Hmmm, where to begin? Well, the day started with me being asked to leave the Chicago Park District area. Apparently, my City of Chicago street performer permit is not valid on Park District grounds. So, the "Man" :o) told me to move outside of the fencing which I did. I actually ended up moving to where I first setup on Day 1. No big deal. Honestly, I moved a little into the park area because I was feeling a bit shy and didn't want to be on the corner where everybody could see me. But, oh well. So there I stayed, on the corner for all to see.
I spent the day reading through Isaiah while occasionally saying hi to people. I am still trying to get a feel for my role in all of this. Right now, I feel like all I'm suppose to do is offer prayer services to the community. This means I'm not preaching at people or pushing prayer on them, but I'm just making myself available to them if they are in need of prayer. Now, this may change as the days and weeks go by and I'm ok with that, but right now I feel like I am just to be an available presence of prayer.
So, today I got to speak in length about church and mission with Scott Venable the pastor of Mosaic Church which just so happens to be a newer church plant that will begin meeting in the field house of Wicker Park. Before we parted ways, I got to pray for vision, blessing and the release of the five fold ministry (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher) for him and his church. Shortly after he left, I got to pray for the FedEx guy who pulled up to make a delivery. On the way to his delivery he gave me a thumbs up and after he made his delivery I asked him if I could pray for him which was definitely a first for me. Praying for the FedEx guy that is. Pretty cool.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I've noticed that breaking up my time between smiling and greeting people with reading the Bible is helpful. I feel like people are more receptive of my presence when they see me reading the Bible. It's like I'm less intimidating to them. Oftentimes, while I'm reading the bible I'll hear people reading the sign aloud and when I look up and they'll actually say hi to me. But, when I'm just standing there, people seem to be a bit more guarded and leery of me. I'm definitely learning something new everyday about God, myself, people and the mission. Yup, I am on an adventure that is filled with the good, the bad and the ugly.
I did want to spend some time describing the Divine appointment I had at the end of the day. It was with this woman Renise. She came beelining for me and begin engaging me in conversation. She asked what church I went to and then proclaimed "God's got you on the front lines." She then proceeded to tell me these amazing stories of when God used her for a street prayer ministry where gang bangers would literally laid down their guns on the street and come for prayer. Very cool stuff. We must've talked for over an hour. Long story short, she prayed for me and then I prayed for her. She prayed about things that reconfirmed what God had already spoken to me in the past and I felt like God gave me some prophetic insights for her. It was definitely a God moment. I told her I was going to try and be in this area for the summer and she said she'd try and join me when she could (one of her kids goes to the A.N. Priztker school right down the street). What was so endearing to me about all of this was the fact that God knew that I was having a a rough couple days and thought enough of it to actually send someone to come pray, encourage and build up my faith. So, thank you for your prayers. God is answering!
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