The following is an unedited email I received from my little buddy,Aaron Snow. Aaron and his crew are doin' the stuff! (here is a shot of Aaron hitting on a girl in Vietnam when we were there in the spring)
Hey guys,
If you were with us last night you know about this. For those of you who were not, and would like to hear what happened check it out: Last night a group of us went to eat dinner at Uno's Pizzeria in downtown Ft. Worth. We planned to eat and then go back out to where a few of the night shelters are located downtown. We had some jackets, coats, gloves, socks, and water-proof parkas to give out. It was about 38 degrees last night, and raining. I'm sure the thought had crossed some minds earlier that day, "hey, are we still going out there tonight? It's raining and cold outside." What a thought! These homeless people live in the rain and cold! Isn't that just like us! We're such comfortable and neat little Christians. We love to do ministry…but what if we get cold? What if we get wet, stay out late, and lose some sleep? For the majority of us the rain and cold was a
motivating factor to going out there. We were determined to be obedient, and do what God has so blatantly called us to do in Scripture…even if it makes us uncomfortable:
"My brethren, count it all joy when you face trial of many kinds, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience."(James 1:2-3) "That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."(2 Corinthians 12:10)
"We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God."(Acts 14:22) "You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary."(Revelation 2:3)
The need was great last night, and we wanted to do what we could to see that need met. You see, at ten o'clock the Night Shelters close their doors, and stop letting anyone in. Hundreds of homeless men areleft out in the rain and cold. We're learning that homeless people love a hot $1 double cheeseburger from McDonald's, so we chipped in a few bucks each, got fifteen burgers, and fifteen waters.
Because it was raining we didn't see the usual groups of homeless people on every corner, on every bench, and lying on the side of the road wrapped in a tattered sleeping bag. However, within about 10 minutes we had given away many of the burgers to guys that were just walking in the rain. They were bundled up pretty well, but HAD to be cold. If we saw someone we'd pull over, ask if they were hungry, get out, get a burger/drink in their hands, ask them their name, and chat. We would ask what some basic needs were, and received the same response all night, "I just need a job, some work." We'd ask them if they would let us lay our hands on them and pray for them. Everyone has welcomed our invitation for prayer. Many are brought to tears. We are always touched, and humbled by the experience. We knew it was raining and that some people would probably be under the bridge. We drove in that direction and immediately saw a man walking. His name was Carl, and he was clearly "lit" (high) on some type of upper (Speed, Meth, Cocaine, etc) He was soaking wet and we gave him some food. The conversation led to us offering to pay for him to get a room in one of the shelters that charged $8 for a bunk for the night. (We found out later that the shelters don't charge anything - he needed money for drugs) We walked with him to the shelter so we could make sure we knew what he was doing with our money. We were a few blocks away, so Michael, Chris and I walked with Carl while the others trailed us in the cars…It was on the way to the shelter, walking with Carl, that the divine encounter occurred… As we approached the shelter I saw a man walking towards me. I asked him if he was hungry. Carl said, "he can't hear you." He made some motions with his hands. He was deaf. So, I pointed at my stomach and mouth; he made it clear that he understood and was hungry. It was then, at that moment, that I realized that in the car behind me was one of my best friends Keri, who is a sign language interpreter! I ran over to her car and shouted, "Keri! He's deaf! Come talk to him!" He walked towards me and Keri's eyes lit up. She jumped out, took her gloves off and began to communicate with this man. It was beautiful. She proceeded to ask if he was hungry, or cold etc. His eyes were wide and he was smiling at this connection he had just made with Keri. We got him some food, gloves, socks and a jacket. Keri was talking with him and finding out some things about him. I was getting gloves from the car for him and stopped to look at my other friends who watched from the car. Tears were streaming down their
faces as they watched our heavenly Father use Keri to shine His love through her ability to communicate with a deaf person. Carl was shouting at me to come on so he could get the money and get into the shelter. I asked Keri if I could pray for him while she interpreted in sign-language. She asked him and he graciously agreed. She asked him if he had any basic needs we could pray for. He made some motions with his hands, and with watering eyes let out a desperate attempt at the word "wife…back". Keri told me that his wife had left him, and that all he wanted was his wife to come back to him. I began to pray and Keri began to sign. When I was done he signed to Keri, "in Jesus' name". He signed thank you many times, Keri hugged him and we parted ways. We were all blown away by this experience…Keri told us later that the coolest thing about signing a prayer with a deaf person is that they are looking you right in the eyes the entire time, and soaking in every word…sign. Through a series of stories and lies Carl convinced us that the shelter would not accept money from us, but that HE had to hand it to them. He even said we could walk into the shelter with him! So, in my stupidity, I handed him the eight dollars. We walked into the shelter and proceeded through the metal detector. Through a series of events inside the shelter it became obvious that he had not, and was not going to use our money for a room. A nearby worker informed me that they don't charge to stay. I looked at Carl and lovingly told him that I prayed that he would use our money for something beneficial, and not drugs. At this point he also knew that I knew he had jipped us. I was frustrated, but hey, we learned a good lesson for next time. The others told me later that they saw Carl walk out the doors and around the side of the building with a guy. They heard him saying something about "the box", which we later found out was a slang term for where they go get high. A younger black couple came walking up from across the street. They looked cold and hungry. They were hoping to get into the night shelter. We gave them some food. Everyone stood in a circle, ate burgers and talked. We all traded hugs and wished them the best as they disappeared into the shelter. We got in our cars and drove home. We were blown away by the events of the evening. Sure, we had been jipped by a crack addict. We learned a lesson for the future, but decided that if we saw Carl again we would extend just as much love, but in a different way. Isn't that what grace is? Carl doesn't deserve crap from us, especially since he took advantage of us. Ya know, Christ has extended grace to me, and continues to daily as I mess up and get caught up in the desires of my flesh and sin. I deserve nothing from HIM, but HE continues to blanket my soul with grace. We received a beautiful picture of grace last night. We realized that we are called to love and bless people, to extend the same grace to them that we've received from Christ. Thank you Father for allowing us to be a part of what YOU'RE doing in the world!
"The righteous considers the cause of the poor, but the wicked do not understand such knowledge." Proverbs 29:7
Aaron Snow
asnow84@hotmail.com
http://blog.myspace.com/asnow
kinda hard to read through the tears
Posted by: Trey | January 28, 2007 at 10:02 PM