The Contrast of Life Without God

Over the years, we see our kids go through their ups and downs. Some, consistently make attempts to get off the street or get help... but it seems that often, just as things are looking up, they are jerked back onto the street. It almost seems as though the enemy has a leash on them... and if they do too well, he yanks on it. It can be discouraging to see them do so well, only to plummet back into their past. On the other hand, we see that each time they break away from the street, God changes them, and even if they return, the enemy can’t rob what God has sown in. One of our guys, we’ve seen go through this cycle again and again. We’ve seen him clean for 6 months, following the Lord, going to church... but we’ve also seen him at his worst.

A couple weeks ago, we were out in the evening and he was sitting on the street. It was obvious that the enemy was tormenting him... he was hissing at us and mumbling all sorts of nonsense. We sat down on the sidewalk not far from him. As we were sitting there, I kept pondering the intense contrast I’ve seen in his life. I’ve heard him pray and pour his heart out to God with such sincerity... and I’ve seen him completely deceived and yelling at us. I’ve seen him healthy, but also thin, worn, and dirty. It seems that if everyone could see the difference in following God and living in the world, especially like I did that night, that all would choose God’s life. We eventually moved even closer to him, and prayed silently. It was clear that the enemy didn’t like that. We asked him if he knew that we loved him and if he knew how special he was. We persisted, until he said that he did know that we loved him, but he was bothered by the idea of being special.

The next evening he stopped by, looking better. He asked if we had any food left from Bible Study, we didn’t, but Kerri took him some candy bars. He told her that he was really sorry about the night before, and that he’d had some really bad drugs. Kerri said, “Yeah, we know, that’s why we were sitting next to you. Do you remember what I said to you about being special?”. He responded with a “yeah” and a sad look. He said that he really need to get out of here because it was “killing his heart” and gave her a hug.

A couple days later he stopped by and said he was ready to go. We were able to get him into a short term place that afternoon. Early the next week, he called our house. At first I had no idea who it was, because he sounded so different. A few days of prayer and a good environment had changed him already. Again, I was struck by the contrast... he was talking about the Bible and what he was learning, and looking ahead at the future. I was a bit teary, especially when he brought up that evening from the previous week. He said that he had realized that the reason he was acting so strange toward us, was because the enemy was messing with him and telling him that we were bad. He said that the enemy must not have liked us praying for him that night. I told him that that was exactly why we had been sitting there. Then he got a bit sentimental and thanked us for “saving his life”. A day or so later, he was able to leave the city to a discipleship program. We spoke with the director of the program a few days later, and he’s doing great.