A Twist In The Plot … Hello weekend readers. One of our campers had friends visit them. Both of their families came from Russia when WWII broke out. They shared their stories with me, and their friend, who was 96 years old and looked like he was 50, shared a really interesting story about his cousin, Alexander Rostovzev, who was a matinee idol in the early 1900’s. The story blew me away and I asked him if I could share it and he gave me a hearty “yepper” (I wasn’t sure what that meant but it was heartfelt). So, here’s the story and how the plot got twisted…

A long time ago in a packed Moscow theatre, there was the premiere of a sacrilegious play called “Christ in a Fur,” and on the opening night, a famous actor named Alexander Rostovzev (a notorious Marxist) was the actor playing Jesus. On the first night of the play he went completely off script. The set was a mockery of an altar center stage, the cross made out of wine and beer bottles. Fat priests and nuns were saying a drunken liturgy with all kinds of blasphemies. Jesus was supposed to walk out on stage wearing a tunic, read two verses from the Sermon on the Mount, throw away the Bible in disgust and say, “Give me my fur and my hat!” But as he read the words, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted,” he started to tremble and kept reading, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth”—he made it through most of the sermon. The other actors were stomping their feet and clearing their throat—and just before the director was about to lower the curtain to shut him up, Alexander remembered a verse from his childhood growing up in a Russian Orthodox church and yelled it out, “Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom!” He left the stage and was never seen again; most people think the Communists disposed of him.

This is a very famous and well-known story about a person coming to faith just by reading the Bible. He heard Christ’s words and it changed him. We often don’t see actors pass up a role, especially in those war-time years where little money was given and many theaters were closed. Today we rarely see actors talking about their faith at all, if they even have faith. So I want to put forth a question: “If you were in such a situation like Rostovzev was, what would you do?” You may not be an actor, but there are many other opportunities we have and some are not good and they can “suck us in” easily.

In Romans 3:22-24 [GNT], the Apostle Paul reminds us that: “God puts people right through their faith in Jesus Christ. God does this to all who believe in Christ, because there is no difference at all: everyone has sinned and is far away from God’s saving presence. But by the free gift of God’s grace all are put right with him through Christ Jesus, who sets them free.”

Perhaps you are in a situation like this, feeling you’ve gone too far; or you have a child that is playing with fire and you wonder if they will ever come around to seek the Lord. So here this, the hope you have is that Jesus actually comes to us, not the other way around. The next Christ encounter for you or that person may be just around the corner.

Remember: A century ago a young actor, Alexander Rostovzev, trusted Christ as his Savior. And whether it be the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, Zacchaeus up in the sycamore tree, or Jonah in the belly of a great fish, the Lord meets each of us in unique ways. So pray and have hope. You never know where Jesus will meet you, but he will and he will change the twisted plot to a plot he has for you: hope, joy, love, and grace. Can’t get any better than that can you? AMEN.