Noel

Not the real Noel

In Portuguese Noel means Christmas! I had never met a man named Noel, until the other day that is. A couple of friends were visiting and wanted to see the falls of Foz do Iguaçu. In our site seeing we found ourselves at the bus station downtown. We were chatting about the day when a vendor came by selling homemade candy. 

I usually don't like vendors so I politely told him that we didn't want to buy anything today. However, when I noticed the type of candy he was selling, I told my friend Paul about how good it was. At that point the vendor got really close to me and said, "I need to ask you a favor". I thought, "Oh, brother, here it comes! He's gonna ask for money! This scraggly beard Santa Claus type always does!" 

What actually came out of Noel's five week white shadow was quite a weird but simple request. "I need the recipe for pancakes". I stood there for a split second before I understood what he had stammered in broken English. "Pancakes?" Here you can imagine a funny look on my face. "Pancakes" he replied. I turned to Dawn and repeated what Noel had said and she began to rattle off his requested recipe.  

It was just then that the conversation got even more interesting. Noel said that he had Lived in the States for Twenty five years. He had studied at the University of Wyoming. He had lived in Oregon, and Texas too. He loved his time there and loved Pancakes. 

I asked him if he went to church? "I'm an atheist" he said. Image that Santa as an atheist. "What if you died right this moment, would you go to heaven?" I queried. "Faith is very difficult for me. I can't believe", he said. I agreed with him and said, "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." 

For the next twenty minutes we shared the Gospel with "Christmas" The intercourse was so engrossing that we missed our bus. Just before it it came back again I bought most of Noel's candy. He told us that many people had told him this story over the years. However, he could never believe.


Our missed bus lead to a conversation of eternal importance. What will its outcome be it? Only time will tell what our wonderful God intended in this exchange. So that day we planted another seed in sixty seven year old soil. Think it'll take? They say, whatever is thrown on the ground in Brazil grows. Wonder if that works in stony hearts too?