Fresh Mannaby Pastor Tim BurtThe Rock That Turned Soft Gator Hardison had grown up in a family where prejudice wasn’t just present; it was a principle woven into every conversation, tradition, and expectation. Bigotry ran so deeply in his family that he never thought to question it—it was simply "the way things are." His parents and grandparents reinforced these ideas at every meal, every family gathering, every unguarded whisper. By the time he reached adulthood, he had adopted their attitudes as his own.When Sarah Washington moved to town, Gator’s life was shaken in ways he couldn’t understand. Sarah, a quiet woman with a warm smile and a habit of greeting everyone she met, somehow found herself working alongside him at the local grocery store. Every day, she extended a friendly word or two in his direction. It irked him at first; he didn't understand why she’d make such an effort. She was one of “those” people he’d been taught to avoid, and yet she went out of her way to speak to him with kindness.
One Friday after a long shift as they walked to their cars in the dim parking lot, Sarah stopped him and asked. “Gator, you ever been to church?" "Not once in my life," he responded like he deserved an award! "Well, Gator, you’re coming with me to church this Sunday,” she said with a bright but unwavering smile. Caught off guard, he scoffed and shook his head.“No way. I’m not going to sit in a room full of—” He stopped himself, but she just kept smiling.“Give it one hour of your time,” she said gently. “If it doesn’t change anything, you never have to come back.”For some reason, maybe her persistence, kindness, and the genuine look in her eyes, Gator agreed. “Fine, just once,” he grumbled.Sunday morning came, and Gator found himself slipping into a worn pew at the back of a small, sunlit church. The people around him were different, not in the ways he had learned to resent, but in the warmth they extended even to a stranger like him. He felt uncomfortably out of place but stayed out of respect for Sarah.When the pastor walked to the pulpit, he introduced the morning’s sermon as one about “The Love of Christ.” Gator shifted in his seat, feeling his guard instinctively rise. What came next, though, he hadn’t expected.The pastor spoke with a conviction that pierced Gator’s defenses. He spoke of a man named Jesus who extended love to people society rejected—tax collectors, lepers, Samaritans. The pastor explained how Jesus had even shared meals with those considered outcasts and enemies. Joseph felt his chest tighten as the pastor spoke about how Jesus loved every person without exception. “He called us to love our neighbor as ourselves,” the pastor continued, “because every person is made in God’s image.”The words began to seep into Gator's hardened heart. He could feel something painful stirring, an awareness that his whole life he had harbored resentment and disdain toward people he’d never even tried to know. The pastor shared stories from the Bible of people whose hearts were changed by Jesus—stories of men and women who had known darkness and found light.Gator felt a lump in his throat when the pastor shared a prayer that Jesus prayed on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Those words, spoken by Jesus as he was crucified, undid him. For the first time, Gator felt the weight of his own bitterness and pride. It was as if Jesus himself was speaking to him, inviting him to let go of everything that had hardened him.The pastor invited everyone that wanted to pray with him and ask Jesus into their heart. Without hesitating, Gator trembled and prayed with them. Tears, long buried, finally came. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Sarah, her face soft with compassion. “You felt it, didn’t you?” she asked gently.He could barely respond. “Yes… I—I don’t know what happened, but… I think I need Jesus.” "You just received Him into your heart when you prayed that prayer, Gator," Sarah smiled; "Though you don't understand it yet, you have a new life ahead of you. A life with Jesus living in your heart and teaching you His ways and His love. You will never be the same!”That day, Gator, in that simple, small church, experienced his hard heart begin to soften. In the weeks and months that followed, people around him saw the transformation. He began reaching out to others, especially those he’d once looked down on. He began to feel a tenderness and compassion he’d never thought possible. People no longer recognized the man he had been, and soon, neither did he.Gator’s life became a living testament to the power of God's grace. His family and old friends didn’t understand at first, some even mocked him. But he no longer cared about fitting into their narrow view of the world. Instead, he saw each person he met as a unique creation, worthy of love and respect. He prayed for the courage to love as Jesus did, and it became his daily mission.Years later, when people would ask what had changed him, Gator would simply say, “It was the love of Jesus. He loved me, even when I was at my worst. If He could love me, then I can love anyone.”And for Gator, loving others became as natural as breathing, because he knew he had been given a second chance—a chance to live not in fear or anger, but in the endless, boundless love of Christ.
