There is this sense of stinging heaviness on your soul seeing somebody crying to you for help--completely desperate. What do you do when someone comes to you, broken and mournful? No, they are not looking for food, nor are they looking for clothing, and not even a blanket.
I had a slightly intoxicated man, we will call him Gordon, approach me while we were handing out bagged lunches during ‘clean-up days’ at The Mustard Seed Edmonton. Gordon asked me, “Hey man, can you pray for me?” I responded that it would my pleasure. I have been only working at The Mustard Seed for about three months now, and this was my first personal prayer request. While asking Gordon what he wanted me to pray about, Gordon began weeping uncontrollably.
“My friend,” he said, “I am sixty one years old and I am going down, down, down, down. I have never done anything right, and I keep putting myself in this mess.” As tears streamed down his face, Gordon looked at me for prayer.
For a short period of time I have provided basic services and necessities to assist the community at The Mustard Seed Edmonton for daily and short-term needs. Now here is a man asking me to plead with God on behalf of him. E.M. Bounds once said, “By prayer, the ability is secured to feel the law of love, to speak according to the law of love, and to do everything in harmony with the law of love... Prayer is the mightiest agent to advance God's work. Praying hearts and hands only can do God's work.” This experience has led me to one conclusion: we desperately need to pray. Psalm 62: 5-7
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for commenting! Your comments are extremely welcome on all Mustard Seed Blog posts. Staff, volunteers and guests are always in need of encouragement and are always willing to participate in healthy dialogue. We ask that all critical comments be fair and relevant to the post.