Fort Lauderdale, Fl. |
| Posted by Administrator (admin) on Oct 03 2005 at 8:19 PM |
Ft. Lauderdale, FL was a trip! The weekend was filled with great times of relationship building and Kingdom building. As you may already know, I often go to these events with a specific theme I feel like the Lord is having us focus on. This weekend dealt with the reality that storms are coming (perilous times) and we, as people of God must be prepared. Our preparation comes by daily walking in total openness, dependency, and intimacy with the Father. The weekend was filled with amazing events but the following deserves to be highlighted. Check this out!
I hope we never get used to seeing the amazing ways God will direct our steps. The Bible tells us that the Lord orders the steps of the righteous. I understand we are made righteous by the blood of Jesus and led by his Spirit, but I don't really know how he continues to lead us. I could give you a list of ways that he has led people in the past, and I can even tell you how he has led me throughout my life. But I still can't grasp how we can seemingly be doing our own thing and maybe even being self-centered, and he still centers us in his will. Something happened this weekend that has once again amazed me at how he works. After the last performance of the weekend and I felt like my time of service was over, I was exhausted and decided to turn in early. I was rooming with Mike Lee and Brooks Brewer and they wanted to go to the hot tub to relax a bit. I began to feel a bit like a weak heart for not staying up with them and not looking for other ways to be used by the Lord, but I also wanted to get some rest before I got back to my family. After a bit of a stall in my decision making I decided to go to sleep. Well, I knew Brooks and Mike forgot a key so I flipped the latch on the door so it wouldn't close all the way. I didn't want to have them knock on the door and wake me up, after all we were on the eighth floor of a very nice hotel. I immediately fell asleep and had been asleep for close to an hour when I woke up with and uneasy feeling. I sat up and went and opened the door, stuck my head out, and saw a man walking down the hall. I still don't know why but I said, "Hey." He turned and looked at me and then turned away and began to run. I chased him down the long hallway and caught him before he reached the stairs. Soon as I grabbed him he surrendered. I asked him if he had just been in my room and he said "yes". So I took him back to our room asked him to empty his pockets, sat him down, and began to question him. He had taken the money out of Brook's wallet and left. He was a twenty year old man named Thomas that said he was recently kicked out of his moms house and so he and a buddy had been going around living in hotel fitness rooms. About five minutes into our conversation Brooks and Mike showed up. After a bit of a discussion about what we should do we all agreed that the easiest thing would be to call hotel security and be done with it, but we told this young man we wanted to help him and his friend. So we told him to go and bring his friend to us and we would talk about what had just happened. I was not sure he would return but about five minutes latter here they come. Both Thomas and his friend Miguel. Miguel had been at the pool and was still in his wet swimming suit. I can only guess what Thomas must have told him. Maybe something like this, "Hey Miguel! Get out of the pool dude, I just got busted breaking in to some dudes room and they want to meet you." Anyway, There they stood before us and the Holy Spirit began to work through Mike and Brooks. As I sat back and watched these men spontaneously poor their hearts out to these two criminals, I was reminded of what the Lord had already established as the overall theme of what he wanted to do that weekend. I believe the Lord wanted to drive home the importance of being prepared to give an answer for the hope that lies within you. Not waiting until you're in the situation to begin to cry out on the Lord. We must be men who walk by the Spirit and are ready in and out of season. What I was witnessing were two men who had been walking with the Lord throughout the week and were ready, on the spot, to be a minister of Christ Jesus. The conversation continued for quite some time and even got to the point where Miguel began to argue why he had the right to have unforgiveness in his heart and live an immoral life. I excused Miguel and told him he was free to go and that he can live his life however he wanted. He began to cry and then just stood there with a broken heart. The conversation continued and concluded with both these men on their knees crying out to God and surrendering there lives to him. Brooks and Mike gave them some money and they left the room as free men. He who the son makes free, is free indeed. In the service of the healer of broken hearts, Todd and Leslie
