Here's something from the archives...
Well, now I know why the enemy was attacking us in full force this week.
We had First Friday this weekend and God just did an awesome thing!!
And get a cup of coffee, and a donut, or a whole pie, cause as usual, this is a long story......
Given the week I had, I didn't want to go to First Friday, so Frank had talked a guy from church into going, but he called at the last minute and said he had to work. Bummer. Now I had to go. Our oldest son, Franklin, wanted to go really bad, so the three of us went. As soon as we got down town, it was like a spirit of fear just overwhelmed me and I didn't want to get out. It seemed especially crowded, probably because the weather had warmed up. It was about 9 pm and it just seemed darker than usual. We walked around a bit, and Franklin did his coin tricks and then we had a crowd of about 30 insane people crowd around us. They were snatchin' Frank's cards and acting ridiculous. I was really discouraged. I was also probably a lot more on guard because I was trying to watch Franklin and keep him from getting mugged and stuff.
Then the next corner we get this guy that was clearly unimpressed with the tricks, said he knew how they were all done and just basically wanted to spoil it all. Now this is really the first time we have ever had this kind of response. Tough crowd, ya know. I mean every now and then we get this, but not every stinkin' group. Then we got some pan-handlers come (which is normal) and tried to bum five bucks off of us. We never carry cash down there anymore (I always fall for people's sob stories), but Frank did pray with them. Then the rest of the people were just too drunk or too whatever for some reason. So about 10:30 I said, "Frank it's getting late. We got one more chance to get someone saved before it's time to go home."
So we started heading back to the van and stopped at a corner for a second where people were listening to music and Frank kinda turns and sees a guy standing there, and it was a dude he knew. So we stopped and talked to him for a minute and he asked us what we were doing and Frank told him and he was like, "Oh yeah, I knew you had a street ministry."
So Frank asked him what he was doing here and he said he was still in town because his computer he ordered hadn't come in yet. He also said that he gets wasted every Friday night, so that's why he was there. He also said he was looking for an ATM cause he wanted to get something to eat, and he and Frank talked a little bit longer and then it was getting later so we started to leave and Franklin wanted to do a coin trick first, so we let him and then we were going to try to find one more group so we could try to get the gospel out one last time before we left. Then Frank asked him if he had ever seen any of his tricks. He said no, but he wanted to see them. So Frank showed him a few and he was clearly impressed.......as he should have beenand then Frank showed him the King of Hearts trick. He was totally blown away by the sleight of hand and then Frank said, "Ya know what man, I don't think I ever asked you this. If you died tonight, would you go to heaven or hell?" And then the dude just looked all serious and he said, "I have no doubt that I would go to hell." So Franklin and I walked down the sidewalk a ways and Frank led this guy to Jesus! Yes he did, and the guy was crying and everything. It was beautiful! So I came back and he told me and he said he just couldn't stop smiling. He said he had an emptiness all his life and now he felt full and he was so excited. He also said that he had had 4 pitchers of beer and he no longer felt impaired, he was like "I'm a NEW person inside, this is so cool, I can't even believe it!! I don't even feel the effects of the beer.....this is SO awesome.....!"
So we were like, WOW, ya know, a drunk guy that was sobered up just cause the Holy Spirit entered him! He also told me his dad was a pastor of a church and he had heard this stuff all his life, but he never really "got it" until tonight. Too cool.
So Frank invited him to come to church and he wanted directions and said he was staying with his parents while he was in town. Come to find out, he was staying in a neighborhood right behind our own neighborhood...so that was pretty cool. He actually drives past our street everyday! So of course we offered to drive him home, which we would have even if he lived somewhere else, but it was just such a cool thing that he was staying right behind us. So we start walking to the party bus (the van for those of you who don't know it's proper nick name) and he's all fine and everything, talking normally and not even acting drunk or anything. We get to the van and he says, I think I should tell you I'm diabetic and hypoglycemic. I should really eat something. I'm thinking the dude just had 4 pitchers of beer on an empty stomach, there is no doubt he needs to eat. So Franklin gave him his taco from earlier. He ate it and took his blood sugar.....it was really low! He said he had never had his sugar go this low except for when he was first diagnosed after he went into a coma. Well he started sweating and then he was going in and out of coherence and slurring in his speech. He was shaking and just having all those classic symptoms that we are so familiar with since our youngest son suffers from the same problem. So we stopped at a convenience store and got him a snickers bar. After he ate that, he started to get his wits about him. I told Frank that I was a little nervous (well, I was a lot nervous....I had been praying the whole time that this guy would not puke in my party bus) but I was truly concerned for his health and we needed to get his sugar up and balance him after he got up with some protein....what a night. It was intense!
So Frank is driving, and you know Frank, he just lays hands on him and starts praying for complete and totally healing of his pancreas and etc. The guy said he'd never met anyone like that that cared that much about him to just pray for him like that.....and he's a pastor's son! So we found an ATM and by the time we got there he was saying that his feet had stopped tingling and he started to apologize (??) for going in and out and all. He said he was really scared though, so we ended up at Burger King. Clearly, nothing calms your fears like a Whopper. So then he was OK and we drove him home.
This guy TOTALLY got what had happened to him. TOTALLY got it. Totally got how God had orchestrated a family who had a hypoglycemic child of their own to find him and to KNOW exactly what to do to help him. He said he KNOWS without a doubt that he would have passed out and because he was drunk, no one would have ever thought to check his sugar and he says he KNOWS he would have died and gone straight to hell. If he had driven home, he would have passed out....cause he was in and out as it was......and he would have probably been pulled over and thrown in jail, without a health exam, ya know. Or he would have just passed out and not even been found at all. He said if he had made it home (which he wouldn't have cause he hardly made it to the convenience store before he passed out) he said he would have just gone to bed and died. He totally got it how God not only loved him enough to send his Son to die for him, but that God loved HIM enough to send the right people his way to show him how to get saved and save his soul, AND actually saved his physical life in the process. Isn't that the coolest thing? And to think we almost didn't go because of the kids being sick and all, and that we almost gave up at the last minute while we were down there because there were so many obstacles all night long. God is so good.
Now, as we are driving him home, he gets a phone call from his wife and he tells her that he had a really low sugar and had gotten really bad, but that some awesome friends came by (don't know if I've ever been called awesome before....been called lots of other things....LOL!) and that these friends saved his life AND showed him THE light and that he had something truly amazing to tell her later. Then he got off the phone and said he had no idea how he was going to tell her that he just met Jesus because she's an atheist! Poor guy. So we have been praying for him and his wife. But I'm telling you, this guy was NOT the same person he was when I met him a few weeks ago at Frank's work......he was clearly a changed man. Instantly. And once his sugar got back up to about a hundred, he was back to acting normal, not even drunk at all. So amazing. And I'm SOOOOOO glad he didn't puke in my van!
Well, now I know why the enemy was attacking us in full force this week.
We had First Friday this weekend and God just did an awesome thing!!
And get a cup of coffee, and a donut, or a whole pie, cause as usual, this is a long story......
Given the week I had, I didn't want to go to First Friday, so Frank had talked a guy from church into going, but he called at the last minute and said he had to work. Bummer. Now I had to go. Our oldest son, Franklin, wanted to go really bad, so the three of us went. As soon as we got down town, it was like a spirit of fear just overwhelmed me and I didn't want to get out. It seemed especially crowded, probably because the weather had warmed up. It was about 9 pm and it just seemed darker than usual. We walked around a bit, and Franklin did his coin tricks and then we had a crowd of about 30 insane people crowd around us. They were snatchin' Frank's cards and acting ridiculous. I was really discouraged. I was also probably a lot more on guard because I was trying to watch Franklin and keep him from getting mugged and stuff.
Then the next corner we get this guy that was clearly unimpressed with the tricks, said he knew how they were all done and just basically wanted to spoil it all. Now this is really the first time we have ever had this kind of response. Tough crowd, ya know. I mean every now and then we get this, but not every stinkin' group. Then we got some pan-handlers come (which is normal) and tried to bum five bucks off of us. We never carry cash down there anymore (I always fall for people's sob stories), but Frank did pray with them. Then the rest of the people were just too drunk or too whatever for some reason. So about 10:30 I said, "Frank it's getting late. We got one more chance to get someone saved before it's time to go home."
So we started heading back to the van and stopped at a corner for a second where people were listening to music and Frank kinda turns and sees a guy standing there, and it was a dude he knew. So we stopped and talked to him for a minute and he asked us what we were doing and Frank told him and he was like, "Oh yeah, I knew you had a street ministry."
So Frank asked him what he was doing here and he said he was still in town because his computer he ordered hadn't come in yet. He also said that he gets wasted every Friday night, so that's why he was there. He also said he was looking for an ATM cause he wanted to get something to eat, and he and Frank talked a little bit longer and then it was getting later so we started to leave and Franklin wanted to do a coin trick first, so we let him and then we were going to try to find one more group so we could try to get the gospel out one last time before we left. Then Frank asked him if he had ever seen any of his tricks. He said no, but he wanted to see them. So Frank showed him a few and he was clearly impressed.......as he should have been
So we were like, WOW, ya know, a drunk guy that was sobered up just cause the Holy Spirit entered him! He also told me his dad was a pastor of a church and he had heard this stuff all his life, but he never really "got it" until tonight. Too cool.
So Frank invited him to come to church and he wanted directions and said he was staying with his parents while he was in town. Come to find out, he was staying in a neighborhood right behind our own neighborhood...so that was pretty cool. He actually drives past our street everyday! So of course we offered to drive him home, which we would have even if he lived somewhere else, but it was just such a cool thing that he was staying right behind us. So we start walking to the party bus (the van for those of you who don't know it's proper nick name) and he's all fine and everything, talking normally and not even acting drunk or anything. We get to the van and he says, I think I should tell you I'm diabetic and hypoglycemic. I should really eat something. I'm thinking the dude just had 4 pitchers of beer on an empty stomach, there is no doubt he needs to eat. So Franklin gave him his taco from earlier. He ate it and took his blood sugar.....it was really low! He said he had never had his sugar go this low except for when he was first diagnosed after he went into a coma. Well he started sweating and then he was going in and out of coherence and slurring in his speech. He was shaking and just having all those classic symptoms that we are so familiar with since our youngest son suffers from the same problem. So we stopped at a convenience store and got him a snickers bar. After he ate that, he started to get his wits about him. I told Frank that I was a little nervous (well, I was a lot nervous....I had been praying the whole time that this guy would not puke in my party bus) but I was truly concerned for his health and we needed to get his sugar up and balance him after he got up with some protein....what a night. It was intense!
So Frank is driving, and you know Frank, he just lays hands on him and starts praying for complete and totally healing of his pancreas and etc. The guy said he'd never met anyone like that that cared that much about him to just pray for him like that.....and he's a pastor's son! So we found an ATM and by the time we got there he was saying that his feet had stopped tingling and he started to apologize (??) for going in and out and all. He said he was really scared though, so we ended up at Burger King. Clearly, nothing calms your fears like a Whopper. So then he was OK and we drove him home.
This guy TOTALLY got what had happened to him. TOTALLY got it. Totally got how God had orchestrated a family who had a hypoglycemic child of their own to find him and to KNOW exactly what to do to help him. He said he KNOWS without a doubt that he would have passed out and because he was drunk, no one would have ever thought to check his sugar and he says he KNOWS he would have died and gone straight to hell. If he had driven home, he would have passed out....cause he was in and out as it was......and he would have probably been pulled over and thrown in jail, without a health exam, ya know. Or he would have just passed out and not even been found at all. He said if he had made it home (which he wouldn't have cause he hardly made it to the convenience store before he passed out) he said he would have just gone to bed and died. He totally got it how God not only loved him enough to send his Son to die for him, but that God loved HIM enough to send the right people his way to show him how to get saved and save his soul, AND actually saved his physical life in the process. Isn't that the coolest thing? And to think we almost didn't go because of the kids being sick and all, and that we almost gave up at the last minute while we were down there because there were so many obstacles all night long. God is so good.
Now, as we are driving him home, he gets a phone call from his wife and he tells her that he had a really low sugar and had gotten really bad, but that some awesome friends came by (don't know if I've ever been called awesome before....been called lots of other things....LOL!) and that these friends saved his life AND showed him THE light and that he had something truly amazing to tell her later. Then he got off the phone and said he had no idea how he was going to tell her that he just met Jesus because she's an atheist! Poor guy. So we have been praying for him and his wife. But I'm telling you, this guy was NOT the same person he was when I met him a few weeks ago at Frank's work......he was clearly a changed man. Instantly. And once his sugar got back up to about a hundred, he was back to acting normal, not even drunk at all. So amazing. And I'm SOOOOOO glad he didn't puke in my van!
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