Footsteps: Call of Duty!

 truth be told... downtown jax is really beautiful... the air was perfect.. not too warm... AND there was a breeze.

the plaza was SUPER PACKED this evening. the most people we've seen in one time.

packed out plaza

before all the team could even assemble they got SWARMED as they were holding sandwiches and water AND BIBLES donated  to Amanda Todd (how awesome is that?)

this week I was joined by A2DJ

Amanda Todd, Amanda Lenhardt, Dustin, J-RAD! [A2DJ]

I thought that it would be nice if we could do a mini-devo before we got started and distributed items..

BUT, our presence was made known by the couple of people that came to us and it was IMPOSSIBLE to get into the word because people were approaching us asking for water.

I say it week after week but tonight was awesome! [for many reasons]

we were armed with bibles, sandwiches, bottled water, blankets, one (1) men's polo shirt - large, and a small insulated lunch bag.

The latter are odd items but donations that were given out before the end of the night.

I'm really glad that my buddies came along and answered the 'Call of Duty' of spreading the good news.

I'm in one of the most INTENSE seasons of my life.

But going out and answering this call really made my "problems" seem inexistent.

["The Son of Man came to serve not to be served" right? - Matt 20:28]

we like to focus on praying for people, establishing relationships, and providing all that we can.

we swept the plaza passing out waters. there were literally about a good 50 people+ out.

Dustin had a package of bottled water (about 24 bottles)

 and I bought some from the store before heading down.

They were gone in about 15 minutes.

One dude drank a whole bottle in about 10 seconds.

"you were thirsty huh?"

the lot of the people really thanked us and blessed back with "God bless you's".

[And if you give even a cup of cold water

to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.

Matt 10:42]

Doing these outreaches really puts me in that Haiti frame of mind... but these are Americans.. IT'S CRAZY!

Some of the people are drunk... smoking weed right in front of us...

we're just trying to be ambassadors of Christ.

2 weeks ago Jared and Amanda got in a conversation with a lady named Marie.

Tonight I met her significant other - John.

John's deal is that he's in love with Marie - vice versa.

He's 21 years older than her.

he met her after she became pregnant with another man's baby and stuck by her side.

The state took her baby because the babies' father kicked her to the curb and she was on the streets.

The street is def no place for a newborn right?

well John's prayer request was to get the baby back and a place for Marie.

She's Haitian, speaks 7 languages, has family in arlington [area of town in Jacksonville],

and is residing there now.

I offered to throw their empty water bottles away..

John pointed to his bag of empty cans/bottles and said "we keep them".

I told him that across the plaza are about 10 crushed cans on the ground.

he said, "yeah, they tried to fight me for 'em"

The rest of the group were scattered about in different conversations.

Towards the end of the night two skaters come rolling up.

Meet Adam and Ryan.

Their stories are KRAZY!

[no lie, everyone's story is intense and crazy...

you never know what's going on in someone's life.

not just homeless but EVERYBODY!!!

Everyone needs a Savior!]

Ryan's 34... by looks you'd swear he was in his 20's.

he's on the fence about his beliefs

and had a lot of four-letter words sprinkled in here and there.

His prayer was simply for his 9 year old daughter Eva and her well-being.

his daughter lives with her grandmother... the mother wasn't mentioned.

Adam's story is OUT OF SIGHT!!!! [pictured above, far left]

I didn't get a chance to talk to Adam much because I was talking to John.. when the group was praying for Adam one guy asked to borrow my cell phone.

Long story short.. Adam's step-dad is an ex-cop that's raping Adam's sisters and beating his mom.

[when I hear stuff like that.... i'm like... "WHAT??" I think of movies... TV shows... anything but REAL LIFE... but it's real...it's Really REAL!]

Amanda prayed for him and Adam and Ryan rode off to the bus station to catch the last bus out to Orange Park. [once again making me want a facility or a shuttle to help people and get em to where they're going...]

afterwards, we all rode the monorail again...

this time to debrief about the evening, read some scriptures from John 5 and Hebrews,

and we expressed our prayer requests to each other.

I'm sure he wouldn't mind me sharing this, but one of Dustin's prayer request is to be able to recall scripture faster so that he can minister to others more efficiently.

It's QUITE the challenge sometimes when you're ministering to the homeless.

They often know the scripture, don't want to hear from a robot Christian, and expect an answer right then and there!

J-RAD, Dustin, and I layed hands/prayed for each other while riding the train.

the night ended well and I really can't thank those guys enough for their time and just being there!

I feel that this is a special group and there's a lot of growth happening within us.

I feel that God tests us everyday in different ways.

This ministry is like a pop quiz with every person in a 1st Peter 3:15 kind of way

Always be prepared

to give an answer

to everyone

who asks you

to give the reason

for the hope that you have.

You have to be a quick thinker, a GOOD LISTENER, and pure hearted

(they can smell fluff a mile away).

Hemming Plaza - Downtown Jacksonville