Tuesday , June 6, 2011 –
Michelle Smith and I went back to Skid Row for round II. This time with no plan, other than to talk to people, we park and begin the journey. As we walk we pray for God’s direction and ask for Him to show us people to talk to. Michelle sees a man with his head down that looks sad. She asks, “Hey, are you okay?” He quickly replies, “yeah” as he looks back down at the ground. We approached him and introduce ourselves. He seems to care less who we are. After a conversation that goes nowhere we continue on.
We pass a couple leaning on the side of a building ducking their heads down together as they try to hide the fact that they are lighting their crack pipe trying to take a hit as we pass. We keep walking down several blocks attempting to find the streets we were on last week. We find 6th Street and turn the corner. Thats when things got weird!
Immediately a guy sees us and starts yelling, “Ah man! Its that stupid cop! Oh she got her a bodyguard with her this time.” Ignoring it I put my hand out to shake his hand and say, “Whats up man I’m Julian!” Retreating backwards, he yells out a vulgar, “Get the **** out of here man I aint shaking your hand!” My reaction was to keep walking. So we did. Suddenly the atmosphere changes. Neither of us felt a peace about being there. Michelle looks at me and says that the Holy Spirit has directed her not to continue in the path we were heading. I felt an uneasy feeling about where we were so we decided to heed the warning and leave.
Later on that night we drove down to Huntington Beach to walk down the pier. On our way back to the car, after adventuring around a while, we pass a man sitting on the sidewalk. Michelle says, “We should go talk to him.” We turn around and sit down beside him. His name is Aaron and he is sitting across the street from a bar watching the baseball game through the large glass window. It seems as no coincidence to Michelle and I that the Angels are playing the Devil Rays.
We strike up small talk about where we are from and where he is from. He tells us that he ran away from home as a teenager and has been in Huntington Beach for 10 years now. We try to continue on the conversation, but at some point found ourselves in that awkward silence not knowing what to say. I then prayed for the Lord to give me something to say because I was fresh out of ideas. Michelle began to speak to him about God and how great He is. That gave me an entry to share my testimony. Back and forth we take turns listening to him talk about baseball (trying to avoid the conversation about GOD), and us always finding a way to bring it back to Jesus.
Michelle opens her small new testament Bible and reads some passages. I try my best to explain to him that in his current state he is an enemy of God and that he is shackled in chains, with the enemy laughing in his face. I tried to make it as graphic and real to him as possible. We then explain that Christ has come to set us free from sin and to give us eternal life with HIM! Still, he was disinterested and wanted to lean on his own understand, rather than place his trust in Christ. (Proverbs 3:5)
We ask if we can pray for him and surprisingly he says yes. We tell him that we are going to pray for God to deliver him from drugs and ask God to break his heart of stone and give him a heart of repentence. Still he says, “OK.” After we prayed for him, Michelle looks at Aaron and says, “I want to give you this Bible. Will you take it?” “Yeah sure”, he responds. We shake his hand and bless him in Jesus name.
God protected, guided, and reached out His hand to show His Unfailing Love. All Glory be to our ABBA who calls us the Beloved and takes care of His Children. He will send you to the most dangerous and wildest places to reach His lost children. Praise God that He is willing to do so to save us from eternal punishment and to have a deep relationship with us! Jesus is LORD!!!!
