Shattered Skepticism

   After our teams were formed at training camp, we spent the next few days bonding and discussing evangelism. We talked about the Holy Spirit and the ways that God speaks and moves in our lives. The day before we left camp, we were told to meet up with our team at 9:30 am and wait for further instruction. After gathering together, we were then told that we would be spending the day evangelizing with our teams. I use the word evangelize lightly, which I’ll explain more later. Our leaders told us to spend some time in individual prayer asking the Lord (ATL) what our direction should be for the day, and then reconvene with our teams to discuss what the Lord had laid on each of our hearts.

   

   We were not given any specific location or ministry on which to concentrate; the day was to be based solely on following the voice of the Lord. After we spent time in prayer, my team and I gathered together and shared our revelations with each other. We wrote down the thoughts, names, numbers, and symbols that we had been given during our time of prayer. After sharing with each other, we compiled a list that consisted of the direction North, the number 4, the name James, an “O”, water, kids playing in a park, Taco Bell, a backwards orange hat, an injury, and an elderly African American woman.  Once again, we piled into our mini-van and began to drive, with little knowledge of where we were headed.

    

   Have you ever gotten into a car with the intention of driving somewhere without having any clue where you are going? It’s a little scary and random, but it was actually a very freeing moment to decide that we trusted God’s intentions and not our own. After praying and discussing our list of thoughts, my team and I decided to head to Atlanta. Did you know that Atlanta is the city that is most affected by human trafficking in the United States? Thousands of people are trafficked into Atlanta; our very own nation is responsible for contributing to the 17 million people currently human trafficked into modern day slavery. The city is also consumed with homeless people that live from shelter to shelter; never knowing when, where, or if they will eat their next meal (Refer to list: Homeless).

   

   After contemplating over our list, we headed to Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta, home of the CNN Broadcasting Center (Refer to list: Letter O, Park). Upon arrival, we realized that we had a severely low tire and quickly made the necessary repairs. No distraction could phase our excitement and anticipation for what the day would hold. After repairing the tire, our team headed towards the entrance of the park. As we walked up the steps, we were met with flowing waterfalls in every direction; in the exact shape that my fellow teammate Rachel had envisioned (Refer to list: Water). 

   Our plan of action was…nothing. I’ve been known to be quite the free-spirit, but even I like to have a plan when it comes to talking with random people. But, true to God’s perfect timing, we were met with our first conversation of the day without any effort on our part. We walked past a young guy, who we later came to know as Monte, while we were exploring the park. As I walked past Monte, I felt an overwhelming sense of sadness and compassion for him. Monte was wandering around the park with downcast eyes, almost as if he might break into pieces if he looked someone in the eye and gave them a glimpse of who he was. The group continued to walk, while Rachel and Leah stayed back and struck up a conversation with Monte. I kept feeling compelled to join them, but my own uneasiness was holding me back. 

 

   While I was still trying to gain the courage to join the conversation, I turned around and glanced at Monte. I’m pretty sure that my heart was caught in my throat when I realized that he was wearing a hat that said “Compton”, my last name. Although I had seen an orange backwards hat during my time of prayer, God was presenting me with an opportunity, or maybe it was more like smacking me in the head with an opportunity….he did have my last name plastered on his hat after all. So, after my team leader Jake’s encouragement to “follow what I felt” (thanks Jake), I walked over to join the conversation with Monte.

 

   We talked with Monte about school, his church, and his overwhelming sense of loneliness. Monte told us that he was involved in a church downtown and came to the park in the mornings to pray. When we asked him if we could pray for him about anything specifically, he looked up and said he would like a girlfriend to spend time with because he was lonely. My heart broke. How often have I looked to guys to fill the void that no one but Jesus can fill? How often have I desired to know beyond doubt that I am truly loved by someone? How often have I felt frustration that Jesus doesn’t physically sit next to me and encourage me or tell me what my next move should be? Too many to count. We talked with Monte about some of our own experiences, seeking companionship with the Lord, prayed with him, and went on our way. No plan of how we thought we should share salvation with him, just learning about his life and listening, really listening, to his story. Just love. Just Jesus.

 

   While we were talking with Monte, Kendra, Jake, and Robby set out to find the elderly African American lady that they had envisioned. They explored the park until they came across the North Pavilion in section 4 of the park, which is when their eyes met the African American lady. They began a conversation with her and discovered that she had a knee injury that had kept her out of work. They prayed for her healing and that she would find a job (I’m not sure of many details, because I wasn’t present during this conversation)  (Refer to list: African American lady, injury, North, 4). 

 

   I was already standing completely in awe of God at this moment. I’ll admit that my skepticism was great at the beginning of the morning. Sometimes I think too much, sometimes I analyze things over and over, and sometimes I count things as coincidence rather than divine appointments. I felt confident that God was revealing Himself to me, but definitely wasn’t prepared for what was next.

 

   After we prayed with Monte and continued to wander around the park, Laura ran up to us and said that she met a homeless man named James. While conversing with James, we discovered that he had been a preacher for 20 years. He left his family in New Orleans to take a “sabbatical”, much like we are doing, trusting that God would reveal more of Himself  through ministry on the streets of Atlanta. Every word and every scripture that came out of James’s mouth were ones that we had been learning about all week. James talked about the Holy Spirit, walking in true freedom, the bondage that placing our focus on the law creates, and the fact that we often times try to fight off sin through our own strength, which ultimately leads to us feeling distant from God. God spoke through James to confirm all of our teachings of the week. We set out to breathe life into others, but ended up being encouraged by a homeless man and blown away by the enormity of God’s power and timing.

 

   

   It’s probably really crazy that I’ve never been big on “evangelizing” since I’m about to spend a year as a missionary, but I don’t believe in presenting Jesus as a sales pitch. It seems insincere. One thing that I learned was the importance of relationships. People don’t want to be treated like a conquest. Yes, it’s awesome when people come to Christ when we share with them, but the goal shouldn’t be to turn someone into a Christian in 5 minutes. The goal should be to show them that they matter and they are truly important; to show them that there is someone that loves them unconditionally and without ceasing. We trusted the Lord to provide us with divine appointments. We didn’t rely on our own strength or own words to say. Just love. Just Jesus.

 

 

   When we started the day with absolutely no plan, God knew that my mind was skeptic, even though my heart yearned for truth. My mind couldn’t process the introduction of Monte and James to our group. Much like I was expecting to meet someone in an orange hat, I think that we often expect certain things in life. I wonder how many times I have missed God because of my expectations that weren’t met?  When things don’t come wrapped in the packaging that was expected or life is harder than we bargained for, we seem to believe that God has left us, when really He could be working in a completely different way that we can’t comprehend in that moment.

 

   God met me in my place of skepticism and doubt, while revealing to me that anything truly is possible through Him. We don’t have to try to impress God by thinking that we know everything about Him or have everything figured out; He already knows that we don’t. The beauty is in the discovery. God granted me the opportunity to see Him work during a normal day in my own country. I’m so thankful that God counted me worthy enough for this experience.