My wife and I recently completed gutting, redesigning, and remodeling an entire house. After two months of construction woes and delays, we caught a break when we found Mike. Mike was an experienced contractor and carpenter, and he took over managing the day-to-day construction operations for us. Mike knew the answer to all our questions and patiently taught me how to assist him with the carpentry and construction.

As I spent day after day working alongside Mike, we got to talking about his life. Mike shared that he had lost everything because of a run-in with addiction. He lost his family, his business, and all his friends, but now he was clean and trying to rebuild.

Despite these devastating losses, I often witnessed Mike blasting Gospel music while working and singing along loudly. Nothing could shake the deep faith that Mike had in Jesus. As I got to know Mike better, I learned that he had once been a preacher, but since his addiction, he felt that he was unworthy to ever go back to the pulpit. Mike told me how much he loved Jesus, and how, without Jesus, he never would have kicked his addiction; he never would have found peace, and he never would have had the courage to continue being a loving father to his son.

Two weeks ago, Mike died unexpectedly of a heart attack. Sitting in my house in disbelief, I realized I was surrounded by Mike in his beautiful work. In every aspect of our new home, every detail of the woodwork, I saw Mike praising God. Even as I grieved for a life that ended too quickly, Mike’s work continued “glorifying and praising God for all he had heard and seen, just as it had been told to him.”

Like the shepherds in the fields, who themselves were considered to be “ordinary men,” Mike heard the Call and wanted to be with Jesus. After he saw Jesus, he couldn’t help but share the Good News in everything that he did.