Today was a day of prayer and fasting for me. The day after
my birthday. I was praying and praising, singing worship songs
on my guitar, and reading scripture. As the afternoon wore on, I continued
praying and was prompted by the Spirit to get into my car and drive to
Wal-mart. The reasoning at first was to practice a type of praying that I was
too embarrassed to do at the house where my two roommates were. But as I drove
there, praying all the while, I realized I didn’t have a plan once I got there.
I parked anyway, and proceeded to walk around. I decided I would simply follow
wherever the Spirit would lead. So I walked up and down the aisles, hands in my
pockets, just listening. Praying. Not searching out for the neediest looking person,
but simply waiting on the Lord. I prayed that if the Lord told me to come here,
he would provide whatever it was I needed to do. So I continued walking, and
made my way out of the store and started heading back towards my car. Then I
see a man coming up to me with a plastic bag of beer. He asked if I had some
spare change. And I knew right then, that this was why I had come. I told him I could buy him some food if he was hungry, and he
said sure. So we walked to the McDonalds and while I was prepared to pay whatever, since I told him he could have anything, he opted for a simple
meal for about $7. We went to a table while they were preparing his food and I
asked him about his life and he opened up the moment I mentioned church. He
said, “You know I’m going to be honest with you, I’m really struggling…” and
proceeded to tell me how he buys beer for his other homeless friends, “And I
drink too, you know, I’m not going to lie” he sadly explained to me. And as we
talked I shared that I was a Christian and we ended up praying together, and
George said one of the simplest, powerful prayers I’d heard in a while. It gave
me chills. Now, of course, in the back of my mind I think the devil was telling
me how the majority of homeless people are con-men, just out to get drunk and
high, and he was just playing me like a fiddle.
But I was seeing George as my own flesh and blood, as a man who once was a cute baby, who was once a small boy with dreams, and now a man. A man loved by Jesus, the same Jesus who loves me.
I ended up driving him to where he was staying that night, and I told him about how I had felt the Lord wanted me to come to Walmart today. As I was telling him this he
started crying there in the passenger
seat of my car, asking God why He loved him so much. And I spoke to him about
Gods unfathomable love, and shared some encouragement with him. I dropped him
off and told him about how my church offered free rides to come to church. George told me that he would like to come, and asked for my number. George told me he loved me as I left, and I headed back home. I was
honestly so encouraged by George, especially by the prayer he prayed while in
the McDonalds. There is so much discussion and argument about the homeless, but
when thoughts and arguments rise up in my head against the poor, I turn to
Jesus and His word.
"Is not THIS the kind of fasting I have chosen: To loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the
yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your
food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter- when you
see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and
blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will
quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of
the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and He will say: Here am I.” (Isaiah 58:4-9)
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