I wander to a place I have never been before. This is my first night in this type of ministry at this particular place. The place is called Weld Square located in Perth, Australia. This ministry I was about to attend was a feeding for homeless and low income families and/or singles whom would like dinner. This feeding is held at this local park hosted by a local church Mon-Fri. The ministry we were supposed to partake in was talking with and building relationships with the homeless community in the area. Since I am good at talking and listening I accepted the challenge and dove in head first. Now this is not your typical "American" homeless interaction. For 1) we are not in America and 2) They are culturally different and some do not want to hear the Gospel. That frightened me a little bit but I prayed and heard God tell me whom to talk with.
Granted I was new at listening prayer I knew and was confident this was the man. And he was exactly the man I had been longing to speak with. Just what I needed.
His name is Dan. He is about late 30's and a great personality. I walked over to him while he was eating and sitting on a tree. He was skeptical of the reason a young girl prances over to him wanting to chat. In Australia when a girl does that it typical means something completely different. Knowing me and my strong determination to speak with people I did not think of the other reason at all. I just knew God wanted me to talk to him so I was not thinking what he could possibly think of me. Side note- He did not think that of me once I started talking because of my accent and also the questions I was asking. Whew! Wanted to clear the air on that one!!
So Dan, is from England where he was born and raised by nuns in an orphanage. When he was 5 years old England was overwhelmed with orphans. Since Australia is run by the British leadership a lot of orphans were shipped to Australia to live. So, Dan being 5 year old comes to Australia to find his place in a new orphanage. An important fact he told me was he does not know his parents. His mother or father dropped him off at the orphanage when he was a newborn without any information, in a box, with the clothes on his body and a blanket. Dan does not know his real name, his parents name, his heritage or where he is actually from. None of that.
Dan is very discouraged by this but knows he must move on. Not wanting to involve himself in these thoughts any longer he grows up in the orphanage, makes his way into the real world and finds himself a lady. Dan and this lady get married and they have four children. One day she cheats on him and kicks him out. All he was told is her new boyfriend was moving in. That is another bullet to the head in his life story. My problems do not seem so bad after all.
The thing about Dan is he does't think of it that way. He is here. He is alive. And he is in the present. He does everything for his children but has no right to see them. He is eating at a homeless event so that he can give his food money to his children.
I was able to talk about God and the gospel with him to get his perspective of how he thinks and myself with him being raised by nuns and myself being raised by two non-denominal christians. It amazes me so much how people have so much faith but have been through so much and live everyday for Jesus. Yet us who have everything question one simple chaotic thing that happens in our life.
Can you imagine for just one moment that you are put on a porch of a place where you will be raised. No name, no number, no other clothes and no identity. But the thing is no matter if we have been through that or not; you are God's son or daughter and knowing that you will have comfort and satisfaction like no other. That is exactly what Dan told me as I sit with my mouth dropped.
The last thing he said to me was "Where do I belong? Where do I belong when so many bad things happen to me?" … I told him " I can tell you where I belong. Right here talking with you in this very moment" And in that moment I finally saw him smile. That is all that needed to happen for a man to smile.
We can look at the simplicity of life and want to grasp on but yet we tend to make things far more complicated then it has to be. I am talking about a simple conversation, with a man I never met and in a place I had never been. Because God told me to go. Simple. So listen.
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It was a wonderful conversation with Dan that I had and I want you all to pray for him while he finds his identify in Australia. He definitely knows his identity in Christ.
God Bless!!
