Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 40

What can I say? Today was exciting. Forty days of the Mobile Prayer Station, "it's biblical." Now when I was first starting out forty days of prayer wasn't even on the radar. Personally, I think I was thinking I'd be out more days, but then again what the Lord impressed on my heart throughout this whole adventure was love over obligation. I will write another blog focusing more on reflections and lessons learned throughout the whole of the forty day experience so stay tuned. 

I got to see lots of people today that I've been growing in relationship with from the community which was nice. I've been slowly telling people of my plans of travelling overseas so I've gotten to say some goodbyes. What I've been slowly learning over the years is the importance of saying goodbye. The more I'm able to say goodbye the better I've become at saying hello. I got to do this with quite a few people today which was sad, but also endearing. In saying goodbye I got to reflect and remember just how the other person has impacted my life, how close we've grown and how I will miss them. Saying goodbye has the power to draw us into the depths of our hearts if we allow it. 

There were a few nice surprises today as I got to interpret a dream for Maureen who is the girl I buy my ice coffees from each day. Jose came by to say goodbye and we ended up praying for one another. My dear old friend Glory stopped by whom I haven't seen in like eight years and spent some time together talking and praying. I prayed with a few other friends today from church, as well as, an old childhood friend who just happened to be walking by. So cool! The day ended with Sean, who is a card carrying Coexister who said that he has constructed his own personal religion from lots of other ones. We talked for a bit about faith and life. I ended up praying for him and he started to weep. I told him that he was feeling the presence of God and he agreed. He shared a dream and I asked God to bring interpretation and He did. I love it when God includes me when He draws near to someone. The dream was from God and highly revelatory, I actually saw the lights go on in his eyes as we talked through the interpretation. God is so good!

Lastly, I ended up giving the Mobile Prayer Station sign to my friend Scott Venable who is the pastor of Mosaic Church. We talked and prayed for one another and then He tells me that he will definitely put the sign to use. He shared how he was going to get a street performer permit and continue on with the Mobile Prayer Station. YES! It truly warmed my heart to hear that the vision God gave me has been passed on to someone else who will carry it which is something I've been praying in my heart for over the last few weeks. Thank You Lord! He even said that he was hoping to get some other people in his church to get street performer permits so that they could rotate people through. Wow! Gotta love multiplication. I love the missional focus of what Mosaic Church is doing and have a prophetic feeling that God is going to move mighty through this church to bring spiritual awakening to the area. 

At the end of the day, I know that Jesus used my presence with the Mobile Prayer Station to impact lives both directly and indirectly. I pray that you, who are reading this, were also encouraged and your faith was strengthen as you read how God drew near to people. He loves people and is eager to be in relationship with us. I am definitely looking forward to when I finally get to see Jesus face to face and have Him tell me exactly what He did through the Mobile Prayer Station. Well, this chapter of my life is finished, but there is another one ready to be written/read. I head out to Brisbane, Australia in two days! I've had so much to do in getting ready for this trip and if you continue to read my blog you will discover with me all that God has planned for me while I'm there. Though the future is unknown to me, I find peace in knowing that it is known to God and that my life is in His able, loving, caring Hands. Peace, Gerry.

Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 17

Today I spent most of the day just saying hi to people. I saw a lot of people I've talked and prayed with before and they all waved hi to me while some stopped to chat for a minute or two. Even more, there was an usual amount of people today who initiated greetings with me by waving and/or saying hi to me that I never met before. All in all, today was a day of rest for the most part. I got to see my friend Jeff today which I was happy about. Jeff has been having some health issues as of late and I usually see him at least once a week while I'm out on the street but I hadn't seen him for a couple weeks, so I was very happy to see and talk with him. 

Another highlight of the day was seeing Bridget and Stephanie, a couple girls I met and prayed with when my friend Tyler joined me on DAY 10. They are art students who would consider themselves "spiritual" but not religious in anyway. We talked at length about faith and life and I shared my story with them and the many spiritually supernatural experiences of God's Kingdom of light breaking into the darkness of my life. I really enjoyed talking with them because they were honest and genuine. They believe people are spiritual beings and they pray to the universe and believe that a higher power may exist, but wouldn't call this higher power God. I shared with them my heart of wanting to be more light than heat with the Mobile Prayer Station and they said that that's why they came back to talk to me. They appreciated that I listened to them and wasn't trying to force them to believe in Jesus, but was still willing to talk about spiritual things with them. I did ask them if I could pray that "If God is real that He would personally reveal Himself to them" and I was thrilled when they agreed. 

We had some good laughs together about the fear of being converted by Christians. This may sting a little, but honestly, I share some of their fears.  You see, I have quite a few tattoos and when I'm wearing a t-shirt sometimes I get nervous when I visit a church I've never been to before or am hanging out at Starbucks or some other place that I know Christians hang out because I'm afraid that I'll be a victim of "drive-by evangelism," where someone comes by and shares the Gospel with me without any real interest in cultivating any sort of relationship with me. They drive-by hurl bible verses at me and then drive away leaving me feeling like I just got mowed down with a bunch of information that virtually makes no sense to me. Now hear me on this, I love sharing the Gospel with people and especially enjoy talking about Jesus, even jump at every opportunity that someone allows me to do this. But, from my experience and what I've heard from far too many people is that rather than feeling like they've been heard and really engaged with, people say that they mostly feel talked at by Christians who come off having an "I'm right and you're wrong" attitude.

I don't know about you, but when I read through the Gospels about the way Jesus lived life, I see Him sharing Himself with people. He opened His life up to people. He took the time to cultivate deeper relationships with people who were interested. Sure He shared hard truths with people, but He was also willing to relationally engage with them. Even reading through the book of Acts, the disciples were also willing to open up their lives to the people in their community. I believe this is what's been missing from the church, the willingness of believers to open up their hearts and lives to the lost children of God. Sure, we all say that we love our neighbor as long as that neighbor is another Christian. I believe we all need (and I include myself here) to ask God to both enlarge our hearts to love and to reprioritize them because many of the found children of God have entitlement issues and messed up priorities within our hearts. What we need to do is to ask God to come and turn our worlds right side up and establish within our hearts and lives greater Kingdom of God values and passions.

But, the sad reality of this is that we may all say yes and amen to this, but when God actually starts doing this and He begins smashing the idols of our hearts, we scream bloody murder. Being refined to do great things for the Kingdom of God takes sacrifice. It means accepting that Jesus is worth sacrificing for, even suffering for. I mean isn't He? Please, if none of this applies to you, than just let it fly. But, if it does, hear my heart on this. I'm not here to lay a bunch of guilt on you. That is definitely not my intent. My intent is to spur you on to be honest with yourself and to get real with God. It's time to stop brushing God off as He taps us on the shoulder. It's time to ask God for the grace to stop being complacent, the grace to want to change even if that means making us uncomfortable and the grace to love more fully. It also means admitting that we do have messed up priorities and idols within our hearts. It means admitting that our love is shallow, even selfish at times and admitting that we desperately need Jesus to de-compartmentalize our lives and transform us into fully integrated followers who's faith permeates every aspect of our lives. 

Ok, I'm done preaching and I hope that I haven't offended you too terribly. But, I don't know, maybe it's not so much about trying to not offend people because honestly, I don't think this can be totally avoided no matter how hard we try. I believe it's more about being in relationship with people, leaning into more of God's love and being willing to open up our hearts and lives, so that we can by God's grace work through these offenses with a humble spirit, a listening ear and an open heart. It's about loving people unconditionally all the time and withholding our judgments of them all the time, especially when we disagree. Because not only does Jesus command us to not judge others (John 7:1), but our love should never be based on whether we agree or disagree. It should be based on who we are as people made in the image of God and who are precious to Him and never on what we do, think or say. 

Connecting

If you have ever spent anytime in a big city, then you have seen and possibly enjoyed or been annoyed by a street performer. Now, if you're like me, my natural inclination is to typically ignore them and walk on by. Sometimes I may stop for a second to watch and then quickly move on. Now, there are those rare occasions where I actually pause long enough to reach into my pocket in order to bless their talents with some money. But at no time does it really ever cross my mind to actually walk up to them in order to talk and get to know them. This is why I really love these videos because they give voice to a person who is usually voiceless.

No longer is this street performer just a nameless face, but he becomes Salvador Medrano, a Guatemalan who has a passion for performing because he knows that people enjoy hearing him. And Pablo Cesar Pereira, a Brazilian with an eclectic past who loves connecting with people. Everyone has a story and the more that I grow in loving people, the more that I've come to realize that loving people well means allowing them to tell their story. It means making room for them in my life where their story can intersect with my story and ultimately with God's story. It also means making room for them in my heart where they may experience the love of God that resides within me through Jesus in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

God is definitely stretching me these days by continually reminding me that it's not about me. The Holy Spirit is pressing me to truly give myself over to the Father's will by allowing Jesus to live His life through me. God is asking me to make myself more available to Him, so that He can love people with wild abandon through me. The more I live, move and have my being in God (Acts 17:28), the more I realize that I have a lot to learn about unconditional love. So, this is my prayer for me and for you: "that the Holy Spirit would help us to see the world more and more with Jesus' eyes and to love people more and more with the Father's heart. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Redemptive Relationships

Friendships are important. When I think back on my life, what I remember most are the friendships that I held. Sure, I may remember certain times and places, but most of all I remember the people who shared those moments with me. When I look through the photo album in my mind that stores the snapshots of my life, I see people because all we truly have in life are our relationships.

Now if I call myself a Christian, the Bible challenges me to make all my relationships redemptive ones. What is a redemptive relationship? It's a relationship that always has eternity in view. Jesus was a man who lived his life on earth in this way. When Jesus talked to someone or touched someone he made an eternal impact on their lives. Sometimes it was for the better (those who accepted his message), but other times it was for the worse (those who rejected his message). Either way, people left Jesus changed.

Paul also knew the importance of always keeping eternity in view. He made sure all his relationships were redemptive ones. I'm reminded of Paul's friendship with Onesimus in the book of Philemon. One particular verse stands out to me: "I [Paul] am sending him [Onesimus]- who is my very heart - back to you [Philemon] (v.12)." Who's in your heart?

Paul continues on to say: "Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for good— no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord (vv.15-16)." You see, because Paul always had one eye looking forward towards eternity, he saw the salvific nature of the situation and understood the redemptive role he would play in Onesimus' life. He was intentional about making his relationship with Onesimus a redemptive one.

Do you long for those who are dear to you, for those in your heart, to also be dear brothers and sisters in the Lord? I know I do. But, I also know that I need to be intentional about making all my relationships redemptive ones. It's a conscious choice that I must make everyday with every person in my life, including those whom I may only encounter for a moment.