Okay…now this story is pretty rad, you’re gonna wanna hear this one.
First off:
Surprisingly enough, I actually enjoy going grocery shopping. Doing it in a foreign country is always interesting as well. And as I mentioned in my previous blog, when I’m doing such a task as grocery shopping, that’s the one thing on my mind. I know the task at hand, and we will accomplish it. DONE DEAL.
SO!
A few of us had to go into town recently to get the groceries for the rest of the dudes. Before we walked into the mall to proceed into the grocery store, my teammates wanted to stop for a quick bite to eat. We sat a restaurant called “The Hungry Lion”, with outdoor seating near the entrance of the mall and the parking lot.
Upon finishing their meals, we sat at our table outside while getting ready to make way to the grocery store while (as referenced in the prior blog as well), in comes the “interruption”
; )
A middle-aged gentleman, handing out flyers on the street, walked up to Isaac and myself, asking us about what we were doing in Zambia. He went on to explain how he was poor and had very little food due to not having a reliable job. He also went out of his way to describe on “coincidental” it was for him to meet two guys from America while he was from Zambia: there was a purpose and meaning to it!
(Those were HIS words not mine)
We had no food (they just finished) and we had no cash on hand so we didn’t know what else this guy could want from us.
BUT, He insisted that we could help him regardless (maybe he just wasn’t getting it).
THEN JESUS REMINDED ME OF A STORY FROM BACK IN THE DAY!
Let’s take a moment and travel back in time to the good ole Acts days back in chapter 3 until verse 10.
Here you have my boys Peter and John making their way up to the temple during a time of prayer. Before they walk through the gate to the temple, they are INTERRUPTED by a man who was lame from birth, begging for money.
Peter commands the beggar’s attention and says in verse 6:
“Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”
Then they took him by the hand, helped him up and his legs became strong! This former beggar begins walking, jumping, praising God, and just all out going nuts because he just received something WAY better than gold. He was given a new set of legs and a new strength!
SO back to the Hungry Lion in Zambia.
Here you got a few World Racers on their way to get groceries when they get interrupted by a man who believes that there is no coincidence that these Americans are placed before him so he may ask for food and loose change.
I looked at the man and I asked his name:
“Moses”
“Hey man that’s a good name, I like your story in the Bible : ) “
Then I asked him if he was sick or had any type of pain in his body.
He lifted up his pant leg to show us his foot and explained to us how it had been in pain for over 3 months, preventing him from getting any type of manual work.
No joke: this is what I said next haha
“Hey Moses, money and food: I don’t have any. BUT I DO know a guy who can fix your foot for you!”
“Really? Who’s that?” He asked.
“Jesus” (Oh yes : ) )
I told him that I would love to pray for him and that I firmly believed that God can heal him right then and there.
He was down for it so we walked around the fence that was separating us. As he came to meet us, we could visibly see him limping over to meet with us. So this injury was definitely hindering his everyday processes to simply move around.
Not caring who was nearby, we got down on the ground around Moses and I laid my hand on his right foot and began to pray.
As I did so, Isaac came over to join me and I could see a crowd awkwardly watching these two Americans speaking to this local Zambian man’s foot. Haha what a sight.
But we called out to JC and invited the Holy Spirit to come down and bring this man’s foot to come in alignment with the Kingdom of God. Because THAT is how we are instructed to pray!
“ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN!”
AMEN
“Moses, how are you feeling? What’s going on right now?”
He begin to roll his foot around and check for mobility, an intrigued look stirring up on his face.
“Dude, do me a favor and just start walking!”
Moses started walking across the entrance way of the mall….
WITH NO SIGN OF ANY LIMP WHATSOEVER!
“Talk to me Moses what’s going on!? Any pain??? All good now??? Any bad???”
“It’s all good!”
A huge smile stirred up on his face, as did both Isaac and myself, at the fact that JC came down and met us EXACTLY where we were at in that very moment.
Then I told Moses that he was absolutely right that it was no coincidence that he met us. Whereas he thought it was so that he could get food of money out of us, but really God wanted to do something greater.
“You expected food or money, BUT God wanted to give you a brand new foot and no longer walk in pain! Isn’t that awesome?!”
He was so excited, we were excited! What else was there to do at this point?
OH yeah, we had to go grocery shopping!
To finish off this story: before we left the mall, we didn’t leave before handing Moses a bag of snacks and drinks to bless him with. Driving in our taxi back to our location, I remember seeing him with a huge smile on his face, enjoying some snacks and soda pop as I yelled goodbye to him out of my window.
I’m tearing up at the moment as I type this because Moses was seen that day. Isaac and I both mentioned how we could have easily written him off as a guy looking to gain a few extra bucks out of us. But if we had done that, we would’ve completely missed the TRUE REASON God brought him along our path.
God loves people.
No exception.
Especially as of recently, I’ve seen a lot of hate and frustration pouring out over Facebook and other outlets of social media.
We can look at how much we disagree with someone else all day but in doing that, we can miss that ways in which we are called to love our neighbor AS ourselves. And if that’s not good enough for you, we are also called to love our enemies.
What may God want to do through you, but you’re too stubborn or blinded to see?
Speaking of being blinded and loving your enemy:
Look at Ananias and Saul in Acts chapter 9!
You got Ananias being asked by the Lord to go to where Saul is, to pray for him to receive his sight back.
Ananias, wracked with fear because of Saul’s reputation of being a persecutor and murderer of Christians, is immediately having second thoughts of going.
“That’s my enemy! What if he tries to kill me when his eyes open?!” This is what I imagine him thinking in that moment.
But look what happened:
He goes to his enemy.
He prays for his enemy.
He loves his enemy.
He actually spends several days with his enemy.
Saul received more than his physical sight back, but gained a new sight on life in general.
This once former enemy became one of the biggest names in Christian history, penning half the books of the New Testament!
All this coming from a TRUE Christ Follower who was willing to love his enemy no matter how crazy the difference was between them, or despite whatever judgment he already had against him.
God had a bigger purpose for Moses at the Hungry Lion despite what our initial judgments could’ve been: and we saw God move in a miraculous way in his life.
Who is God calling you to love even though you don’t see eye to eye with them?
What fire are you putting out before it can even begin?
I’ll leave you with my four favorite commands that I always want to live my life by:
Love God
Love People
Stop Judging
Start Loving
Moses and myself
