During the first couple days of training camp there was a lot of bonding, adventure, training, and craziness. The experience I want to share happened the first night we were in Atlanta. Our team was given a task to go out in the streets of Atlanta and seek the Lord’s guidance and do whatever we felt like he was calling us to do. Why not? Sounds like fun right?
After a couple hours of what seemed like wandering around the streets aimlessly we stopped to give a homeless man, Michael, who was laying out on a blanket a dollar we had. His story is told in other blogs, and I want to focus on David who stopped by while our group was talking to Michael, David and his friend passed our team of 9 huddled around Michael. Then a couple secvonds later David came back to ask us what our team was doing out on the streets. He wasn’t exactly sure why he doubled back to ask us who we were, but I’m pretty sure it was the Holy Spirit peaking his interest about us.
Our team talked to him for a while and it was his third night in Atlanta. He had hiked for a week to get away from his previous residence in North Carolina and told us he wanted a place to start fresh. After talking he seemed genuinely interested in knowing more about a relationship with God and wanted to give up his drinking addiction. We gave him some advice, prayed with him, then he prayed and rededicated his life over to the Lord.
Cool story, but what’s my point? Our team spent the first two or three hours on the streets and every person we tried to talk to walked the opposite direction when we got close to them. But we kept making ourselves available for God to work through us and he was faithful. He was incredibly faithful. He gave us a chance to get to know Michael who rededicated his life to Christ and got baptized on the streets as well as guided David to us through our presence talking with Michael. We went from not having anyone to talk to for hours to having three people (David had a friend he was with) genuinely interested in wanting more out of their life. All of which ended in rededicating their lives to Christ. Take away point, make yourself available for God to work in your life, and he will be faithful to hold up to that. Not always on our time, sometimes it may take hours, days, or longer. But our God is a faithful God and Hebrews 11:6 promises us that “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that he exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” So have faith that God will reward us when we seek Him out, and when we make ourselves available to let Him use us, He will.
