Team Z’man: First Ministry Outreach

Reposted from teammate Colby Gardner’s blog…

Thomas the Hungry

This morning (May 29, 2010), we were informed of our first ministry opportunity for our new World Race teams. “However, you’re gonna have to ask God what that is,” we were told from our squad leaders. We were directed to pray and listen, alone, to the Lord as He gave a vision to each of us. This is called “ATL” (Ask The Lord… (ATL Africa… read more on the Race Route Blog)). We took some time to separate from our minds and let the Holy Spirit move.  As I began to pray, God gave me a vision of this old, rundown house. I saw someone cutting themselves and in a severe, suicidal mode but didn’t know how it all connected…. I was a little freaked out that it might be by imagination but I continued to pray and ask God to clear my mind of myself if it was not of Him, yet God gave me the same vision over and over. Confirmed that this was of God and not me, I stepped outside the pavilion and waited on my team, anticipating the day to be nuts! As we collaborated on what God communicated to us, we learned that Carrie was given two bright colors (orange and blue), Joshua was given a picture of a person in captivity being broken free (broken handcuffs) and a black car (old Lincoln type), Seth got steps, and Jessica was given a picture of the homeless. There were also a few more visions that helped lead us to our destination. We jumped into our vehicles and headed an hour south to Atlanta, where Jessica directed us that there were plenty of homeless people. Once we planted foot in Atlanta, someone felt to need to bring food and feed them both spiritually and physically. We quickly jumped on that idea and went to Target to take care of it! We then left Target, found our parking spot across town and began to walk…. After walking a good ways through the city and seeing all of the extremely nice homes, I began to think, “Ok, old abandoned home here!? God, I do trust you.” While strolling down the sidewalk, we saw an old black car pulled about half way in the street and Joshua quickly said, “That can’t be it! There’s a security guard and the gates are locked!” We walked into the street to get around the car and continued on our way. As we were cruising the block, I was doing my best to stay open to what the Holy Spirit wanted to do and about 25 yards after the black car, God told me, “Turn around and look.” I did, and just across the street from the black car amongst all of the HUGE homes was an old, rundown house that we had just passed by. Standing still with a dropped jaw, everyone finally noticed that I was no longer walking with them and turned only to sigh and say, “Is that it!?” My response was an immediate, “I don’t know….” Carrie and I locked eyes and in her quiet but confident voice, she spoke, “I’ll go with you.” We immediately scurried across the street and once we began to look around, we noticed writings on the doors, freaky paintings on the bricks tagged with “Seeds” and an extremely strange feeling about the place, almost as if it were crawling all over us (me at least). We began to walk around and pray over the place. We prayed for the things that had gone on there, the things that are going on there and the things that will go on. Afterwards, we saw that the next-door neighbor was outside. We approached him and asked him about the history of the place. He said that it was owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution at one time and is a very historical site. (Hi Foreman!) In the middle of our conversation, I got a phone call from April and Seth, who I learned were talking to a homeless man named Thomas that “has a horrible story”. Thomas showed them his papers for his doctor’s appointment but didn’t know how to get there. They were coming to get directions from me, since I have an iPhone. After they made their way up, we followed them back to Thomas. As we approached Thomas, he had a razor blade out…. With a closer look, I noticed that he was covered in scars from that blade. He said that he was thinking about starting to cut himself again and possibly end it all for good…. We listened to Thomas, prayed over him, listened, prayed, listened and prayed over him some more. He told us of his struggle with cutting himself, wanting to take his own life, being released from prison six months earlier (handcuffs), getting disability aid (he is a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic), and a number of other things. Thomas was not asking for money and he was not asking for food (although he got some), Thomas was looking for love. He was hungry for something real, something that could satisfy his need to be whole. Isn’t it good that our God can ALWAYS supply that need!? After a good while of listening and pouring out the Love of our Father on him both in spoken word and prayer, he said, “When y’all came, I was sleepin’ right there on the ground right?” “Yes sir,” Seth said. He spoke as he turned and pointed, “I normally sleep up the street here across the road on the steps of an old abandoned house.” I was floored. It all began to connect…. As we began to get ready to head back to camp, Thomas gave us his razor blade and followed with the most grateful and long hugs, like he had never been loved. As we began to walk back to the car, Carrie pointed and said, “Guys, look!” She had noticed that there were spray-painted arrows on the sidewalk. Some were pointing the way that we had come, from the car to Thomas and others were pointed across the street at the old house. Those arrows were bright orange and blue. As we approached the house for the last time, we stopped to leave Thomas another bag of food with some scripture on it (Jeremiah 29:11-14… GO READ IT!) and some flowers (Carrie’s idea). How about that, people of Christ!!!?

With all that being said, God still speaks to His children, even when stubborn and skeptical. He loves to reveal visions to us and see us respond in obedience! That small voice that I considered my imagination growing up turns out NOT to be imagination all the time after all! Praise God, because my “imagination” was beginning to freak me out! Praise Him who brought every vision and every small piece of this ATL day to fit perfectly into His plan of ministering to a middle aged, homeless man who was struggling with loneliness, insecurity, hunger, suicide, and desiring to be whole! For all we know, we saved Thomas’ life today by asking God for a vision individually, sharing that with our team, and driving where God led, an hour and ten minutes south to Piedmont Park, Atlanta, Georgia.

“You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.” –Matthew 21:22