Part of our code at The Crossing is that “we will not take this for granted.” I feel like sometimes this is really difficult not to do. When I first gave my life to Jesus, a sunny day would be a God thing. I don’t know what changed, but after working in the church for years sometimes I forget to stop and smell the roses. This weekend The Crossing, I feel, had one of those weekends that you just can’t miss God working. I got to pray with so many people and see God rescue over and over again. I could share story after story for hours, but one in particular was too good to pass up. It really got my heart. (This is man-speak for "made me cry like a little baby.")
At the end of the 1:00pm service (for those of you who don’t know this is always the best, highest energy service except maybe the Sunday night--WOOT!) I was praying with several people. The last lady in line captured my attention immediately. When she got to me I could both see and feel the hurt. I asked her how I could pray for her and she looked at me in the eye and said “I don’t want to live anymore…” (Insert choked sobs here) I feel like guy reflex at this point is to run around screaming like we are on fire and there is a bear chasing us, but God made me calm, and I just knew that this girl was going to ask Jesus to forgive her sins and lead her life that day.
I led her and a friend out of the auditorium and myself and another pastor talked to her for a little bit. She was homeless, had two kids and a drug problem. She had people in her life who abused her in every way. Pastor Diane asked her if she wanted freedom from her past today and she timidly replied “yes.” I made her look me in the eye and I said “You know that if you do this, God is going to forget your past… ALL of it... and only see the HOPE and the FUTURE that He has for you? Do you understand that there is NOTHING that you have done in your past N-O-T-H-I-N-G at all that God will not forgive? Do you know that He looks at you right now and is enthralled with your beauty?”
She began to weep and replied saying she had not known these things. We prayed together and both she and I were weeping as we felt God’s Spirit come to live in her heart. Sometimes in these situations I wonder if the person actually gets it, but this time I KNEW she did. She wept saying “I’m forgiven.” And for the first time I saw her face light up with a smile that reached all the way from her eyes to her heart.
I left that room wondering why God chose to do something like that through me. Then I realized that I just got to carry the baton across the finish line. It was a FIT team member who convinced her to come in (after she sat debating whether to come in or just kill herself), it was a Production team that set the table of her heart to hear the hope of Jesus for the first time from Pastor Eric. It was a Scrubs team that made the bathroom suitable for her to clean herself up before she came into service. It was Jesus who died for her and me and everyone. It was God who created His church to reach people just like her. I can’t believe I get to be a part of it! Don’t take it for granted. God is good! I LOVE MY JOB!! Thank you Crossing Church for seeing God’s heart and giving our all to it!!!
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