Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

| by archiveworldraceblogs

So we are back in downtown Thamel gathering together before we all fly to South Africa. Chelsea Hughes and I were walking back to our hostel from lunch and turning down the ally we passed a man with a walker going very slowly and treacherously. He was a tall, slim Caucasian man in his early forties visibly sweating from the effort and had a Muslim gentleman on his side guarding his every feeble step. Well, we walked passed him and continued chatting. I decided to stop at a stand next to the entrance of our hostel and get a snack as Chelsea went on up to the room. Ten minutes later I had just received my food and was about to dig in when the man again passed me with his walker.

This time I could not deny the prodding of the Holy Spirit. I had a 30 second battle in my head over whether to be obedient and bold, or simply let the moment (and opportunity) pass. Then Jesus poked me hard enough and I rose to my feet. Feeling nervous and awkward, because I had NO way to gracefully begin the conversation, I approached the man from behind and tapped on his shoulder. “Excuse me sir” I said. He responded in frustration saying “Um, yes, give me a minute”, and then turned around to face me. Failing with every passing second to come up with some socially acceptable introduction, I just dove right in to what my heart was saying…something to the effect of “Hi, my name is Courtney and I just had the overwhelming urge to pray for you. I believe in Jesus and I believe he has the power to heal and he told me to come and pray over you…Is that ok?”
About this time I realized I had left my purse in the stand…oops.
The man’s demeanor immediately changed and he shocked me with “Yes…I’m sorry I was rude to you. You want to pray right now?”
Me: “Yes…is that ok?” “What is your name by the way?”
Gleb: “Gleb, is it ok if I go into the hostel and sit down first, I’m quite tired.”
Me: (awkwardly) “Oh, of course. I’ll gather my things and be right in.”

As I grabbed my purse, shoveled down my food, and paid the bill, I ran into Justin Warren (one of our team leaders). “Come with me, there’s someone we need to pray for” I told him and immediately dialed my other Squeaders (Chelsea H. and Jake Morris) to join us in the lobby.

By the time I made it to him and we had proper introductions there were about 10 World Racers in our company. I explained what we were doing and asked again if we could all lay hands and pray over his legs. Gleb agreed and we learned a little of his story before proceeding.

Gleb is from Russia and use to be a professional deep sea diver, he enjoyed his job and made good money doing salvage missions. One time he came up too fast from a dive and the pressure broke something in his spine. He was instantly paralyzed. Over time and multiple surgeries he has learned to use a walker, but cannot stand up on his own without his legs shaking and getting exhausted. He told us he spends most of his time now alone, drinking a lot and smoking weed to dull the pain.

We explained what we believe about Jesus and the power of prayer, and then began praying over his legs. Gleb was dumbfounded at our sincerity and eagerness to invest in him, and kept apologizing for his initial curt response to me. I in turn apologized for being so abrupt and explained that it was the love of Christ that compelled me to do so. I told him Jesus said to me “I love that man and I want you to get up off your butt and go show him.”

We prayed a few times and though nothing visibly happened, it was obvious that his soul had been shaken by the appearance of Jesus’ love in a few bold Americans. We continued talking with Gleb awhile and asked if we could come by his room later to talk more about Jesus and pray again over his legs. He was excited over the prospect of company and obliged, his only concerns were:

  1. we be aware of the fact that he’d probably be smoking weed and drinking and

  2. only a few visit as the crowd was somewhat overwhelming

No problem. Later that night Jake and Cole visited his room, shared about Jesus and answered some questions he had. His muslim friend attended the gathering and asked a few questions of his own. What an amazing opportunity to share the love of Christ! Over the following days Jake made repeated visits to Gleb’s room to encourage him. Gleb checked out today, and I’m confident wherever he goes from here the Spirit will follow him. We have such an awesome squad of Jesus lovers! It was inspiring to watch them so eagerly gather around a soul in need and pour out the love they’ve received to someone in desperate need of a second glance.
They walkway leading up to our hostel and the child that works with his parents at the snack stand