6 crazy people. Downtown Atlanta. Heat. Sweat. Hugs. Jesus.
lovebound took a day to see what God was up to and join in however we could. I must say, it was one of the best days of my life so far.
It all started by us taking time out of our busy lives, and actually listening. It was only 10 minutes but it seemed like forever, not gonna lie. I think I am so accustomed to just talking to God I rarely think about listening to what He has to say. Am I the only one? Doubt it.
Well let me tell you right now…when you take time to listen, God speaks. For real. Each of us had a piece of paper and a pen so we listened and wrote down what we felt like God was saying. Some of things written were: barber shop, kids, Centennial Olympic park, burnt orange, plaid shirt with suspenders, fountain, downtown, yellow, free hugs, park, etc. Sounds pretty random right? That’s what I thought until the day began to unfold and God showed up like woah!
We decided to go to downtown Atlanta and give out free hugs at Centennial Olympic park. Great idea, eh?! On our way we stopped by a nearby Wal-Mart to make signs. As we were walking in the parking lot, low and behold, Paul spots a barber shop. So Paul, Haile and Sarah venture over to the barber shop while Mac, Angela and I tackle the Wal-Mart. You would not even believe me if I told you…but…the walls of the barber shop were painted burnt orange and yellow stripes. What?! This is real life people. Paul was able to talk to a woman there with her two sons, encourage her and tell her how much Jesus loves her. Great start to the day…but wait…there’s more!
It’s lunch time so we are all hungry. Where else would we stop to eat in downtown Atlanta? The Varsity. Greasy goodness. In case you didn’t know, The Varsity on a Saturday at 12:30pm = nightmare! We persevered through the line, got our trays of heart attack on a plate and tried to make our way through the sea of people.
And then BAM!
All of a sudden, walking straight towards me is a girl with a plaid shirt and suspenders. I think my jaw may have hit the floor for a few reasons. When I went to write that down on my list I thought to myself, who in the world wears plaid in the summer? And suspenders? Come on! But I didn’t doubt what I thought God was saying so I wrote it down…and boy am I glad I did!
I think I threw my tray at Mac (sorry!) because I had to follow this girl to talk to her! I finally caught up to her, plaid shirt, suspenders and all. Her name is Fiona and she’s from China. She’s here trying to learn English for the next year. I had to speak slow but I just told her how much God loved her, wanted to have a relationship with her and how beautiful she is. I think she was a little freaked out but she got tears in her eyes and we hugged. Glorious.
To end the day we spent about 2 hours or so hugging. We met people from China, Brazil, Switzerland, Mexico, France and people from all over the US. Some walked out of their way to not hug us while others ran across the field just to get a free hug. It was awesome. I’m pretty sure
everyone that saw us at least smiled.
Some asked us “where’s the hidden camera”, others wanted to know what church we were with. We just told people that God’s love is so awesome and we just wanted to share it through a hug. That simple. We were able to pray with a few, sometimes we just listened to what they had to say and some just walked by without even making eye contact. But…I doubt anyone who was there that day will forget us.
The best part. We were contagious. There’s a fountain area at the park and there were so many kids it’s not even funny! A group of them came up and wanted to take our signs and THEY went around hugging people! It was priceless.
I am so glad that we took the time to listen to God, find out what He was up to, and jumped in to be a part of it. I encourage you to do the same. Your life will be turned upside down. I guarantee it.
