At the bus station
I was on my way to Dallas, sitting at a bus station and waiting for the bus. The bus was delayed for several hours and it was already getting dark. But during my waiting time I was able to talk with a young man who was sitting in the waiting room. He came from a poor and criminal background: at the age of 30 he had already spent 10 years in prison. Scared and totally insecure, he didn’t know what to do with his time. But he listened carefully when I started sharing with him why I came to America and how Jesus had hanged my life. The presence of God just came into this room and the Holy Spirit started to touch his heart. When I prayed for him, tears streamed down his face. A bit later he gave his life to Jesus.
Loneliness
The bus arrived and with it also a lot of men who most likely had just come out of prison. I wanted to get a seat alone or next to a woman, but that was not possible anymore. So I just sat down next to another man. We started talking and He told me that he was homeless and had been traveling through the whole country for many years, searching for meaning and belonging. He described himself as ‘floating’ and said, that he never met a person who would really care about him. He had no contact with his family, no friends, not one person he could trust.
When he spoke I could just feel his loneliness and anger. My heart was filled with compassion for him. I mostly just listened and asked him different questions. I didn't feel that it was the time to give a big message or address the many issues in his life, but just to extend the love of God to him. And I felt how he started to open up more and more, and at one point he got quiet, looked at me and said: “You are different - You have purpose”. I was surprised by his words and just shared shortly how Jesus gave my life purpose. Our conversation lasted for over two hours. At the end, he thanked me for talking to him. But I think I was the blessed one.
His hands and feet
It touched me deeply to see someone with so much hurt and loneliness. It made me realize that we as disciples of Jesus have the answer to a hurting and dying world. There are so many people out there, just like him, screaming for love, acceptance and truth. Crying for a Savior, a Deliverer, Someone who would really care about them.
And so often I’m busy with becoming more “spiritual”, getting better at this or just doing that. And I’m not hearing the cry of the poor and the pain of the broken. Not realizing the seriousness of being lost. Forgetting that with Jesus I have already everything I need. I have ground under my feet. I have purpose in my life. And only when I give what I have, can it grow. Jesus and only He is the answer for this sad and dying world. And he chose YOU and ME to be his hands and feet. Let us have ears to hear the cry.
“Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you…”
Isaiah 58:7-8
