John

Recently, I worked the Solar Rock concert. Afterwards, I was supposed to meet up with some friends from CRU for a worship night at The Kingdom (a friend's house). I asked my boss if I could take some sandwiches to share with my friends. On the drive, I knew that the sandwiches would bless my friends. If only I knew how true that would be. The worship night itself wasn't particularly moving for me, but what followed was incredible. One of the guys at the worship night suggested that we go share our sandwiches and our love with people on 4th Ave in such a way that Jesus can't help but be brought up. We split into groups of 3 or 4 and hit the streets with 7 sandwiches, 7 apples, and 7 waters. As we walked, I thought about Jesus feeding the people.

We walked up and down the avenue sharing our food. One particularly funny encounter was when Karyn was hit on by an old man. "Girl, I can barely see, but you are FINE!" Of course, Karyn took it with grace as we all chuckled.

We met up with a gentlemen named John who was digging through the Goodwill pile. He had just found himself a book on Saints. We talked with John for quite a while about life's hardships. He had lost his backpack, and began to tell us about how little 'things' really matter. We talked about the importance of a relationship with God, and his love for Jesus. We took turns praying healing prayers, lifting John up to God. I could tell we had touched him at a soul-level. He had truly touched us all.

I personally felt God laying his past sins on my heart. I didn't have a feeling that he needed to repent. I felt that he needed to know for sure that God had forgiven him, and that God was preparing the best for him in heaven. I quoted "the first will be last, and the last will be first". I encouraged him that God could answer prayers in this life, too. I can't tell you how much compassion we all felt for John. We ran into him later that evening walking back. We got to hear more about his past, how he had t-boned a family when he was driving 85 mph trying to escape the cops. He had been drunk at the time. The father died 6 times on the operating table before he was revived. Apparently, he was under the influence while he was driving his wife and their 6 week old baby. When John got out of his wrecked car, he thought he had killed that little baby. He couldn't believe what had just happened. Thankfully, the baby was just asleep.

John taught us that night that we are all capable of wretched things. I knew this about myself already. But we all need to be reminded so that we don't forget. He warned us that just one mistake can set your life on a completely different path. I will remember that when I see people like John on the streets, people like me.