Stanley: I've had enough of this; I'm ready for a change!

Stanley says he came home from Vietnam a different man from the one who left a few short months earlier. The world in which he found himself was complicated and hard and he had neither the skills nor the strength to cope. So he turned to drugs and alcohol. Obviously, that didn’t solve any problems but only created some new ones. Stanley was enslaved for 30 years and the forces driving him were so strong that he began to do things he would never have done in order to try to satiate his cravings. Just over two years ago, he wound up in prison, having lost his job, his home, his family, and worst of all, his hope.

Stanley had already heard about the Bible meetings in the park in central Durham and had decided that he would come tomorrow and "check it out." God was working a little ahead of his schedule and brought us face-to-face at five-points about 5:30 today. He shared his story with me and said, "I need to find some way out of the life I’m living. I’ve had enough of this and I’m ready for a change."

I assured Stanley that God alone has the power to bring about the change he is looking for. And that change doesn’t start on the outside, but on the inside. He listened intently to the good news that God has a plan and purpose for his life and was eager to have me pray for him. I thought of the Psalm (34:18) that says, "The Lord is near unto them that are of a broken heart; and saves those of a contrite spirit." The change in Stanley’s countenance spoke volumes. He called on the Lord and God heard him.

Please keep Stanley in your prayers. He has a bucket and window-washing equipment and goes from store to store offering his services; pray that God will bless his enterprise. He would like to get a place to live before cold weather sets in; I assured him that we would pray with him about this need. Most of all, pray that Stanley will grow in his walk with God and fulfill God’s dream for his life.