the emptiness in our hearts was because of our separation from our creator, and that our sin keeps us apart. She shared that Jesus paid it all on the cross, paid the debt for all our sins so we could be reconciled to God and have eternal life in Jesus Christ.

God Loved Me?             

                 God was real! God knew me and loved me! Jesus died for me! It’s hard to put into words what happens in your heart in this moment – it all seems so clear, a conviction of the truth, knowing that what you are hearing is the most important thing in the world.  Time seems to stand still.

                 Then Leila shared how Jesus rose from the dead. What? I was shocked, she had just explained His death to me. I had never heard all this before!  He was alive and living! All this time God had been drawing my heart with His love to this place of making a decision. Right then and there I realized this was what I had been looking for. Life finally made sense. There is a God in heaven who created everything and loves His creation!  We prayed together a prayer of repentance and I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. The weight off my shoulders of sin and guilt was lifted. The darkness, the pain and emptiness in my soul was gone. I had eternal life! Everything was different from that moment on.

               The next morning, I joined them for a time of worship. I wrote, “At worship everyone was included, they all sang and prayed and read the Bible together. It was amazing and so real. Leila gave me her Bible so I can keep reading the scriptures.”         

Child of God         

                 The rest of my journey from this point on was very different than I imagined it would be. God has been showing me for the last 30 years all it means to be a child of God. But on this day of May 26th,1990 I went from traveling alone in life to being born again into His kingdom.

         Jesus said,

“Truly, truly, I say to you unless one be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God…John 3:3

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world through Him should be saved.” John 3:16-17

 

Consider Him              

               On a Memorial Day weekend trip, this wonderful woman reached out and shared her life, the light of the world and the God she knew with a complete stranger. I am truly eternally grateful to her. Friends, never underestimate the power of sharing the gospel with someone who will listen. You have no idea how God has been preparing them for this life-changing moment. And if you are reading this story of redemption for the the first time and have never received Jesus as your Lord and Savior – consider Him today. He loves you and has made a way for you through the cross to have a relationship with Him and have eternal life.

Now what? Follow along to see where God leads me next.