“THE SIMPLICITY…IN CHRIST”
DELFINO’S MOTHER
by Erwin Bourne
The Christian children of the village had a cute
little rhyme about Delfino: “Vino hizo Delfino.”
That translates to “Wine made Delfino.” Yes, Delfino
was a wino. He lived in a house on the corner where
one turns off the paved highway to enter the village
of La Laja. I had built a small cement block church
deeper into this village and held services for a
number of families.
One day as I was working on this building, right out
of the blue, Delfino rode up on his bicycle. He
visited with me a few minutes; then said, “Do you want
some oranges?” “Si Señior,” I answered, so off we
went, he pushing his bicycle along side of me as we
walked out toward the highway. The place had a large
ill-kempt garden and a small orange grove. Delfino
picked a third of a burlap bag of oranges, hung the
sack on the handlebar, and we set off back down the
dusty road. The man could have brought the oranges
along when he first came, but there was a method to
all this.
We entered the yard where I was building the chapel,
Delfino walked over to the hut that I called home, and
set the bag on the ground by my door. There he shook
my hand and announced very undrammatically: “Now I’m
a Christian!” It was all that simple. He had given his heart to Christ! This new “evangelico” began attending all the meetings. And he asked if he could borrow my guitar. Try to imagine a wino playing and singing the Christian choruses. His hands trembled and his voice quavered, but this wino found a new joy and satisfaction. The young people tried to imitate him in a teasing manner.
More and more often the man who gave me the oranges
came to borrow my guitar. But little did I know what
was happening. Delfino invited me to his house so he
could introduce me to his aged mother. There she lay
on a cot—one of the darkest souls I had ever seen.
How could the gospel ever penetrate the darkness of
this heathen woman? Some time later, this saved wino
told me that his mother loved to hear him sing. She
didn’t need evangelistic preaching. She found God
through the simple choruses sung by her son. I
watched this being demonstrated in the house on the
corner.
Let me study with you the truth found in II
Corinthians 11:3 - 4, from the New Living Translation:
But I fear that somehow you will be led away from
your pure and simple devotion to Christ, just as Eve
was deceived by the serpent. You seem to believe
whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a
different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different
Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind
of gospel than the one you believed.
I had been traveling in other parts of Mexico with a
missionary “compadre” when we had the opportunity at
darkness to pass by La Laja. When we entered the lane
passing Delfino’s house, we saw the street and yard
were full of people. Immediately I realized the dear
old soul had passed on to a better world. Yet here in
the world left behind, family, neighbors and others
were drinking and preparing the wake for the night
hours ahead. We found Delfino who begged us not to
stop over. He was ashamed of the carrying on. He
knew his mother was in heaven all because of his
singing to her.
Erwin Bourne
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