Broken Hope

The Lord is near the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. 

Psalm 34:18

Broken.

That was the word that came to mind when I came back to this bench in Hammonds Park on Saturday.

A few minutes before, I'd been sitting and talking with a young man [he was 27]. He lived just down the road from the park and was attending the block party we were helping with on Saturday.  

He and I talked about kids [he had one son] and jobs. When I asked him what he did for a living he sort of laughed and said, "I deliver liquor. It's not exactly a great job but it pays the bills."  He told me he'd lived in Brooklyn Park all of his life. 
He wanted to travel.
He wanted to leave.
He wanted to do more with his life. For his wife. For his son. For himself. 

We talked for a few minutes more then he said, "I have a lot of demons I'm trying to get rid of you know." 

At that moment, the air thick with regrets from the past, he mumbled from a cigarette filled mouth, "I need Jesus."

I invited him to the church service [www.lifechurchbaltimore.com] on Sunday. 

"I'm not so sure I belong in church. I just need Jesus."

My pounding heart came from my desire for God to just help me open up this door by making some sort of connection with him.  I didn't want to be viewed as this Southern Baptist who came with her church to "save" [judge, condemn, scold, etc.]  all of these "sinners" in this broken, desperate city. I didn't want to be cliché. 

[God, I know you are in the midst of all of this and that YOU are the reason we are here. Please give me the words to let this young man know that Jesus is here and available and wants him.]

"I mean, I came because I got this flyer on my door [our group distributed flyers on Friday to a row of seven streets] and my kids loves to play with other kids. I'm just not really sure I belong in a church. I might go back and drink a beer this afternoon. I don't know...I'm just not sure."

God was beckoning me, here on a broken bench, to speak to this brother who needed to hear that there was a hope out there and it could be found.

"All of us here. In this park. Today. We ALL need Jesus. At church, we find that others can support us in our struggles to find Him.  He will meet us where we are, no matter where that might be."

[God, I'm not sure if I said the right things.  Could I get some sort of sign?  Like a skywriter or the wink of a passing squirrel? Anything?]

"I might have to try that out.  I mean, I think my kid would enjoy it and we could do that as a family. I might.  I will see."

Thank you God for allowing me to cross paths with this young man.  He has been on my mind, continuously, since Saturday. I don't know his heart but I will never forget his face.  I pray, that one day, he finds the hope that I know only You can bring to him.

Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs in the kingdom of heaven. 

Matthew 5:3

Saturday was her birthday.  She turned 40.

There wasn't anyone at home to buy her a cake but her five children wanted her to be able to celebrate her birthday.  

She was going to go to the store on her way home and get herself a cake and some candles so her kids could celebrate. 
And have cake. 

The pastor's wife surprised her with a cake. And candles.  We sang happy birthday.

There was not a dry eye in the circle of people.

But there was one very ecstatic seven year old boy that could not stop grinning, ear to ear, as he told his mom, "Happy birthday!" over and over and over again.

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Acts 20:24

Paul was speaking to the church at Macedonia about continuing the work of the Lord, even after he was gone. He reminded them to consider the trials and afflictions [wolves] they would face as opportunities to further God's kingdom. He stressed to them they were the "overseers" of the gospel, commanded by the Holy Spirit, to take care of their flock.

Life Church Baltimore had their first church service this past Sunday. 

Ken and his family are overseeing their community to further God's kingdom. They frequently pick up trash. They hold a youth Bible study. They have life groups around the community. They invest in the lives of these people, many of whom carry banners of
Defeat.

Hopelessness. 

Loneliness.

Sadness.

Anger.

Yet, Sunday, one banner was higher than the others...

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

John 10:10

My plea to God, for Ken, his family, and Life Church of Baltimore, is that very soon they are looking for a bigger building to house the folks that want to know about Jesus. The fire has been ignited and God's people must continue to breathe life into this place of hope for this community.  

On Friday, as we distributed flyers to this community, the group I was with missed a Dead End sign [not surprising]. We'd run out of flyers but decided we would at least walk to the end of the street and just verbally give out the info to anyone we encountered.

God orchestrates every single encounter in our lives.

We walked past a house with several folks in the yard. One of the group members walked over to share the church information with them but immediately beckoned for us to join. We found out that a little over 16 hours earlier this family had lost a son [grandson, brother, friend, child] to murder. His body was discovered along a wooded path, riddled with several bullet holes.

What do you say to a mother who will be bury her son after senseless violence? 

Nothing. There are no words of comfort. None of us had any clue what she was feeling at that exact moment. 

One of the ladies from our group immediately sprang to action, "Can we pray with you?"  And we prayed, through tears and sadness, with a family that felt hopeless. 

Had we not missed the Dead End, sign then we might have never had this encounter. 

God was reminding us [me] that with Him, there are no dead ends....only life.

And hope.

My heart aches for this family. There was no mention of the young man, other than he was 21 and his name was Michael. 

There is a desperate need for that hope, found only in Christ, in so many places. We see them on the news or down the street or half-way around the world or in the people that live in our own houses.  As a people of a God, we [I] can no longer turn our [my] heads and hope that someone else reaches out.