Tonight I had the opportunity to preach in the market
dump. The easiest way to describe
it is a slum full of makeshift, tattered tents. The people who live here are mostly addicts and most are
high or drunk. A pack of dogs roam
free around the lot and there is a smell about it that contributes to its
name.
Let’s just say we are starting to stretch our legs to walk
like Jesus walked. You would think
that a little anxiety would come at the thought of going to such a place at
dusk, but honestly our team was so delighted to have the opportunity and our
focus was in seeing God transform and renew the dump into a place of community,
laughter and peace.
We had caught a ride with some YWAM folks that we have made
friends with and on our way into town I found myself breathing in the fresh air
flowing in from the window and mumbling off a prayer that went something like
this:
“God I breathe in and You breathe
out, You breathe in and I breathe out.. Advance Your Kingdom tonight and start
in and through me! Use my actions,
use my words, let’s laugh and rejoice together in the dumps!”
Throw that into repeat and I was getting centered and
focused. We made it to the dump
and we were all kind of thrown back.
It is one of those things that you can think about all day, but until
you are experiencing it, it doesn’t really get to you.
As the rest of the team went to invite people to the
service, I grabbed my guitar and started learning Spanish worship songs with a
new friend, Carlos. Carlos is one
of those people that has an infectious personality. He loves to laugh, jam and just share words. He started teaching me some songs and
before too long it was go time.
In the headlights of the van and in the midst of smoke and complete
brokenness, we ushered into an incredible time of worship and one of the ladies
from the dump snuck in grabbed the microphone and started belting out some
worship songs. Not exactly perfect
pitch but nonetheless, it was pretty awesome!! After a few songs it was time for the first sermon I would
be giving over the next eleven months.
I grabbed my Bible, which was marked with six or seven
passages, mainly to be focused in Acts 3 and we were off. Here is the thing, it’s probably not
the story you are expecting to come but along with my two Spanish translators
we were having trouble. Apparently
having a country accent (which I know I have but never realized the extent of
it) is not too helpful in the translation process. Haha Ilse, our friend/ministry contact and Carlos
would shoot me quizzical looks every other sentence and I would have to stop to
explain. We were in a game of who
wants to translate me next?
God made something awesome out of that game though. After kind of breaking down my points
and condensing some stuff, the message that was left went something like this:
1)
Never underestimate the Awe of God
2)
Believe in a Big God
3)
Know that a Big God lives inside you
4)
Serve a Big God
5)
You have a purpose and God loves you
As soon as I was done, a man clearly drunk approached me and
just started talking. His name was
George. George was an ex-marine
who spoke really good English and who was living at a shelter nearby. He continued to tell me that he had
been to church that morning and had walked by to visit some friends to find out
that we had showed up to preach.
Here is the cool thing, he had been hanging out with some of the racers
from a different team and they had the opportunity to love on him and share
some words with him. And now it
was our turn.
He semi hugged me and started telling me his life’s story of
how he had been in prison and all around the world. The smell of his breath and his body odor told me a lot but
his words struck harder. He told
me he wanted to start living right and that he wanted to preach one day. It was really cool to have the
opportunity to just pray into him and speak truth over him. We got to tell him how much he already
mattered and that God could use his story to affect all kinds of people just
the way he was. George would laugh
and say, “Yea right you don’t understand, I am a drunkard and have a lot of
work to do.” And then I would tell
him, “Get this I’m messed up too, I wake up every morning and decide which path
I will take during that day.. The one that leads me closer to the heart of God
on which a heavenly sound that resonates from my soul is on repeat in my ears
or the one that ties me closer to the worldly ways that hold back my
potential.” We kind of debated
back and forth and I am not sure if George fully understood me and that we are
all works in progress but the love was evident.
We gave him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and Hollywood
George laughed and told us how much he loved peanut butter and how he hadn’t
had it in such a long time. We
talked a little while longer (he showed me his 3 bullet wounds in his stomach
and hung on me a little) and then George retreated back to the shelter.
As George was walking away he stopped about 20 yards out and
shouted back, “Hey Tom?” I shouted
back, “Hey George” and he yelled “American Peanut Butter Sandwich, YEAAA!” I laughed a for a few seconds and then
shouted back, “God bless George, maybe we will run into each other again, keep
preaching.”
There was one thing that stuck with me long after we made it
back home. George had told me that
the guys in the dump called him Good Samaritan George. He said he had stuck up for a bunch of
the guys, had done CPR and spent his own money for cab rides to hospitals and
first aid stuff. Here is the
thing, tonight I met a drunk Good Samaritan, who’s heart was so full of love
for his neighbors that it filled me up with compassion.
I ask you to pray that George’s chains to addiction be
lifted and that his mouth be full of words that echo into the Kingdom. You see, so far my journey has crossed
paths with Kingdom Changers. It is
so evident that God is raising up an army of believers that are going to shake
the ends of the world. We are a
hodge podge and we are only a small part of the Kingdom story. So I ask you; Do you want to be a
Kingdom Changer? How far are you
willing to go? It may take you to
the dumps, maybe to a place you never thought you would be or maybe just over
to your neighbor’s house. God’s
calling you into battle, are you willing to accept your potential..? Because you
have a purpose and God loves you!!
