4 Words I Never Thought I'd Hear - Outreach 4/23/10

After another few week break from outreach, I had the privilege of going again Friday night. As much as I want to go every week, it never works out that way, but God always has a purpose in my 'off weeks' so I am grateful for the weeks I don't go... and then all the more excited for the weeks I do!

God has been working on me a lot since the last time. He has been reminding me of how His heart breaks when His children are hurting. I watched the movie 'Precious' with my sister recently and it made the lives of these girls all the more real to me. When I showed up for outreach on Friday, I was ready... ready to go out there again, ready to mourn with Jesus over the pain I would witness, and ready to be His light. I was so filled up and pumped!

It was for the reason that in another aspect, I was not prepared and was caught off guard. The cops. Men (and some women) who patrol the streets for the purpose (supposedly) to protect the people from harm. So when two cops pulled up to where Cynthia and I were, I didn't think twice about it. I was excited to be out there, talking to the girls and guys. The fact that we could possibly look suspicious didn't even cross my mind.

Then came the four words I never thought I would hear from a cop:

"Put your hands up!"

Wait... what? I am out here to share Jesus! All we are doing is standing here on a corner, leaning over as we are talking to a guy in a car about Christ... oh wait... oops...

We put our hands up. Next came questions from the cop like: "Are you soliciting?" No sir! "You're in a dangerous area. You are aware of where you are right??" Yes sir. Fully aware! It was actually pretty funny when it was all said and done. Afterward he even apologized for getting on our case! Overall, it was a really neat opportunity to tell him why we go out there. :)

And there you have it: my first (and hopefully only?) run in with the cops!

That was the first thing that happened when we went out there. After that, we had the opportunity to talk and pray with a lot of different girls. Some young, some a little bit older (not that much), some scared, some intoxicated. We also got to talk to a few men... even a liquor store owner who was very open to chat!

But overall, the thing I made sure to keep repeating in my mind was, "These are God's beloved sons and daughters." The attitude that I would usually have being out there of having fun because we are doing something risky wasn't there that night and I was so thankful for that. Not that that attitude is wrong, but I was glad to be able to walk the streets not only with a respect for the streets (thank you cops! hehe) but also with a gentleness for the individual lives of the people we talked to.

Sometimes things don't turn out the way you think it will or things happen that you don't expect, but the great thing about God is it turns out His way which is so much better than any way we could have expected! Thank you Jesus for not doing things our way! :)