service projects - my own little world

This Friday, our youth group is doing service projects. I get super excited every time we do these events.

 

It reminded me of one of my favourite events last year. So, here's the story.

I left out names, just in case. (Not like anyone reads my blog, but you know...)

But if you were there that night, you'll know who I'm talking about ;)

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"In my own little world it hardly ever rains, I've never gone hungry, always felt safe. I've got some money in my pocket and shoes on my feet. I'm in my own little world, population: me."

And sometimes, I just want to stay there.

I was with friends, and we were having fun. We drove downtown to deliver supper and hot chocolate at the homeless drop in center.

There, standing on that street corner, these were real people. That's when a woman approached me and my friends. She didn't look nice, but we were there to show God's love, so we weren't about to run away.

"Hey, you guys Christians?"

I'm sure we all had the same thought process going through our heads... "What if we say the wrong thing and she gets mad? She doesn't exactly look like the kind of person who would appreciate a handful of christian high school students... Aaron and the other leaders are close enough to make eye contact."

"Yeah, we are."

"You from a church?"

"Yeah, we're the youth group from Mckenzie Towne Church."

"That's cool. That's really cool."

 

Relief.

 

"Do you know what it says in James 5:16?"

We were caught off guard. Before we can answer, she answers her own question.

"It says, 'confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.' I've sinned a lot. I'm not a good person. I smoke crack, I drink alcohol. A couple days ago, I was struggling so much, I was inviting demons into my body."

Her friends got involved at this point. "Don't be telling them all your problems and issues, they're just kids. You're scaring them, just leave them alone."

"No, no, it's fine. We're here to share God's love with you - You know, God can forgive your sins."

"I don't know if He can, but I need Him. I need Him to help me. I need to confess to Him, and I need to ask Him to help me, cause without Him, I can't do anything by myself. I need to squash my demons, but I can't do it alone."

"No, you can't. But if you pray to God, He will help you and He will forgive you."

"Will you pray with me?"

So there, on the sidewalk, we formed a circle, arms around each other and we prayed. 6 highschool students, 2 university students and 1 drunk, high, homeless and repentant woman.

"Thank you. God can forgive me, and He'll help me squish my demons."

We were just about to leave, when a tired looking man with tear filled eyes came up to our group.

"Can I ask you to pray for me, too? Can you pray for someone, for me?"

With trembling hands, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a picture. He handed it to us, and we saw it was of a little girl, about 3 years old.

"That's my daughter... My little girl. She lives in Manitoba, and she's four. I haven't seen her in three years. She was just a baby last time I saw her."

His voice shook. "I just pray, every single day, that one day, I'll get to see my little girl again."

So once again, we gathered in a circle. And we prayed.

My bessty offered to pray, "God, I pray for these people. I pray that they will both feel your love and peace. I pray that this little girl would know how much both her earthly father and he heavenly Father love her."

And he broke down in sobs.

And our hearts broke. (And I'd be lying if I said we didn't all cry, too.)

And on that night, in that moment, the population of my own little world skyrocketed, as I know it did for my friends that were there.

Because it was weird. We were out of our comfort zones. We didn't know those two people. We weren't expecting to experience such a spiritually moving moment together. But we did. Because we, together, allowed our hearts to be broken for what breaks His.