Marlo: "La vida es muy difícil para mí ahora."

One of the appointments God had for me this morning was with Marlo. I met him in the park at Main and Mangum, the park where we have our Wednesday Bible meetings. He was sitting alone at one of the picnic tables reading a Spanish newspaper. As I greeted him, he seemed a little surprised, but seemed to welcome the interruption. Marlo is from Brazil. He came to the US about two years ago with several members of his family. They tried unsuccessfully to find work and soon became discouraged and returned to Brazil–that is, everyone but Marlo. He has a dream of making a better life for himself in America and wasn’t willing to give up that dream until now. He has become disheartened and feels on the verge of giving up. He said to me, "La vida es muy difícil para mí ahora [Life is very hard for me now]." He has no job, no friends, and very little hope. I assured Marlo that there is always hope in Christ and that we wanted to be his friends.

As I assured Marlo of God’s love for him and that God has a plan and purpose for his life, it was obvious that the Holy Spirit was speaking to his heart. I offered to pray with him and he was eager for me to do so. He gripped my hand and agreed with me in prayer. I then called my friend, Mainor, and put him on the line with Marlo to encourage him and speak some wisdom into his life as a fellow-immigrant.

I invited Marlo to Meet Me at the Bridge tomorrow and he assured me that he would be there. I will help link him with some Spanish-speaking brothers who can strengthen him in his walk with the Lord. Just after leaving Marlo, I received a call from Antonio, my friends from Mexico, asking if I could meet him in the Market Square and pray with him. I will meet him, pray with him, then hook him up with Marlo. God is good!

Dan: I don't have any problems

The business at which Dan has been employed for several years closed a few weeks ago and he has been unable to find another job. Since he was living from week to week, it didn’t take long for his funds to run out and two weeks ago he found himself broke and homeless for the first time in his life.

For a man of sixty years who has never been in this predicament and hasn’t developed the skills to survive on the street, Dan seemed remarkably unbothered by it. When I asked him how he was handling his situation with such serenity, he simply said, "I’m right in the palm of God’s hand. God will take care of me. In fact," he said, "I think God has a purpose in having me right where he as me right now. He has a purpose in everything, you know." (Who’s preaching to who here?)

Dan went on to say, "I am learning things here on the street I could never have learned anywhere else." When I asked him what he had learned thus far, he said, "The first thing I have learned is that I don’t really have any problems. I see people out here whose lives are ruined and they don’t know what to do. I see mothers--sometimes with little children--who don’t have any way to provide food and shelter for their little ones. I’m sixty years old and have never been sick a day in my life. I am able to carry all my belongings in these bags that must weigh 50 or 60 pounds. No sir!" he said, "I don’t have any problems!"

I left Dan today with a renewed awareness that it’s not problems that define our lives, it’s perspective. Romans 8:28 - "And we know that in all things, God’s works to the good of those who love him and who are the called according to his purpose for them."

I’m praying for Dan–that I will be more like him.

Tommy: I changed my mind; you can pray for me.

In all my years of ministry, those who have refused my offer to pray with them have numbered only a handful. One such case was Tommy, a man in his mid-forties who just got out of prison a couple weeks ago. As Milton and I were ministering to some men on Main street last week, Tommy came into my field of vision and my urge to pray for him caused me to literally run him down. He sat and talked with us for about half and hour, telling us of his years in prison. Upon his release, since he had no permanent address, he was brought bu DOC to Durham to a transitional facility. Tommy wasn’t happy there at all–they were just "too religious" to suit him. He would rather sleep on the street than to be there.

As we shared the gospel with Tommy, he listened politely but without expression. When I offered prayer, he refused, got up, and walked away as though I had offended him. I reminded Milton (maybe I was reminding myself) that it is not our responsibility to bring about an immediate effect but to faithfully sow the seed and leave the rest to the Holy Spirit.

Today, I am walking along at a pretty good clip and I hear someone behind me calling out, "Hey, preacher, wait up." I turned around to see Tommy chasing me down the street. When he caught up, he said, "I was wondering if we could talk some more." I took Tommy to lunch and continued the conversation we had started a week earlier.

Tommy told me of a painful childhood that left him confused, angry, and afraid. He spent four years in the Army, traveled from place to place, engaged in all kinds of behavior–good and bad–in an effort to find peace and satisfaction in his life. He has tried to tell himself it doesn’t matter, that he doesn’t need anything anybody. He describes himself as a survivor. And that’s what Tommy has been doing: surviving.

I said, "Tommy, it’s time you came to realize that there is more to life than just surviving. God has a wonderful, productive, fulfilling life in store for you and all you have to do is to give yourself over fully to him. Ask him to forgive you, cleanse you, and heal you of all the wounds of your past." Tommy agreed to do that and I prayed with him. I prayed that God would reveal his love to Tommy, that he would show him his true worth in God’s sight, and create within him a passionate hunger for God.

Tommy promised me that he would listen carefully for God’s voice and that he would follow him the rest of his life. He has promised to come to the meeting at the Bridge on Saturday. Meanwhile, I know where he hangs out and will be checking up on him. Pray for Tommy that he will follow the Lord and come into God’s perfect plan for his life.

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.

Wallace: He explained the gospel to me

Typically, the numbers of people on the streets on Fridays are a little sparse. Today is an exception (I’m not sure why) and I have had several excellent encounters already this morning. One such encounter was with Wallace.

Wallace is a tall, rather stately man who appears to be about 60. I have seen him around for the past few weeks and have waited for the opportunity to sit down with him. Today, the time was right and I sensed that God had arranged the moment. As I engaged in conversation with Wallace, I found him to be a thoughtful and quite articulate individual. The door was already wide open because Wallace was very familiar with what we’re up to on the streets of Durham and has attended some of the Bible meetings in the park. One of his first statements was, "I know I need to quit this drinking and doing drugs. I know I need to change my ways."

I said to him, "Wallace, the drinking and drugs are not your problem and you can’t change your ways." That statement seemed to pique his interest and he asked me what I thought his problem was and who I didn’t think he could change. I proceeded to tell him, "Your problem is the same as mine and every other human being: we have a sinful nature–a bent toward doing what is wrong–and there is nothing we can do to change that. We can exercise some discipline and self-control and do better for a while, but the problem is still there. We are sinners by nature as well as by practice and the only way that is ever going to change is for us to turn our lives over fully to Christ and allow him to change us."

Wallace said emphatically, "I know that."

I said, "How do you know that?" and he began quoting to me John 3:16-17. I said, "What do you think that means?" And Wallace proceeded to give me a very cogent presentation of the gospel. He explained to me how that salvation only comes to us through faith in Christ and his shed blood. He told me that believing on Christ frees of from condemnation and brings us eternal life. He had a clear grasp of what it means to be saved.

"Then, what’s holding you back, Wallace?" I asked him, "You see the light, now walk in it."

And Wallace said to me, "I spent over twenty years in prison. I was sentence to fifty years for murder; I went in with I was 34 and came out when I was 55. I cry everyday over my wasted life. And I drink every day. I smoke crack–just smoked it last night. I can’t get off the hook with the dealers; they want to keep me in debt to them; they get just about all the money I get my hands on. And I shoot up on heroin" He pulled up his sleeve and pointed to the needle marks on his arm. "How can I come to God the way I am?"

I said, "Wallace, that’s the only way we can come to God–just as we are. You will never be able to change yourself or ready yourself for the family of Christ. You have to come to him just as you are and let him change you from the inside out."

I prayed with Wallace and he prayed. He asked God to give him power to break with his past and start a new life. He prayed that God would allow him time to make up for some of the bad things he had done and to be a help and blessing to somebody else. He promised to meet with me regularly and give himself to growing in his faith. He invited me to his apartment and I told him I would come and pray with him there.

God has placed great potential in this man. I can see him walking the streets of this city sharing the gospel and witnessing to its power in his own life.

Wallace asks that you pray for him as he seeks to develop a strong walk with Christ.

This is shaping up to be a fruitful day!

Ernest and Sharon: Ready for God's exciting plan!

When you walk down the street with eyes peeled for someone who is hurting and in need of God’s loving touch, it is amazing how clearly they stand out. This morning, as I was waiting for the "walk" light at the intersection (I’m getting better about that), I spotted a young man walking up the adjacent street. My attention was so strongly drawn to him that I waited for him to reach the corner on the other side. I approached him, introduced myself to him, and asked how his day was going. I got the standard "pretty good" but I knew better. I said, "No, you can tell me. How’s it going?"

Then I got a more honest, "Not worth a ****."

"That’s more like it," I said. "Do you have a minute to talk."

Ernest said, "Of course I do." and we took our seat on a nearby bench as he began to lay out the story of his life. He is from Lumberton, NC, where he grew in a less-than-perfect home. He injured his back in a basketball mishap when he was a teenager and has lived with chronic pain since that day. Ernest became addicted to alcohol and various other substances years ago and found himself wandering across the country looking for–he doesn’t know what.

I asked Ernest if he had ever called upon the Lord for help. He assured me that he had, but it didn’t seem that God had done much to turn the tide in his life. "I guess this is just my life," Ernest told me, "maybe things are just the way they’re supposed to be." I asked where he lived and he told me he and his wife are living in "tent city" which is a place in the woods near "the Bridge" a few blocks away. His wife, Sharon, is an alcoholic as well, Ernest told me, and just can’t seem to go a day without drinking.

"God can help you, Ernest!" I assured him. "Your problems–the whole pile of them–is no problem to God. He made the universe and everything in it. He made you. He made Sharon. And he made you both for an incredibly wonderful purpose."

"That’s what the preacher-man in Texas told us," Earnest said, "but I don’t have any idea what that might be. What could I ever do that would make any difference?"

"Would you like to live a life that counts? Would you like to know that your being on this earth is having a good impact day after day?"

"Well, of course I would!" Ernest said this as though it had never dawned upon him that there was great value and great potentiality in his life. "Of course I would. I would love to be able to help somebody. If I could just help my wife overcome her alcohol addiction, I would be a happy man. We have our problems, but I love that woman," Ernest continued. "I don’t believe in divorce. I don’t care how bad things get, I would never leave her. My mother was married three times and my fathert two times. It had an awful effect on all us kids and I’m never going to give up on this marriage."

I said, "Earnest, you have to fall in love with Jesus so strongly that you would feel the same way about him–that no matter what happens, you are going to walk with Jesus for the rest of our life. And, if you’ll do that, there is nothing you can go through that he will not help you with." Then I asked him, "Are you willing to do that?"

And he answered, "Absolutely!" I knew the Holy Spirit was at work and right there on the bench on the sidewalk of Main Street, Ernest asked Jesus to take charge of his life.

He had told me earlier that the reason he was walking the street was to try and find something for his wife to eat. He was going to a soup kitchen and try to talk them into allowing him to take a plate to his wife. He said if he had to, he would get the plate as though it was for himself, then he would slip out and take it to her.
I said, "Ernest, would you like for me to go home with you. I’ll buy lunch."

He said, "Would you do that?"

"I would be honored to do that," I assured him. So we walked a few blocks to my car, drove to McDonald’s for a bag of burgers and headed for tent city. I have been wanting to visit this place, but never had an entree before. Now, Ernest was ushering me into a veritable jungle. It reminded me of places I have visited in Africa or India.

I asked Ernest to go ahead of me and announce that I was coming so I didn’t startle anybody. "Honey, we’re got company," he called out, and I followed him to their little hideaway. There I met Sharon, a gentle, soft-spoken woman, who immediately began to apologize for her appearance, her condition, and the surroundings.

"I’m happy to be here, Sharon. Not to worry, you look fine and besides that I’m here because God sent me here with good news for you." She told me of her life–much of which I had already heard from Ernest–and added that she had been beaten, robbed, and even raped in these woods. "It’s a tough world out here," she said, "so what’s the good news?"

I opened by cell phone Bible to Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

"How could any of that ever happen in my life," Sharon asked.

"It’s in the very next verse and the following verses–"In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you seek for me with all your heart, you will find me. I will be found by you," says the Lord. "I will end your captivity and restore what you have lost." By this time, Sharon is beginning to cry. Earnest reached over and put his arm around her and I began to pray for both of them. I asked God to heal and restore them. I prayed that he would guide them and show them his wonderful plan for their lives. I prayed for the day that they would find themselves in His perfect will–being richly blessed and blessing everyone who came into their lives. What a meeting with God right there in "tent city" in the middle of the woods.

Sharon asked to borrow my cell phone to call her daughter and tell here what was happening. She called–no answer–so she left a voice mail. Half-hour later, her daughter called me to ask, "Is this for real?" I assured it that it was.

I believe God has begun a work today in Earnest and Sharon’s life. I promised them that many of my friends would be praying daily for them. Please don’t forget.

Tony: I’m going to keep trusting in God.

I took a walk with Tony today. He assured me that he is going to keep trusting God and walking with him. Don't forget to keep Tony in your prayers.