“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17
Back in 1993, I was working three jobs and going to school full time and being in the Army Reserves meant one weekend a month and two weeks a year. One of the jobs I had was as a security guard at Providence Hospital in Mobile, Alabama. It was a part-time graveyard shift that afforded me plenty of time to work on school work between checking doors, outer doors, and hall ways.
My boss in that position was a man by the name of Sean Lowe or simply SGT Lowe. He was one of the security managers and I was just a lowly shift worker. I noticed several things about SGT Lowe that led me to start praying for him and not only me but several members of my church. In fact, I had over 100 people praying for Sean Lowe in 1993. My prayer focus was that God would lead SGT Lowe to the saving knowledge of Christ. This would prove to be a difficult task.
SGT Lowe recently completed his time as a Marine, joining just after Desert Storm. He worked his way up Corporal before moving into the Marine Reserves. He smoked two packs of cigarettes per day, cursed like a Sailor, and always had something “constructive” to say for the pretty women that worked at Providence. As a child, he had gone to church a time or two but his parents were divorced and he had an older brother in prison. At the time of our working together, he was in an estranged relationship where he had become difficult to live with and his wife was seeking a divorce.
Several months passed and finally an opportunity came to talk with SGT Lowe. He came by my station to make sure I was doing my job. The books had to be out of sight while he was around and I had to make sure I performed all my checks on time. As I got to know him a little better, I felt like the opportunity was ripe to share my faith with him. At first glance, he appeared to be receptive and contemplative. Gradually, he became more and more uncomfortable. Little did I know that he was not just uncomfortable but down right angry toward me and with me. In the midst of our conversation, I missed a check because I thought the conversation was more important.
As I shared with SGT Lowe the prayer of salvation and the fact that all he had to do was accept God’s gift of salvation, he abruptly jumped up out of his chair, cursed me up one side and down the other, and made it very clear to me that come sunup I may not have a job at Providence. He stormed off very angry and I was sure that the end result of our conversation was going to be me not returning the following night for my shift.
When SGT Lowe stormed off, it was about 1am. My shift normally ended at 6am and I would leave for school at 8am with my first class at 9am in the next town over. As I prepared to leave, I told the elderly women up front that I would not be back. They were all very nice ladies who volunteered to work the information booth in order to stay busy.
About 0605, I was walking toward the front doors and SGT Lowe came racing up to the front of the hospital in his 1979 Toyota Celica. He slammed on breaks as I was making my way through the last entrance and ran in my direction. After our conversation and the way he stormed off, I thought we were about to fight. I was conflicted, do I just stand here and take it or do I throw the first punch? Just then, he spoke up about a foot away and said, “You are never going to guess what happened!” I was pretty sure he was right but I was still trying to figure out what was happening.
Standing in the foyer, SGT Lowe went on to describe how the rest of his evening went. He said normally he goes home after his shift and drinks until drunk, smokes a few cigarettes, and falls asleep. But when he left the hospital, all he could think about was what we talked about. When he got home he did not want a beer and when he tried to smoke a cigarette, he only took two puffs and put it out. He figured maybe he was just too tired so he went to bed. He stayed up the rest of the night tossing and turning in his bed trying to think of ways and reasons to fire me but kept coming back to our conversation.
Around 4am he got out of bed, knelt down beside his bed, and prayed the prayer of salvation the best he could remember but in the process was broken and in tears before God. Sean Lowe gave his life to Christ. In that instant, he lost all desire for alcohol, cigarettes, and wanted nothing more than to find a Bible. He did not know where to go that early in the morning to find one but he tried all the local convenience stores and found a little New Testament. By this time it was 530am and he knew I would be getting off shift soon.
Noticing the overwhelming changes and the flood of mercy, love, and forgiveness God had given him, he knew he wanted to tell me before I left. That is why he came charging in the way he did. As we both stood there stunned and shocked at what all God had done, I pulled a piece of paper out of my pocket. In tears, I shared with him the list of names of people that had been praying for him for months. SGT Lowe started crying, he had never known anyone to pray for him by name.
A couple of weeks later, SGT Lowe was baptized and although he sought marital reconciliation with his wife she refused to believe he had changed and they divorced. He began a long road of witnessing to his family and finally wrote and visited his brother in prison. Not long after, we started hanging out a good bit, became roommates at one point, and attended the same church. We both met our future wives in the late 1990’s and worked at other part time jobs together for a number of years before I went into full time ministry. Sean Lowe followed my lead and when I was ordained to be a minister, he was licensed into ministry. Our ceremonies were held on the same day at Sage Avenue Baptist Church near Saraland Alabama.
Today, Sean Lowe is married with two kids and still lives in Saraland, Alabama. He went on to receive his college degree and his master’s degree. His area of expertise is Marriage and Family Therapy and he has his own practice in Saraland Alabama. Together with his wife Amy and their kids, they faithfully serve a local church and share their faith with others as mine was shared with Sean.
Sean Lowe, is a new creation. He has been redeemed by God and called according to His purpose. To God be the glory!
Perhaps you too can be a new creation, perhaps God has a plan for your life as He does for Sean. If you read this story and in reading this true story, you realize that you need a savior, you want to know what you must do to be a new creation…While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. His death, burial and resurrection are God’s gift to us for salvation. We simply must accept the gift of God. The best way to that is given to us in Romans 10:8-10, “But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
You too can be a new creation!
