John, a man with whom I shared the gospel and prayed recently, introduced me to Paul. He said, "You ought to talk with Paul and tell him what you told me." So I sat down for what would be a very interesting conversation.

Paul grew up in Durham, wasn’t raised in church, but he went a few times. Once when he visited a church (he had long hair) and they asked him if he was a boy or a "fag" (don’t know what kind of evangelism you call that). He went again, but he felt like he was at a fashion show and was shamefully underdressed. It seemed that every time he showed up at church, he felt like he was crashing somebody’s party and he lost his nerve to go again.

With no church and no spiritual training at home and a rough neighborhood, it’s not too surprising that Paul wound up in prison. It was there that he first heard the gospel. But by this time his heart was pretty hard and the environment so non-conducive to spiritual growth, Paul never made a heart response to the call of God. When he got out of prison, he was marked with a criminal record and it was difficult for him to get a job, so he wound up on the street.

Paul has tried church a few times after getting out of prison, but has never been able to link up. He said he didn’t want to be critical and he knew what happened to blasphemers, but he would have to say, "There is less b.s. on the street that in church. If someone does you wrong on the street, you get in their face, you beat their tail or they beat yours, then it’s over with. But it seems like in church, if you do something wrong they never let you live it down." OUCH!

Are we like that? Are we unforgiving? And judgmental? And proud? And full of b.s.? (sorry) I’m really getting to like these street people a lot! Maybe that’s why Jesus was a street guy--so he could hang out with people who, although they were screwed up, at least they knew they were screwed up.Paul welcomed me to pray with him and even said, "amen." He said he’d like to talk again and, when we get a place to meet, he’ll sure as h*** be there! I will definitely see Paul again.

Seems like I’m meeting all the apostles...Thomas, Simon Peter, James, John, and now Paul.