Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 1

Today marks Day 1 of the Mobile Prayer Station. I ended up setup the prayer sign at the corner of Damen & Wicker Park Avenue right at one of the entrances into Wicker Park. I arrived around 3:30pm and stood nervously wondering what would become of the next few hours. So, I said a quick prayer for the courage to unpack the sign. Immediately, I felt God's peace and slowly setup the sign when two skateboarders came rolling up.  One of them looked at the sign, then at me and said, "I'm encouraged already." I couldn't have asked for a better launch. But, it gets better. 

Right after the kids left, an ice cream vender came by and we started chatting. It wasn't long before he shared that he was just beginning his ice cream business. While we were talking two girls came and bought some ice cream from him. Lao was very friendly and welcoming. After the sale, Lao asked me what the sign was all about and I told him that I was here to pray for people. He asked me how it worked (I could tell he was interested). So, I told him that I could ask God to bless his new business and family which I ended up doing. I could tell he was nervous, but God's presence and grace helped to ease the awkwardness. Afterward, Lao went on his merry way.

Over the next hour, I smiled and said hi to people. I really don't think people knew how to react. They'd read the sign, looked at me and then back to the sign. I got all kinds of reactions from smiles to confused looks to stonefaced stares. Mark was this 10 year old boy who was riding his Razor scooter round and round the park. He must have pasted me a half dozen times. Each time saying hi. Finally, he stopped and all he said was "hope?" I told I could pray for hope for him and he said "ok" so I did. He bowed his head with me and everything and then he was off again. 

Next, a homeless woman named Denise came and we sat on the near by bench for awhile and talked about her family. She shared her heart with me and I prayed for her. If you're reading this please remember the Weeks family in your prayers. They truly need God to come and rescue them from addiction. I have a feeling that I will be seeing lots of Denise over the next few weeks. Later on, one of her friends Maurice came rolling over in his wheelchair and stopped right in front of my sign and asked me to pray a blessing for Osama Bin Laden. I told him sure, but  that I'd rather pray a blessing over him. He then proceeded to press me on why I didn't want to pray for Osama which I replied I'll pray for both of you. So, I prayed a blessing over Osama Bin Laden's family and asked God to bring healing and redemption to them and then prayed a blessing over Maurice. He thanked me and rolled off. 

The last woman I had the privilege to pray for was Suzanne. She came beelining for me from across the street. She stood right in front of me and said, "I could so use some encouragement right now" so we talked for a little. I asked her how I could pray and she shared her day with me. I prayed for her and then we talked some more. And I prayed for her again. She cried and then she smiled. God showed up. We ended up talking for at least 20 minutes until she had to leave to got pick up her two kids from daycare.

I ended up leaving around 6:40pm. I was planning on staying until 7:00pm, but the wind kicked up something fierce and it got extremely chilly. I am looking forward to returning to the same spot tomorrow. I think people just need to get used to me being there. I was blessed by God today to be able to pray with 5 people, but really was given the opportunity to pray for dozens upon dozens of people as they walked by. What the Holy Spirit impressed upon me most was to pray for the Father's love to be released into people's lives and for the healing of their  wounded, broken and beat-up hearts. "Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sin" (1 Peter 4:8 NLT).