Game Night on Campus

Game Night on Campus - Fishing

By Rob-roy (2 Sep 2007)

Friends,

Last night on the streets of our college town it was packed with more people than usual as the opening game of the football season was underway. With me was Steven who is my dear brother in Christ. Before I go further I will let you know that this is a long email because it is a long story that I am prompted to tell in detail. I am doing so because I believe it will beneficial so please bare with me as I attempt to describe what unfolded less than 24 hours ago.

Here goes.

The college school colors were everywhere and the campus vibe was in full force through out all the main streets. Lot's of street performers and musicians. We saw a big circle of people that were watching break dancers do their thing with the boom box pounding out the beats. The police broke it up as it got so big it block pedestrian traffic. We even had a chili dog vendor that made it a point to let us know he would be on the corner until 3 AM to serve us the best dogs in town. He jumped out about 5 feet from his cart directly in our path to share this "good news" with us. Scared me at first. From out of nowhere he was in my face. I have to respect a guy at some level who is that passionate about sharing what he thinks is good news.

But Steven and I were also on our way to share "good news" but it would be news eternally better than the special Coney dog deal we just heard about. The question was would we be less passionate about sharing the words of life with lost people compared to this man's passion for pushing fabricated meat products on a bun to a hungry public?

Steven and I were specifically headed to where I had met a number of homeless kids the previous month, a kids hang out called the "drum circle" which is a small park nestled down a side street near where the bars are. Last month when I was there I had talked mostly with one of the older kids whose name is "Lost".

Steven and I rolled up after 9 PM to the Drum Circle and asked around for "Lost". The word is that "Lost" headed up north to the state of Washington. While we were talking with the kids we handed out water bottles (that had gospel labels on them). I remembered that "Lost" had told me that it gets packed at 10 PM when the drumming starts and in talking with the kids they told me the same.

A quick side note from the previous month when I had met "Lost". He told me that probably 65% of the kids there that I was looking at are homeless. Almost everyone was wearing black clothes of some sort. It is a small subculture. A place of community and family that for them means everything in a world that rejects them or treats them as if they were not even here.

The plan Steven and I had was to come back later to the Drum Circle and surprise the kids with Pizzas and more water. So far everything seemed to be a go. But on this night we would get more than we bargained for. A number of storylines would develop that would both break our hearts and encourage them at the same time. The college streets were overcrowded, loud and to say the least... in the middle of intense spiritual warfare. I am not one to say that lightly but it was impossible to escape what was clearly at hand. We had prayed and continued to pray for strength.

As we moved on we were able to hand out more water bottles mostly to homeless people throughout the area. One was an older man named Lacy. We had the water bottles in a cooler that rolled on wheels and as we were pulling it down the street past the bars some of the college guys walking near us cheered us on saying, "Got to respect a man who brings a cooler!" Certainly they would be surprised to see that instead of beer in our cooler it contained bottled water with the words of life written on the labels!

Then we came upon two ladies sitting down by the curb of the street and talking. They accepted the water we offered. I asked if they had a place to sleep tonight. The older lady, who was maybe 30, said she did and that she was trying to talk her friend into going back to her mom's house tonight. I asked her friend how old she was. She looked at me with tears welling up and said, "I am 17 and a half". If you have any doubt about this being a broken world then I ask you to just spend 30 minutes on these streets. Your prayer life will never be the same afterward.

For this young lady it was pretty clear that either she go back to mom's or sleep on the street tonight and for right now the "street" was better than "home" in her mind. And yet it was clear the street was "unthinkable" by the way she was looking. What could cause that to be true in her life? I guess that is like asking what could have caused those in the towers of 9/11 to jump out of the building from 100 floors up? When given the choice of stay in the tower and die, or jump out of the building and die, there were many who chose to jump. Neither choice is good but instead both tragic. They are trapped. Hope is gone.

If you could have looked into her eyes you would have seen a pain and depth of hopelessness that would knock you back a step. It's hard to look directly into the eyes of those who have so much pain. In many ways it is a helpless feeling. Can a bottle of water make a difference when the battle is so much bigger than this 16.9 oz piece of plastic? If God is in it I believe the answer is yes. The One with the still small voice can use the still small things to reach those who are still lost. A kind act. A kind word. The sharing of the gospel of salvation which is the ultimate message of God's love. This is God's plan which the world judges to be foolish. And in the world's eyes that makes me a fool for Christ.

This was Steven's first night on these streets as a believer reaching out to the lost. He told me these are his streets as less than a year ago he was one of the lost walking on these very sidewalks and frequenting these bars every weekend. And now he was looking at the multitudes and saying "that was me, that was me". You could see the compassion on Steven's face as he looked at the crowds that filled the streets.

We made our way over to where friends of mine were sharing the gospel. I introduced Steven to a number of people including Jim. Jim is precious to me. An amazing example that encourages me greatly in Christ. Jim is in his 70's and in a wheel chair. Almost everyone on the college streets knows him because he is on the street caring for people and sharing the gospel at least 3-4 nights every week for the past 5 years! The homeless listen to him and respect him. His compassion is so genuine as is his God given ability to share the gospel.

The spiritual battle from the college crowd was now in full force and Steven and I prayed for God to direct us, protect us and use us. We heard one guy yell out "Jesus is dead!" Immediately our hearts went out to that young man and prayed the famous words of Jesus "Father forgive them, they know not what they do." We prayed that the blindness would be removed from those we talked with.

Before I knew it a couple of teens were talking with us and they said the believed in God and that it was the same God we were serving. In talking further they told us that they are LDS. They clearly did not know much about the LDS faith that they claimed. One had become LDS just 4 months ago. The other grew up LDS. It turned out that he really was not serious about being LDS. He went to church because his parents wanted him to growing up. I asked him if he would still go when he was out of the house. He said yes that he would raise his family Mormon (more of cultural reason then spiritual). Since it was clear that he had little passion for being LDS I asked him if what I was guessing was true and he said I was right. Not much passion. He just goes where he needs to go when he needs to go there and does not get too wrapped up in it. It's not a big deal to him.

I asked what he thought "Heavenly Father" (a Mormon term) thought of his own admitted lack of passion and interest in him? He told me Heavenly Father probably is not happy about it. We started through God's law with the purpose to magnify the grace of the gospel and his friend, the 4 month old LDS convert, jumped in and said "then nobody will be saved".

He then moved his friend to leave with him telling us that they are good, they are faithful and then asked me "are you faithful?" I told him that if he were faithful he would stay and serve God by sharing and lovingly explaining why what he believed was true to those like us who were willing to talk with them. He kept inching away and I politely asked "If you are continuing to walk away from giving your testimony while we were willing to stay and talk with you who is it of the two of us that is not being faithful?"

It broke my heart but they kept moving and walked away proclaiming their own goodness. I pray that seeds were planted and that I was walking in God's way and not my own in talking with them. Especially with LDS members it is critical to help them discover the impossible weight of God's law before they can understand and thirst for true grace. A real and complete grace that is very different from the false definition of grace the LDS church teaches. In this case the conversation did not get to "grace" before it ended. I pray God will not leave these young men alone and will pick up the rest the gospel message with them through other Christians that he puts in their path.

As it turns out the night was just getting started. We came across a homeless teen that had a fishing pole with a small cup at the end of the line. Hanging on the line above the cup were small signs that said "fishing for beer". In the cup was a small amount of change people had put in the cup to help him with his fishing endeavors. While he preferred beer he did accept the bottled water that we offered. He was dressed in almost all black and we would see him again later when we went back to the Drum Circle.

Before heading back to the Drum Circle we put in an order at the Pizza shop right there on the college street. We had taken a peak at the Drum Circle and a good 50 kids where there so Steven and I ordered 5 large pizza's. When the pizza was ready we grabbed them and headed over to the Drum Circle. As we arrived the circle was electric with energy. The circle is kind of like a wedding cake in which the layers on the bottom are larger and get smaller as it goes to the top with kids setting on various levels of the circle just hanging out and talking. Right next to the circle was a group of guys playing with a hackey sack ball kicking it back and forth. And on the other side of the circle at it's base the drummers were drumming. With midnight not far around the corner their bongo type drums set the rhythm of the night as they tapped out the beats in harmony.

Needless to say the pizza and water bottles were a big hit and gratefully received. All told we handed out about 50 waters before we ran out near the end. We were able to talk to a few of the kids when about 5 minutes after handing the food out a guy jumps down from the circle and says "Thank you". His name is Lee. His street name is "Lethal". We get talking with Lethal and a few others such as "Bear" and Vicky. Bear was wearing a black gothic style Sponge Bob Square Pants shirt that had shiny stones on it outlining Sponge Bob. A bedazzled gothic Sponge Bob? You have to know at this point nothing was surprising us.

So we are talking with Vicky and she said that she and Bear used to be neighbors and went to church together back in the day. As we are getting a good discussion going with them we hear a loud shout. We turned and we saw it was Lethal standing on top of the circle yelling out to everyone. His voice carries and it is forceful. With everyone's attention he scolds the kids and tells them they need to thank us for bringing the pizza and water. Next thing we know we are being overwhelmed with people thanking us. Then Lethal comes back down to talk with us more.

As we are talking with Lethal we notice there is now a young mom and her little boy who is maybe 4 or 5 near us. They missed out on the pizza. All the water is now gone. All I can say is it felt like we were punched in the gut. Lethal is talking to us. We are trying to listen to him. Steven asked me how late the pizza place is open until. Maybe we can get some more food? Maybe the hot dog guy since we heard he is around till 3 AM? In the chaos of the college streets and the Drum Circle, and it is chaotic, next thing we know their gone. Where did they go? Will they be back?

From talking to Lethal and previously to "Lost", people come and go. This is HQ and home base. The place to check in and stay for a bit but then bounce around for awhile somewhere else on the streets. We did not see the mom and her boy again. Please pray.

So let me tell you about Lethal. He could be right out of central casting. He is a tough guy and looked the part because for him it was not a part. It is who he is. I cannot fully describe how it was just "understood" by all the kids that were there that you do not mess with Lethal. God had us at peace with talking him. He was really open to talking with us and we went for it. We had his ear. You don't waste an opportunity like that so we got to know each other with some small talk. Only on the street "small talk" is not quite like it is at the coffee shop as you will soon read.

During our conversation to come he would admit to having killed a man who deserved it (no regrets) and to having "let" another man live that did not deserve it. "Lethal" mercy you could say. Having a gun pointed in his face is something that is not a new thing for him nor did it seem to scare him if it were to occur again. It turns out that he grew up homeless but is not homeless now. But this is his crowd and he stays in contact with his crowd and they clearly respect him for it. He is headed into the military in the next few weeks and when asking about his plans he hopes to retire after a long military career. Here is the bottom line. Don't mess with him. He has the name Lethal for a reason.

Well... you know what happened next don't you? That's right. I messed with him. God prompted me to and to my surprise Lethal was ok with it. As scary as Lethal looked I knew God was bigger and my usual nervousness was gone. I challenged Lethal to share with me what he thought the answers to the four big questions in life are. Those questions are (1) How did we get here? (2) What is the reason we are here? (3) How are we to live while we are here? (4) Where do go when we (die) leave here?

After I ran through the questions his eyes lit up. He loved it. He said alright let's talk about this. We came to learn that Lethal had done a lot of studying in regard to science, evolution and Darwinism.

We started with "How did we get here?" Lethal said he wrote some papers in school that his conclusion was that Darwinism is how it happened. He pointed to the kids and to the world and said look around. Survival of the fittest is what is playing out here tonight. The people with power survive. Those without or who are unable to compensate for the lack of power don't make it. And he would later tell us that he prepared to do what it takes to be among the fittest that survive.

I asked him what were the proofs and evidences for Darwinism that really convinced him that it was true. He gave me a fluff answer at first. I pressed him for specifics. Here was his first compelling evidence for Darwin. He told me that one time in school he intentionally told a lie, a rumor about someone in the class to see what the behavior of the class would be, who would believe a lie and why they would believe it. Because he had influence and power his lie caused people to believe it as truth largely to fit in with the existing social structure. This was the compelling evidence he was putting his trust in?

He went on to make general observations about seeing survival of the fittest in our culture and that also was great confirmation of Darwin to him. I asked him for the science? Again he made general claims about parts of the human body that seemed to have been poorly designed but no real specifics where given when asked for details about his "studying".

I said, "Lethal, thanks for sharing that with me. But there is one thing that is confusing to me. If survival of the fittest is ultimately about beating out the competition (which he nodded yes as I spoke it)... Why would Steven and I come here with water and pizza to feed our competition? Shouldn't we instead starve our competition to preserve our best interests for survival? Why would we do this if the teaching of Darwin is true?"

Lethal gave us big smile and said, "Give me second on that one". He was silent for quite awhile. I asked if I could give it a shot for him if I was a Darwin teacher and he said "go ahead" eager to hear how the Christian guy would answer if he was an atheist. I told him that maybe it is possible that by feeding our competition we are weak and that if we keep violating how the survival of the fittest works we will at some point not survive if we keep doing this. Maybe not today but at some point we will pay the price for violating the rules of Darwin. And so what we did does not contradict Darwin but will be ultimately be subject to it. He smiled again and appreciated the "help" in defending Darwin. But he and I both knew where all this was heading and he was very open and up for it.

He took a moment and commanded me not to go anywhere. He needed a cigarette to continue the discussion. He pulled in his buddy George. We asked George's street name and Lethal let out a big laugh. He said they call George "Pimp Tart". We did not ask why and we were thankful that Lethal changed the subject. He then told George to stay because he needed to be part of this great conversation. He said that "my man here is On Point! He has me rethinking some things I can't answer and you got to check it out."

We got to know George a little bit. In talking to him he said, "All I got of any value is this iPod and these green shorts". If I understood correctly the battery was running out on it and at that point he would have an iPod that was useless. But he would still have the green shorts. They way he said it made our hearts drop. Not because he said it with sadness but because it was so matter of fact. That is how it is. I think he was content with what he had, which was not much, and most of us our not content and we have it all in comparison.

Before we moved forward we had a little bit of diversion as Lethal asked us to settle a disagreement they were having over what the true color of the "lighter" was. Lethal said it was yellow. George said it was orange. Earlier Lethal had said that we cannot really know absolute truth and whatever someone believed is true is true to them and therefore true. I had asked him to test that by asking if in my belief I thought the lighter was really a watermelon would I be wrong?

He said no. That would be your truth. I asked if "my" truth would be wrong. He said "not to you". Then I asked what would happen if I ate the lighter while it was lit, believing it to be a watermelon, would it really be a watermelon and would I therefore not be burned? He said that I would get burned. I said then "my" truth would be wrong wouldn't it? The issue is not what "my" truth is or what "your" truth is, because those beliefs can be wrong, what matters is finding out what is "true" regardless of what we perceive or believe.

Lethal was still trying to make a case for there being no absolute truth. I asked why then did he get on top of the Drum Circle and scold the kids for not thanking us for the pizza? If there is no right and wrong why did he bother? Lethal smiled. He told me because it was wrong for them not to thank us. After that my man Lethal was on board.

As timing would have it someone came up to us asking for a lighter. Before Lethal could say anything I said "sorry, no lighter on me but I do have a watermelon!" On queue Lethal, Steven and I doubled over laughing at our inside joke while the poor young kid stood with no idea why we were unable to contain ourselves. So we catch our breath and Lethal wants to continue with the questions.

"What is the reason we are here?" He tells me we are for no other reason but to survive.

"How are we to live while we are here?" He tells me whatever it takes to survive (notice a pattern).

And finally "Where do go to when we (die) leave here?" Lethal says, "I hope there is an afterlife."

HOLD THE PHONE. Many who do not believe in God and claim there is no real purpose other to survive are reluctant to say that when we die that is it. No afterlife. Zip. Nada. And yet that is the logically consistent result if we evolved randomly without purpose and design. But the scripture is true that God has set eternity in the hearts of men and I shared that with Lethal as evidence for God and against his premise of Darwinism. He had eternity set in his heart. He had a hope of more. And throughout the world we same the same evidence.

George then interrupts because he must tell us the story about Lethal that involved a motorist, Taco Bell and a gun. He insists he must tell the story. Lethal jumps in to tell the story the "right" way and he does so complete with profanity and sordid details. Felt like we were right there in the Taco Bell. On a side note. Avoid going to Taco Bell with Lethal. Let's leave it at that.

Lethal notices that the kids are breaking up from the Drum Circle as we are talking and he tells us that the police must be here. We look around and we do not see any. He told us to keep looking because they must be close. Then around the corner come police on bikes. It is midnight and no congregating. Got to break it up. Lethal says we can stay but the rest of the kids will do what they usually do at midnight which is to go over by the Post Office.

So now it is just the four of us at the Drum Circle and George asks about evidence for God and God creating everything. Lethal jumps in and astutely tells him that "my man" is getting to that and to hang on. With a smile Lethal asks me to continue with the questions and so I do.

I ask Lethal what he believes happened in the very beginning. In the beginning was there "NOTHING"? He said that is the part that is hardest for him to figure out. I asked if he believed that NOTHING after awhile evolved in to SOMETHING? Can NOTHING cause SOMETHING? Lethal was thinking hard and smiling. He turned to George and said, "see what I mean?".

I told Lethal that maybe we can agree on this. Science does not support NOTHING causing SOMETHING. Science is that which is observable, testable and reproducible and we have never scientifically observed or reproduced NOTHING causing SOMETHING. He agreed and understood the difference between science and using scientific methods to formulate a theory. I asked him the following question. Isn't believing in NOTHING causing SOMETHING a faith? It is really something that can only be done through faith since it is not supported by science? Reluctantly he agreed. I really appreciated his intellectual consistency when it came to science and where the line stops and faith begins.

We moved on to the next step then that there must be SOMETHING that has always been. Through science we can rule out NOTHING as the first cause. The question then is what is that SOMETHING that has always been. It boiled down to either God or the Universe itself as being Eternal. The SOMETHING that has always been. I asked them what they know about the science of the universe being eternal? They agreed that science confirms the universe is growing and expanding. So what is the conclusion based on that scientific knowledge? They said that the universe would have had to have had a starting point. It would then be ruled out as being the SOMETHING that has always been. The universe could not then be eternal.

I told Lethal about a theory some atheists have regarding how the universe might be eternal despite the science showing that it is growing and would then have a starting point. The theory is called the Big Bang / Big Crunch. Lethal caught on that the universe could be eternal if at some point it stops growing and starts shrinking. And then shrinks and shrinks until all the matter causes another Big Bang making it grow again. The theory says that maybe the universe is constantly Banging and Crunching (Growing and Shrinking) and has always been doing that and therefore it is eternal which would eliminate the need for God.

I asked Lethal, based on his studying if today's science supported the Bang / Crunch theory? He said no because the mass in the universe is not big enough to cause the gravitational pull need to slow the growing, reverse the expansion and cause the shrinking to occur. I told him that he was right. And that has forced proponents of this theory to speculate about unproven possibilities that could make the theory true. One of which is that maybe there is "dark matter" that we can not detect and enough of it reverse the growth of the universe . And there would need to be a lot of this "dark matter" to make that happen. And we cannot find any.

I asked Lethal, based on science can we prove the universe is eternal? He said no. So to believe the universe is eternal would then be done on what? Faith? He agreed and smiled.

I have to stop here for a second. Here is about the toughest guy you would not want to be on the wrong side of in a midnight meeting and he is bright and intelligently speaking about what science is and isn't including the impact of the 1st and 2nd Laws of Thermodynamics and remaining consistent even when it does not support his original premise.

So I went further with Lethal and asked him on a scale from Zero to 100% where would he put his confidence in the Darwin theory. He said, "You know I am an all or nothing kinda guy. And if I have to be all in or all out, which is how I play it, then I have to say that I am at zero percent." I thought I misunderstood. It sounded like he told us he put no confidence in the Darwin theory. I asked him if I misunderstood. He told me I was correct. I did not misunderstand. He has no confidence in the Darwin theory. Steven and I stood back for second. God was working hard on Lethal. He changed positions.

I laughed and I asked him if would be alright for me to "preach" at him? George wanted to know evidence for God I was ready to answer those questions. He laughed at me and said to go ahead. He wanted to know. And then another interruption. A guy came screaming yelling "Lethal! Lethal!"

Lethal told him he was busy with me and would get with him later. Lethal did not want to stop our talk. His friend told him something was going down at the post office. Something about a guy that had been intimate with someone's brother's wife. Only he used different words to explain it. He wanted Lethal to come and help beat this guy down. And straight up, if that is what I had a need for, Lethal would be at the top of the list of who I would call on for help. I am glad I do not have a need for that.

In a stern voice he told his friend he would there in 10 minutes. He was not leaving and told the guy to wait. Later Steven and I wondered if God had used us to keep Lethal out of trouble. Who knows what was about to go down if he went right then. Lethal then looked at me with the authority he had in running the street and nodded me on to "preach" at him. You gotta love that. I could see in his eyes he was thirsting for truth, for someone willing to bring it to him and defend it to him.

I told him about creation that clearly points to God and the conscience he has that reveals that God cares about right and wrong and that he has not done right. I asked him why it is that the conscience only speaks to us about right and wrong? Why is it that it is the impartial judge in the court room of our mind? When sharing the words of Jesus he agreed that lusting makes him an adulterer at heart and that hating his brother makes him a murderer at heart. I explained that even though I had not physically committed murder as he had that I was a murderer at heart and just as guilty through my words and thoughts.

I asked him why is it that the survival of the fittest tells us to protect ourselves and yet when someone is getting hurt or attacked our conscience convicts us to put ourselves in danger to help that person? That is completely opposite of Darwin teachings.

I shared with Lethal the justice of God. Lethal knows about justice. Street justice. I told him that God is good and perfectly Holy. He is perfectly just. Lethal understands the need for justice in his world. He asked me though why God would give us free will and then punish us for using it how we wanted to. I told him because it is not right to take the valuable gift God gave us and use it wrongly. Here in America we are granted a lot of freedom but happens if we use it wrongly? Justice is reasonable when we are the ones that have taken that which is good and acted wrongly in response.

I asked Lethal if thought hell was unreasonable? Was God out of line for such a severe punishment in light of the wrongs we all have committed. He told me yes but at the same time his eyes knew hell was reasonable he just needed help understanding why. I asked Lethal if he punched me in the face, punched the police officer in the face and also the President of the USA in the face would he get the same punishment? He told me no because it depended on who he hit.

And so it is I told him that his sins are against God. And God is infinitely good and Holy. Because God is so good and infinitely Holy even the smallest sin is an infinite offense against Him. What then is the appropriate punishment for an infinite offense against an infinitely Holy and good God? An infinite one called hell.

Really wanting to understand more about this Lethal asked me how a loving God would do that. I told him that God would do that because He is loving. The Bible says that God is not willing that any should perish. He gave us free will so that we could have a real relationship with Him and not a forced one. And that means you can reject Him. And while it grieves God to give you punishment if you insist on your own way which is to not want God, He will grant that to be true. And you will spend eternity with what you insisted on. Being without God in place that would then have to be without any thing that is at all good. Hell is that place. To reject God is reject all that is good.

As we talked Lethal was putting the pieces together. I asked him if in heaven even one thing was stolen even one time for all of eternity would it be heaven? He said no it would not be heaven. I told him that is because God is prefect and we would not want it any other way. And because He is perfectly good He will do the perfectly right thing. He will punish murders and rapists. And He is so good he will punish adulterers and even liars and thieves. Nothing will escape His sight in the pursuit of perfect justice and goodness. It was making sense to Lethal as he nodded.

I then told Him that God, Jesus Christ, came to save Him. That God does love him but that he also loves justice. I asked Lethal what God did to save him. He said "the cross". I said that's right. 2,000 years ago God came to earth and took the form of a man the way a hand fills a glove. Jesus lived a perfect life, the life you and I did not live and cannot live. Instead of God pouring out His justice and wrath on you and I he instead poured it out on His son in our place. You won't go to heaven because your good. You won't go because you promise to do better or because your really sorry. You can go because though you broke the law and Jesus paid your fine. Every other religion is about how man can work their way to heaven. Christianity is about God coming from heaven down to earth to erase religion and make provision for us to have a right relationship with Him. The other religions say you must "do, do, do". Jesus came and said something different. He said "done".

I thanked Lethal again for letting me "preach" to him. He smiled and softly said "it's cool". He told me people have different beliefs and it is all good. I asked him if he thought all the different beliefs people have would all prove true on the other side of death. He rightly said no. I began to conclude by saying, "Lethal, my belief is that your are in trouble." He looked me right in the eyes and didn't move. I went on to say, "If what I believe is true, and I believe it is, then you are in trouble. Wouldn't it be heartless of me and completely without compassion if I were to believe you to be in trouble and not take the time to talk with you tonight?" He softly agreed.

I let Lethal know that Steve and I cared about him and asked if he would think about these things. That when he deserved it the least Jesus laid down His life to save him and that the appropriate response to God's kindness is to repent (turn from sin) and put all trust in Christ who was so kind to save him. It is a free gift that he cannot earn. He nodded he would think about these things.

With that we did what tough guy's on the street like Lethal, Steven and I do. BIG HUGS!!!!! In fact when I thought we were done hugging, Lethal decided to come back for another hug before we went on our way. Our new friend may be named Lethal but the Holy Spirit was what was more powerful. It is amazing to see a man begin to change before your eyes and in the most unlikely of places.

It was getting late. 1 AM was not that far away at this point. As we walked back to the vehicle to head home Steven and I praised God. And then up in the distance we saw a gothic bedazzled Sponge Bob shirt. Yep. It was "Bear". Such a young kid. I called out his name and told him to be careful. He said thanks and that he would be. Then he told us with excitement, "I am going home right now to try and make up with mom and go back home." As I looked at his sweet face I said, "You be sure to do that Bear. You do that."

What a fitting way to end the night on the streets. A young man was turning from where he was and now his heart was changed and set on coming home. It's a picture of God's desire for the lost that they would turn and come home to Him.

Every time I am on the streets I am convinced that Jesus would be hanging out there, passing out water, sharing food, getting hugs, giving hugs, sharing truth, changing lives and saving souls. Please pray for all those mentioned and not mentioned in this story. That the lost would be found. Thank you for your prayers.

In Jesus name,

Rob-roy