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.â€� –Matthew
21:22
