10 Seconds of Rain

If you didn't catch my last post, I mentioned that Nate, David, and I slept on the streets for two nights but I only told you about one.  The second one was last night and God totally was watching and smiling upon us the whole time.  He sent some rain.

On my way to NYC, I started to read a book called The Circle Maker.  This book is all about the power of prayer and opens with the story of an Israelite prayer warrior named Honi who prayed for rain.  Israel was experiencing a drought and Honi drew a circle on the ground with his staff and asked God for rain.  God sent rain.  He sent rain that flooded the valley.  Honi prayed that God would send rain that would favor God and the rain began to lighten up and became a vital source of life and saved the people.  Honi drew his circle and prayed- God provided.

Nate, David, and I did not literally draw a circle but before we started on our two-night journey we huddled in a circle and prayed.  We asked God for His favor, for His provision, for His love, for His sight, for His Kingdom to come, for His mercy, for His compassion, for His heart.  We prayed because we know that God answers prayer.  Last night when we slept outside, God sent rain.

We went to sleep near a construction site.  The construction site?  The Brooklyn Bridge.  We asked some construction workers if we could sleep there and they said yeah that they didn't care, they said it might be loud.  Little did they know... we slept next to a highway the night before.  We went to sleep peacefully and a light drizzle rain kept us cool.  At 3am, God sent rain.

The three of us sat straight up and started packing our bags.  We didn't say a word.  The rain had picked up and we started moving simultaneously.  As we were leaving our area, a NYPD Security Guard was walking up from behind the fence that was to our back.  We don't know for sure what would have taken place but we do know that he was coming to get rid of us.  In NYC, is a homeless person doesn't have their ID with them they go to prison.  Nate and David didn't have their IDs with them so chances are we might have got locked up.  God sent rain ahead of the officer to wake us up and get us on the move to stay away from a troubling situation.  It had lightly rained all night but God chose ten seconds of heavy rain to wake us and put us on the move, all we had to do was respond.

Several lessons about God's character can be gleaned from this experience and we are praying through it and thanking God for His provision.

Pray for Rain, When God Provides, Move.

Cardboard is Pretty Great

The last two nights, I slept outside in the streets.  When I told Nate that I would go to NYC with him this summer, I told him that I was, "All in," and I joined in his vision.  When our friend David Lane shared with Nate his vision about experiencing homelessness by sleeping on the streets, we went all in and joined in David's vision.  We told him that we would be the hands and feet of Jesus together and that is what we have done.

On Sunday, David got dropped off in front of the Bowery.  After picking up some snacks, we popped popcorn and drank soda with some guys in the Bowery and watched Brazil shut out Spain to win the Confederation Cup.  Then we went to Hillsong NYC for their last service at 9pm.  During the service they have "Four Minutes of Fellowship" and Nate met a guy in front of us named Brendan who had given his life to the Lord and actually worked at MontLawn last summer so he was pumped to hear that we had just come from there.  Church was good but after the service was better.  Brendan wanted to bless us after hearing our story.  He said, "I have $20 in my bank account but I want to take you all to get frozen yogurt."  That's when we met Andrew outside.

Andrew had two bags of food in his hand that he had gotten from Starbucks and asked us, "Do you want to go pass out this food in the parks with me?" Little did he know that we were about to spend the night under the Williamsburg Bridge.  We told him yes.  He ended up leaving the food with Brendan, his friends Mikayla & Michelle, and Nate, David, and I and we all passed out together.  We met Sophie and Daniel.  We all parted ways after getting Slurpees and continued on towards our night.

Heading towards the bridge, we picked up some cardboard and walked towards the bridge.  We found a spot under a cat walk and laid down our cardboard.  Our air conditioning was the cars going 60mph next to our heads and our alarm clock was the people who jogged by in the early morning, our nightlight was the street light, our mattress was cardboard, and our Yankee Candle air freshner was our sweat and BO.  We gave up our comforts to experience what it felt like to be homeless.  We didn't do it to tell people and show off, we did it because it is a reality for a large majority of people in the City and around the world.

The only difference between these people and us is we have homes to go back to and we were in a group of friends.  When we woke up in the morning we talked about how lonely we would have been without one another and I realized that loneliness is an aspect of homelessness that we usually don't realize or think about.  Just because they are all out there doesn't mean they are altogether.

In the morning we sat by the bay and enjoyed the peaceful cool morning and knew in our hearts that this was only the beginning of the experience and we had only scratched the surface of many's reality.

We will never look at cardboard the same.

Beauty in the Renewal

My last post spoke to some of the ways Nate and I's journey has been an illustration of the Gospel and I made the statement that, "True beauty is found in our renewal in Jesus Christ."  Every since God put those words on my heart I have had it on my heart to tell some of the beautiful stories- testimonies of transformation.

There's Kenneth, the first person we met.  When Nate and I first rolled into the Bowery, before we even got inside, Kenneth watched our bikes and sent us inside for lunch and gave us one of his freezee pops.  He is a bigger guy because his heart is so big.  He is full of love and is on the road to finding his identity.  He's 49 but  we are in similar places.  He prays with us at night.  He is trying to find his way and he is depending on Jesus to lead the way.

There's Howard, the Bermudan Danny Glover.  Howard showed Nate and I how to work the desk the first day and has been on of our best friends ever since.  He loves Peanut M&Ms and used to sleep under the Williamsburg Bridge.  He doesn't have his front teeth but that doesn't mean he can't smile.  His smile is beautiful and when chased by his hearty laughter is a loud proclamation of his love for God and transformation.

There's Jason, the gentle in spirit.  Jason got married in Manassas and knows about Virginia.  Everytime Jason sees us he smiles and says hello.  Everytime.  Jason used to have an addiction.  Now he is addicted to spreading joy and love.  He wants to listen and he cares.  His transformation in Jesus is beautiful and you can see it when you look at him.

There's John and Rich, the hooligans.  They are from Brooklyn and Queens.  When Nate and I went to work at MontLawn Camp for a couple of days they went with us and now they are our brothers.  John cuts his apples to eat them because he doesn't have teeth.  When he talks, get ready to laugh, everything he says is gold.  Six months ago, John couldn't stop drinking until he gave Jesus a chance and now he has been sober for the longest time that he can remember, by the grace and strength of the Holy Spirit.  Rich talks out of the side of his mouth, every conversation's end goal is ice cream and every sentence ends in, "Buddy!"  Rich has been to jail six times for the same offense and now he is starting over.  He wants to work at the Bowery as long as they will have him because it has changed his life.  The only time Rich is silent is when he is asleep but it doesn't bother me.  They both wear hats and banter back and forth and are brothers in transformation and their stories are as beautiful as the brotherhood that we now share with them.

The Bowery is open 24/7 365 and is always at work.  It is a mission that operates by God's standards.  We never stop because God never stops.  He has been working longer than anyone else and will continue to do so for eternity.  His ways are mysterious but His ways are beautiful.

These stories are only snapshots and fragments of the beauty of the transformative power of Jesus Christ and the Cross.  These guys are our family now because they have shared their stories with us and now they are part of our story.

Part of the Beauty in the Renewal is that we are never alone in doing work for the Kingdom:

 God's family is big and we are all beautiful.