Today, two vans drove down the mountain to downtown Denver right after dinner to minister at the skate park, and to those on 16th Street Mall. Yesterday I had made twenty duct tape flowers to give away as a sign of God's beauty and His never dying love. Very clever, I know. =P So I stuffed those in my little backpack named Josh Bergen, with the intentions of giving them out to random women I ran into. Turns out I didn't actually meet any women, but I did give a few out to some homeless men that we spoke to and prayed for. Cameron, Ashley, NZ Michael and I wandered up and down the street looking for the Holy Spirit to lead us somewhere. The first homeless guy we ran into was Glen. In efforts not to overwhelm him, Cameron and Ashley talked to him while Michael and I interceded on a bench a little ways down the street. They spoke to him for a good while, prayed for him, then came over to us and told us about their conversation. Glen was reading the Bible when we first saw him and he told Ashley and Cameron a great story about how he used it once in a coffee shop. A lady behind him said something derogatory against homeless people. Glen turned around and asked if she thought she was better than him. She said yes, and told him that everyone in that coffee shop was better than him because they weren't homeless. Glen pulled out his Bible and asked, "are you saying you're better than Jesus? 'Birds have their nests, and foxes have their holes, but the Son of God has no place to rest His head." Ah ha! You go, Glen! The lady was caught completely off guard and lost all her pride in that moment.
We kept walking. After a while of not really feeling drawn to anything, we each silently began to pray that God would clearly guide us to a person or a place so we could share His love. At that moment, a tall gangly man came up behind us and began telling us a the story of his situation. He said his name was Benny and he and his wife were left there by their ride and have been trying to find a ride or a place to stay that night. He asked for money and told us he knew where to find an ATM. Whether his story was true or not, I decided I am not one to judge, and God had asked us to love on this man. We pulled some money out for him and then asked if we could pray for him. He was all for it so we prayed over him for safety and hope. I gave Benny a rose and asked him to give it to his wife. I explained what it meant to me and asked him to pass that on. He thanked us and went on his way. "Whatever you do unto the least of these, you do unto me."
Later, we all got a good laugh out of a guy who made a banner crooked, ran into a trash can and slurred to us, "Hah I love doing that!" We laughed and kept walking, only to discover that he really did love doing that because ALL the banners were askew. Oh funny!
We later ran into Andy, an elderly homeless man that Michael had met the first time he went to 16th Street Mall. He is such a joyful, kindhearted man! He blessed me just with his caring heart as he remembered Michael, and took great care in learning the rest of our names. We prayed for him and continued on.
On our way back to the vans, a man started talking to us, asking for spare change so he could buy his brittle-boned mother a punt I milk. He said she's into politics and doesn't believe in buying thugs by the gallon. This guy was hilarious as he knelt on his knees and joking begged for money. We didn't have any change on us so I pulled out a flower and gave to him. His whole face lit up and sprang to his feet and told me that he loved me. He went to shake Michael's hand but then quickly turned and hugged me and kissed the top of my head and made us laugh a bit more then moved on.
What a good night! When we regrouped back at the skate park, we got to hear of some more awesome stories that happened there as well. All that to say, I serve a good and powerful God who is worthy of my obedience. Now I'm going to sleep!
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