When I left work at 10 I decided not to go straight home but to walk up the street maybe to look at some shoes or something (because I had nothing really pressing to do). I was walking by some sushi restaurant and I saw a homeless man on the street with a shabby cardboard sign with a picture of Jesus on the cross. I thought 'this is odd, he must be making fun of christians' and I asked him if I could do anything for him, buy him anything or whatever. He replied, "No, I don't ask anybody for anything."
I sat down and asked him to share his testimony with me. He did.
Billy has lived on the streets most of his life and grew up an athiest. There he panhandled and got into lots of drugs: heroine, ecstasy, cocaine, crack, pot, alcohol etc. He was into prostitution and a lot of other really messed up stuff. He spent some time at a Christian youth day centre where he was told about God for the 50 millionth time in his life. He would say that he met God in an intersection. He was looking for direction and at this intersection God gave him direction, gave him salvation, gave him freedom from the brokeness of this world. He believes God has called him to live on the street, to ask nobody for anything, and to preach God's word, to share Jesus with people. He is rejected daily, he is ignored regularly, and he hasn't showered in 4 weeks. He stays in a town for as long as he feels God wants him there. He doesn't know where he's going next, he doesn't know where his next meal is coming from. He, as far as I am concerned, is the only example I have seen that 'man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God' (Matthew 4:4).
He wasn't perfect. He had a potty mouth. He was tired from sleeping on the street. He loves Canada. And he repented more times and asked God to forgive him more times than I ever have heard someone do in a conversation. He really lived solely on the word of God. God rebuked me by the way Billy lived his life. I have much and I complain much. Billy knows that he is alive by the grace of God, but because life is difficult he is (maybe a little im)patiently waiting for the day of the LORD to come. But he relied on the Holy Spirit in a pretty amazing way, which was even evident from my short hour spent with him.
I was greatly encouraged by him. By his love for people, by his conviction to follow the cross of Christ with his whole being. He wants a job, he wants it to be God's will for him to have a job, but right now he really feels being called to live this life. He said he's going to check out "this Bethel church" which he apparently has heard about. So hopefully I will see him there on Sunday. But maybe God will have taken him elsewhere by then. Meet Billy:
I felt a bit weird taking a picture of a man who owns so little with my digital camera. But I feel like he would want me to share what I learned with others. He insisted that I get everything in the picture, including his 'dirty bum Jesus' (ie - not that Jesus is a dirty bum, but that he is a self-proclaimed dirty bum who made the shabby sign because he felt God directing him to. 'Good plan, God' he said haha) and the Subway I bought him.
God's been slowly breaking me into this whole sharing my life with anyone and everyone thing. He's teaching me how to love the homeless and the obviously broken, and how to not assume that they'll reject me because I'm a young blonde who likes pink and doesn't do drugs. God is showing me that I don't know where life will take me and I better cling to Him and his Word in case I lose everything and look back and realize how I've wasted my life.
1 comment:
wow...this was an AMAZING post.
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