"Homeless ministry tonight at 8:00."
I was really excited. I had never really had the chance to do homeless ministry, and I was excited to dive in on our first day of ministry in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia.
We headed to the ministry base, and prepared to go out. As we prayed, I asked the Lord to give me one person. Or, if He wanted to, more than one person. One person who would break my heart, who I couid not wait to find every night to talk to.
After prayer, we broke off into groups, and headed out. Josh, Andrew, Angela and I left with Ed, one of the long term workers here. We started on his normal route, but soon realized that we were behind a group on the same path. Every person that we stopped to talk to had just said goodbye to the first group. We decided to head the opposite direction, and found ourselves walking down an alley.
An Indian man was sitting on the curb. We headed over, and Ed asked, "Uncle [polite way to address elders], how are you?" He looked down at the ground, and told us in slurred speech that he is an alcoholic. As he was talking, the owner of the shop we were sitting in front of went inside and brought out chairs and stools for us to sit in.
We sat and listened to him, and to Ed as he reassured the man that he was once bound by the chains of alcoholism as well, and that Jesus can break those chains. Ed asked if he could pray for him, and the shop owner came over to pray with us.
He prayed for the chains of addiction to be broken. He prayed that the man would truly know Jesus. He prayed that he would be open and willing to get help.
As I opened my eyes, I noticed that he had a single tear path under the corner of his eye. And that's when my heart absolutely broke for him.
Here was a man, so chained down by the lies of the world that the only way he knows how to deal with them is to numb the pain with alcohol. Here was a man, so broken and ready to give up, that all he could do was sit on a curb in an alley.
Here was my one person.
As we got up to leave, I stood up from the curb I had been sitting on. A deep drainage ditch runs in between the street and the curb, and it was a stretch for my short legs to cross. I wobbled a bit, and the man told me to be careful. I extended my hand to shake his, and if it was even possible, my heart broke even more at his next words.
"Don't touch me, my hand is too dirty."
I smiled and told him it was okay, and kept my hand extended, but he would not take it. The moment felt too long, as I tried to figure out what to do.
My mind jumped to the many times Jesus healed someone with leprosy or other skin diseases. As a contagious disease, lepers were the outcasts of society, and were even made to shout that they were diseased when anyone passed by, just in case a person accidentally came too close.
Of course, this didn't matter at all to Jesus. In Luke 5:11-13, a man with leprosy fell down at His feet, and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Then, Jesus reached out His hand, and touched the man.
Can you imagine the bewilderment the man must have felt at that moment? Here is this man, who is rumored to be someone special, and He has just grabbed his hand, laid his palm on the side of his face, or maybe grasped his elbows and helped him to his feet. The man has not been touched in years, yet here is Someone who is willing to do it, and in the process, recognize his humanity.
"I am willing," Jesus told him. "Be clean!" And the disease was immediately gone.
Jesus could definitely have healed the man with words alone, yet He chose to do it in the one way that would be the most compassionate, and that would speak to the man's soul.
So, as I stood there, with my hand extended, not sure what to do, knowing exactly what Jesus did, I drew my hand back in. I'm not even sure why, even though I knew that by not shaking his hand, I was justifying to him what he thought of himself.
We told him that we would see him soon, and turned down the road.
On our walk back to the ministry base, I could not get him out of my mind. I hope I see him again, and I get the chance to tell him that he is a child of God, he is loved, he is important, and most of all, he is more than the lies that the enemy has fed to him for so long.
I don't know his name, but please join me in praying for him. I know that he has a future that is redeemed and beautiful.
