Today, on my way to Walmart to return a pair of shorts, I noticed one of my homeless friends along the side of the road. He was holding on tight to his usual cardboard sign as the wind whipped through the trees and further weathered his face. I immediately pulled over. "I have to tell him that we are moving soon." I thought. I slowly walked up to greet the sweet old man. As God would have it, I flashed back to a time in 2009. For a moment, I relived the moment we first met.
One day, I felt the Spirit inspire me to bring the Word of God to one particular homeless man. As a new child of Christ, I wrestled with how to humbly spread the gospel to others. I felt inadequate to speak scripture to anyone. Yet, I couldn’t deny the presence of the Holy Spirit and felt I couldn’t keep quiet. So one day, I recorded a taped message for the elderly man. I used an old, hand-held tape recorder and asked my five-year-old son to create a message. My son spoke into the recorder and told the man that we loved him and that he can come to our home anytime. He even added the name of the city and state we live in. Then I recorded my message. I said that we loved him and that God loves him too and has not forgotten him. I put the tape recorder in my car and started to look for the homeless man.
It took weeks of driving around town before we found him and gave him the taped gift. I also gave him a used bible. I played the message and parroted what my son said. The elderly man, with his long white beard, began to cry. He confided through his tears, that he had been recently questioning his existence and feeling very depressed. I began to cry also. As the tears rolled down our cheeks, I watched as he passed his weathered fingers over the words “Holy Bible” on the front cover. He lost his composure and I could tell that he was embarrassed by the outpouring of tears. He asked me to stay with him until he was able to regain his composure. I stayed.
Now, over three and a half years later, I was saying goodbye to the man I had come to love and appreciate. How many times had God led me to sit by this man's side in church just so that he wouldn't feel alone? I could barely say the word "Goodbye," without choking up. And, that sweet old man began to cry too! We held hands and let the tears flow. After a few moments, the homeless man said, "God is taking all the good ones away." Tears overflowing! My grip became tighter as I said, "Woody, I have told you that God is real hundreds of times over the past few years. Now it is time for me to move on and tell others too. I will miss you very much." I couldn't believe it. This time, it was me who had to stay until I was able to regain my composure.
One day, I felt the Spirit inspire me to bring the Word of God to one particular homeless man. As a new child of Christ, I wrestled with how to humbly spread the gospel to others. I felt inadequate to speak scripture to anyone. Yet, I couldn’t deny the presence of the Holy Spirit and felt I couldn’t keep quiet. So one day, I recorded a taped message for the elderly man. I used an old, hand-held tape recorder and asked my five-year-old son to create a message. My son spoke into the recorder and told the man that we loved him and that he can come to our home anytime. He even added the name of the city and state we live in. Then I recorded my message. I said that we loved him and that God loves him too and has not forgotten him. I put the tape recorder in my car and started to look for the homeless man.
It took weeks of driving around town before we found him and gave him the taped gift. I also gave him a used bible. I played the message and parroted what my son said. The elderly man, with his long white beard, began to cry. He confided through his tears, that he had been recently questioning his existence and feeling very depressed. I began to cry also. As the tears rolled down our cheeks, I watched as he passed his weathered fingers over the words “Holy Bible” on the front cover. He lost his composure and I could tell that he was embarrassed by the outpouring of tears. He asked me to stay with him until he was able to regain his composure. I stayed.
Now, over three and a half years later, I was saying goodbye to the man I had come to love and appreciate. How many times had God led me to sit by this man's side in church just so that he wouldn't feel alone? I could barely say the word "Goodbye," without choking up. And, that sweet old man began to cry too! We held hands and let the tears flow. After a few moments, the homeless man said, "God is taking all the good ones away." Tears overflowing! My grip became tighter as I said, "Woody, I have told you that God is real hundreds of times over the past few years. Now it is time for me to move on and tell others too. I will miss you very much." I couldn't believe it. This time, it was me who had to stay until I was able to regain my composure.
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To read this story and rest of my personal testimony please go to: http://dlouyoung.blogspot.com/p/store.html
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