Disclaimer: This is part 2… If you haven't read part 1 then what the heck? But seriously go read part 1. Beware, both are pretty long but totally worth the read.
David is awesome. At first he was very skeptical, who are you?, why are you asking me questions?, is this guy with yall too?, are you the police? As time went on we were able to share with him that we were just out here hanging out with the homeless of Austin. We wanted to buy him a drink and some food if he wanted any. He said, "Sure I could really use a drink." We walked down to Which-Wich and we got him a drink. As Chase was paying for his drink I moseyed on outside to grab us a table. Chase and David stayed inside and started talking at their own table. As I set outside with Aaron, I started to become discouraged. Man we have been out here for almost two days and we haven't led anyone to the Lord and I don't feel like we have done enough. As I am praying Aaron jumps up, yells "Watch David's stuff I gotta get this guy" and runs out to a homeless man.
Awesome, I get to watch the stuff, thanks bro… Getting very discouraged I started praying again. A lady walks up to me and introduces herself, she seems very nervous but also excited and said that she was out here ministering to the people of Austin. God told her that morning that she needed to talk to a man with a wolf shirt on. First thing that came to my mind was, "Hey I have a wolf shirt on… oh snap this lady is about to speak some serious truth into my life", I got so excited. I didn't know this lady when she walked up, she asked me if I was a Christian, getting really excited I said, "Yes I am, do you have a word for me?"
This is Christy and Buddy they sat down and Christy said that God told her that she needed to encourage me. She also said that she saw that I was going to be a leader of a pack one day and that God is going to bless that ministry. Trust the Spirit she said, she had no idea that I was going on The World Race or that I was a leader of my team. We talked for about twenty minutes and it was definitely the Holy Spirit speaking directly to me. I ended up sharing with her about my trip and what we were out here doing and I also thanked her for the encouragement and told her I was getting discouraged before she came. It was so powerful and I got so excited.
God is so awesome; he used a complete stranger to speak encouragement in my life. This is the body of Christ. I want to thank you, Buddy and Christy, for listening to the Spirits voice and coming to me Saturday. God is going to do great things in your life and I am excited for how you are going to grow his kingdom.
Chase ended up talking to David inside of Which-Wich for 2 hours, I joined in on the last 30 minutes and I was done being silent. Chase shared his entire testimony with David. He said, "It got really deep, really fast." God used Chase to minister to David, who was also a fellow believer. The first time I saw David laugh was during our conversation was so legit. His smile was very kind and being able to laugh with him and joke with him was so legit words cannot describe. It was so great to just be hanging out with him. He also shared with us about how we can confront the homeless people in order to better minister to them. "Less small talk, be blunt" he said. "Don't scoot around what you are trying to do, just give it to us straight." As we parted ways for the night, I prayed over him and spoke some truth into his life.
David was a blessing, next time I am in Austin I am going to find him. I am proud to call him my friend.
Saturday night we decided to sleep on top of a building, it was pretty cool. Rubber roofing is way more comfortable than concrete, but I woke up at 5am soaking wet from the condensation from the air conditioners. If you ever sleep on a building, don't sleep in the lowest point, water tends to puddle and your sleeping bag loves to soak it up. I woke up at 5am and laid around wet for a while until God told me to get up and do a little morning bible study.
This is a panoramic picture of my view that morning while I worshipped God on top of a building in downtown Austin. I couldn't ask for any better alone time with my Pops.
6:30am rolled around and I felt like it was time to wake up Chase and Aaron. So about 7 they finally got up and we packed up our home and started to walk to McDonalds for breakfast. Guess who was walking down the street.
David.
The Holy Spirit put him back into our path; it was not by chance or coincidence. We took him to breakfast with us and got to spend another 2.5 hours hanging out with him, watching some ESPN and drinking some coffee and sweet tea.
As we were talking about where we slept last night and the excitement we had from climbing that building… Joking about me being soaking wet, laughing about our bodies being numb from the pain.
David gently says, "What if you had to sleep there tomorrow?"
Woah.
I will admit it was so gentle that I missed it and my Dad was actually the one who brought it to our attention later, but still. Whoa! What if we had to spend another night homeless because we didn't have anywhere else to go?
That is what David, a fellow believer, has to do, every night.
This is Adam (on the far left, then Chase, then Aaron in case you didn't know), he came up to us as we were leaving McDonalds and Aaron started talking to him. We invited him to church. He was very hesitant at first, but decided "oh why not. What could it hurt?"
Adam went to what we thought was a bible study with us, we ended up leaving the bible study and he decided he would go with us to the next church service.
The sermon that morning was out of Acts 10 about grace and having a personal relationship with God. The pastor was straight up when he spoke, preaching directly from the bible and not leaving anything out. He spoke about how Saul was persecuting the church and how he became saved and is now Paul. He spoke truthfully about false traditions, how baptism doesn't make you a Christian and about worshiping and praying false idols and saints.
"For by grace you have been saved, through faith not by works." Ephesians 2:8
After the service, Adam was very anxious, I wasn't able to talk to him anymore about it, but I know a seed was planted in his life.
I want to challenge each of you reading this blog to minister to the "least of these." May you shout from the rooftops, "I will not be silent." Some of you might say that it's not for you, but Jesus clearly states that it is for all Christians, read the Bible if you don't believe me (Zec 7:8-10, Mark 10:21, Luke 6:38, ect.).
Step out of your comfort zone and allow God to use you (Rom 8:12-14 MSG).
