Friday night we had the opportunity to do night ministry.
What that consists of is, our group walking around and just talking to the people in the community.
Most of them hang out at night on the weekends to drink and smoke weed and in some cases do meth.
We started out walking around the neighborhood, and I was walking with Nathan who is part of the squad. He asked me how I felt. I told him I don’t mind “street evangelism” but it’s tough for me when a group of 20 Americans are all together. We already bring attention to ourselves by being Americans and this just brought even more.
We come up to a group of youth kids, who were just hanging out with one another.
I step back because I feel as though it is too much.
While a few were interacting with them, I was observing my surroundings.
I saw a man come up to our host and He asked him for prayer.
He calls Nathan and I over to pray for this man.
His name is George and years ago he had been shot in his lower back.
We pray for him and after I ask, how he feels. He said better, thanks us and walks away.
I saw him in the distance jump up and down and bend over to see if the pain was gone… I hope it is and He can be pain free and made whole.
We continue our night and keep on walking. We pass a few people who are inebriated and yell obscenities at us, but we bless them and continue to keep walking.
As we walk over a small hill we cross paths with 6 men. Age ranging from young 20’s to about late 50’s. Drinking and listening to music.
I started to talk to one of the guys. His name is Gerald also known as “Black Jesus”. He is in his 30’s and just got out of prison 7 months ago. He was in there for 7 years. While in prison, he was sharing with me how he idolized the rapper Lil Wayne. He wanted to be like him in every way. So he got tattoo’s on his body like him, he even worked out to have his same body type and even started to rap and write his own music. If you saw him you could definitely see the resemblance.
As we were conversing he was opening up to me about his previous struggles with drugs and alcohol. He was an addict and now he is a dealer, but still smokes weed and drinks alcohol. In our conversation he would always come back to saying I don’t want to be like anyone. I just want to be me.
So “be you” I told him. That is the only thing that is going to matter. In the end people only care that you were being you. We could put on masks all day long, but overall people just want to see that you were being true to yourself. He appreciated hearing that.
He has a 10 year old daughter who he is in love with. Thinks the world of her and wants her to have a better life than he did. He will do anything for his daughter.
My mind started to wonder about why he chose this life. Why he got into gangs and drugs instead of getting a career and doing something he is passionate about.
It then came out. The answer I was looking for. He shared with me that he hasn’t seen his own father in 30 years. He had the absence of a father figure in his life for his whole life.
He was hurting. Deep down inside. Behind his painful eyes, you could see the cry of his heart, wanting that father who would tell him that he loves him, that he is proud of him, that he is worthy, that he is desirable. He longs for the affirmations of a father.
I am always taken aback by how the absence of a father can change the outcome of a child.
I can pose a question to men and especially fathers. Where are you? What are you doing?… This and that, so on and so forth. But I’m not. I don’t think we need anymore reminders. I just pray that we as men and those as fathers would walk in the conviction of the Lord to do his will and not second guess the plans that He has for us. To step up to the plate as we were designed for.
Toward the end of our conversation I got to pray for him. As I did, I prayed that he would get to know the one true Father who would never leave us, nor forsake us. I got to re-assure him that the Heavenly Father is proud of him. He appreciated the prayers and said it was a strong prayer and that he will never forget it.
I say good-bye to him and he looks at me in the eyes and says don’t forget about me and always keep me in your prayers.
That night, I believe that God had ravished his heart.
