Tuesday, August 12, 2008

God's Reversal at Occidental Park

I met with Lance today. I hadn't had a chance to connect with Lance since he and his family helped at Occidental Park. He told me a story that I knew just had to be told:

He decided to spend his time at the park talking to the different people hanging out that day. He ended up sitting by a man named David Davidson, in his mid 30's, on a step. It turns out that as Lance got to know him, David told him a story that blew his socks off.

David had a landscaping business prior to becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol. His addiction caused him to lose his business and he became homeless. One night he was all alone out in the desert, crying out to God, when he realized that God was present and he had put his hand on David's shoulder. It was such a powerful experience in David's life that he hasn't touched drugs or alcohol since.

Lance is a fairly new Christian; one that longs for more personal interaction with God. He expressed desire for an experience like David's and said so. He asked David, "Why do you think that God chose you for this experience?" David answered him profoundly by saying, "Because I was stripped bare and was crying out to God."

This is the incredible part: David turned to Lance and asked him, "Would you like me to pray for you?"

Here it is: God using a homeless man to pray for a successful business man in affluent Sammamish, Washington.

This is God's reversal.

See God gets that we need faith like a child. He gets that it's not the rich and the powerful that have the greatest hearts for God, or even the most effective witness. God gets that as we reach out to those that are very different in their circumstances, God can take it and flip us around.

This conversation and prayer have been part of a transforming process for Lance. He gets that life can change on a moment's notice and that the bridge between both men isn't all that big. He gets that as he allows his life to be touched, he may know God far beyond anything he has experienced to this point.

He is ready for a deeper faith experience, are we?


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This story sounds familiar to me. I just read a book called "Same Kind of Different as Me." It is a true story about a homeless man and an art dealer who are brought together by God through the art dealer's wife. It was an amazing story of how God can break down socio-economic barriers to accomplish His will. In this story, the homeless man and art dealer become life-long friends.

God is amazing! He can use someone that society considers "invisible," a homeless man, to touch others and to teach about Him. I know that I am going to be keeping my mind open to whomever God puts in my path, because that person might be coming from the most unlikely of places.