8/24/20
Today we went to Portland for a prayer walk. I don’t know if you keep up with what’s going on because I really don’t while I’m here on the field, but Portland is a pretty dark place. There’s still riots every day here. People are pretty shut down and just trying to survive.
We walked through the heart of everything by the courthouse and justice center. All the area is boarded up with broken windows and graffiti covering everything. There’s even some wooden statues of the letters “defund” in the middle of the sidewalk.
We tried to talk to people as we walked and it was very divided as some people said hi back and even had a friendly conversation and some just immediately shut down and wouldn’t chat at all. In this city, prayer is really all we can do right now and encourage the people we can that Satan will not be victorious in the end.
And then we met Bob. Bob was a police officer getting ready to go in the courthouse. We stopped and asked him if we could pray for him. He was visibly excited by the fact we were Christians and he showed true interest in us as we shared that we were visiting Portland as missionaries. And then he shared his own experience as an officer, that he would have probably quit a long time ago if he didn’t know the Lord and have daily encouragement from the Lord to keep doing what he’s doing.
And then he said words that struck me deeply.
“It’s the 85th day.”
August 24, 2020 is the 85th day of riots. Of officers and civilians getting injured. Of darkness. Of waiting. Because Bob’s prayer is honestly just that the government will step up so that the riots stop.
So we prayed over him and he went on his way to the courthouse. And that’s what I got out of today. The unending battle Portland is facing right now, but knowing it can and will end because the Lord already has victory.
Please keep the people of Portland in your prayers.
