THIS IS A "MUST READ"!!!!!!!!!

This week God did some amazing work…Oh my goodness, so amazing…keep reading (it’s long…)!!

Today is Wednesday and my routine has been to go with a group of Life Skills Educators to school. I knew exactly what time to meet them and everything, and when I got to Living Hope I found that they had already left!! “Not surprising” was my first thought…things like this tend to happen to me?☺

I stayed around for the morning devotion and talked to some staff members and Living Hope regulars. As I was chatting to the cook named Cathy (who loves my Southern accent) a man came up and gave me a small folded up piece of paper. I must confess that my first thought was not a nice one, I’ll admit it… (sometimes the men at the center can be a little…well you know). I continued chatting to Cathy and didn’t hurry to read the note, but when I did these are the words that I read… “Please pray for me. My name is Charles. I will kill myself today.” Needless to say my conversation ended at that point, I went to get the other social worker to come with me, and we went outside to look for Charles (hoping that he had not gone far, cause I wasn’t sure that I’d even recognize him.)

He was actually standing right outside the center (thank you Lord!), so we began to talk. He said that he wanted to make peace with God before he meets Him, because he will die today. He had been thinking for a couple of weeks that he wanted to end his life and said that he planned to jump in front of a train or bus because “there’s plenty of them around.” In a nutshell, he was tired of living on the streets and trying to make things happen for himself and nothing ever going right. Basically he was tired of trying, without hope, and ready to end it all.

I got him to come inside with me and Sannah (the social worker). We did a lot of talking, praying, and he did a lot of crying (for once in my life, I held back the tears ☺). Sannah asked him if he had ever accepted Christ in his life, he said no, and then prayed to receive Christ right there!! He was weeping all the time…completely broken and desperate.

I shared with him some Scripture that popped into my head, and it was a blessing to speak some truth into Charles’ life, yet hard at the same time. What do you say to someone who is in the circumstances that he is in?? I shared a few verses with him like “Never will I leave you or forsake you.” And Isaiah 43:1b-2…"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”

He continued to talk pretty openly with us and told us a story that had happened last night. He was standing at the train station and was about to throw himself on the tracks when someone grabbed him hard on the shoulder and threw him backwards, away from the tracks. He turned around to see who had done this and NO ONE WAS STANDING THERE. When I asked what he thought when this happened he said that he thought it was a witch doctor or something and it scared him. He said several times how sore his shoulder was this morning, from the hard push he’d received. Then he pulled back his shirt to show us the mark that had been left on his shoulder. I almost fell out of my chair when I saw a large red and purple bruise covering his left shoulder.

Now, I’ll be the first to tell you that I am prone to be a little skeptical of such things, but I know that what he experienced was God’s angels saving him from ending his own life!!!! We both said this to him…that God intervened because he loves him and has a plan for his life. This was not witch doctor or strange coincidence, but God’s hand in his life!!

He began to tell us that all he wants is to see his children, who live about 3 hours from Cape Town. His home is there, and if he could get there he knows he could find work (he’s a boilermaker by trade), and that he has friends that he can stay with. He wept and wept for his children…he can’t even get in touch with them now because someone had stolen his bag that had their phone number in it.

We began to talk options and action… All Charles needed was about 20 rand for his train ticket and 2 taxis that it would take for him to get to his destination. To put this in US dollar terms…he needed about $3!!!!! $3 was keeping him homeless and one the streets!!! Needless to say, God provided this money and a little more for Charles to make it to where he needed to go. I began to see a little hope in his eyes…

All he had to his name was a small Bible, but before he left he had been given a couple shirts, a pair of pants, a bag for his things, and a couple of bucks for food for his journey. I wrote these words in the front cover of his Bible, “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you HOPE and a FUTURE.” Then I turned to Jeremiah. 29:11, underlined it and put today’s date (10/10/07). Pray that in times of frustration and despair that Charles will read these words and remember that God has a plan for him and that IN HIM THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE.

It was beautiful to see the hearts of the staff members of Living Hope as they prayed for him and encouraged him before he left. Sannah and I walked with Charles to the train station to buy his ticket. On the way he said that he was beginning to feel excited, he knew that seeing his children would be the motivation he needed to keep going.

Before he left I asked him if I could give him a hug…he said yes…then of course being true to who I am, I just couldn’t resist giving him a tiny little sermon ☺ …Keep walking no matter what…remember God is always with you and sees you…always remember God’s faithfulness to you last night and today… what He has done today, He can and will do again. He is always faithful, even when it doesn’t seem like it… I’m sure that I was talking a mile a minute, and he probably wanted me to shut up, but I just had to say it!!

So, then he left and who knows what has happened and where he is today (Friday). My prayer is that he made it to his destination and that he will soon be reunited with his children. I do know though that there are probably a lot of other issues that he will have to face in going home, I’m not sure of what he left behind there. I pray that God will make a clear and easy path for him to his children, that they will be reunited after the 3 years that he hasn’t seen them. I pray that God would continue to deal with him, that his salvation was genuine, and that he’ll begin to walk with God becoming rooted in His Word. I pray that God would bring Godly men and women into his life that will encourage him in his walk and to stand firm in his faith. Please join me in praying for Charles, and that he would be “caught” by God’s relentless love and mercy.

I know that I’ll never see Charles or hear from him again, but there is no doubt that he will be in my heart forever. What a lesson to me of God’s love and care for all people. He always attentive and is always watching. I am in awe of his love for such broken and “stiff necked” people (I couldn’t think of another word, so I’ll just quote what God repeatedly call the Isrealites when they turned from him ☺). That God would be mindful of us and allow us to be instruments of his love and redemption is pretty mind boggling to me today.

Ok, so I know this one is amazingly long, but aren’t you glad you read it all?? You get gold stars and A+++++++!!!!

___________________________________________________________

I posted this blog on October 12, and today is November 6...HERE IS AN EXCITING UPDATE!!

Sannah said that Charles has returned to Muizenburg!! She says that when he came up to her she didn't even recognize him because of the HUGE smile on his face! We definitely didn't see that smile on the day that we last saw him.

He was able to return home safely and see his children. Unfortunately though, he could not find work in that other town, so he's come back to Muizenburg to work. I was so excited to hear that he was able to see his children!! What an answer to our prayers, right?!? Now he is living on the streets and looking for a job (which does NOT come easily here)...so pray that Charles can find work and be able to save up for a place to stay. Also, continue to pray for His walk with the Lord...
Praise the Lord that He hears and answers prayer!!!