Dad Makes the San Antonio News

Posted on March 31, 2007

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My dad, David recently went to South Padre Island during spring break with a group of about 20 from his church. They called the event “Beach Reach” and the idea was to reach out and minister to the students at the beach in any way they could during the week. They helped provide some meals and shuttled kids around to help prevent drunk driving incidents, as well as many other things.

Dad is a big car and motorcycle buff so it didn’t take him long to find something in common with a lot of the young guys down there. The San Antonio news posted an article about the event and specifically featured my dad towards the end.

Take a minute and read the full article. I’ve reproduced the section pertaining to him below.

One Convert

Pablo “PJ” Flores, who rode his racing cycle from Laredo, happened across Island Baptist Church’s parking lot where he saw signs for the free breakfast. Hungry and with only about $20, Flores pulled over, expecting a catch of some sort.
At his table was 58-year-old Dave Flahaut, a silver-haired Sunday school teacher of senior adults at his church, Lake Arlington Baptist, who’d come down to drive vans.

The two struck up a conversation about their shared love of engines and speed. Flahaut was dressed in a white T-shirt with a picture of three crosses and the words to John 3:16.

Flores. 20, would spend the day chatting with Flahaut and student evangelists from Austin at their hotel, at Whataburger and at the beach.

They learned of his life on Laredo’s south side, his dream of a law enforcement career after community college and how his parents divorced when he was 4, how he grew up in his grandmother’s house.

They also learned he went to Catholic Masses because his mother asked him to. Three years ago, he stopped when his father died suddenly from a heart attack, he said, and he blamed God for it.

Few people had shown such interest in listening to his story, he said.

“These people are way too nice.”

He decided to go with them to their evening worship service at the island’s convention center.

Flahaut, who once was a pastor, gave him some advice.

“I told him death is a natural cycle of life you just have to accept and not to blame the Lord for it,” Flahaut said.

Flores then repeated the words of a salvation prayer. He was one of 36 conversions during the week.

“I wanted to cry. I felt at peace,” he said, afterward. “I don’t feel angry anymore.”

Flahaut tucked a piece of paper with his name and number into his New Testament, a palm-size black-covered paperback, and gave it to Flores.

“I was touched by that. I never felt such an act of random kindness,” he said. “I’m used to being nice to people but not getting it back.”