Union Void

Inside the Mind:
I saw my man James again on Tuesday after not seeing him for at least a week. He had just gotten out of the hospital again – this time surgery on his intestine. This was the worst shape I had ever seen him in. When I started talking with him, it sounded almost as if he was crying. He then told me that as of Thursday he will be staying in a Salvation Army house for four months before being transferred to a YMCA housing program. The problem was that he felt extremely sick after his surgery and still had two more nights out on the streets. We went into Potbelly’s for about a half hour and I was able to pray with him about his health and provision for the next two days and gave him some words of encouragement. Sure enough, before I even left, God provided the money needed for the first night in a hotel. The next day, I stopped and talked with him again and found that God provided again for the second night – and even some extra. When I saw him that second day, his eyes were filled with tears of hope and happiness instead of hopelessness and despair. This was the most jumpy and happy I had ever seen him. I was amazed when he reminded me that we prayed for health and provision the day before and God provided the needed money along with comfort for his body. He was genuinely praising and thanking God. Another prayer answered, another hopeless man filled with hope, another discouraged soul encouraged, another day closer to the end of the beginning. Praise God!

Over the week, I was struggling with the seemingly hopeless position a Christian can be in aside from the hope of Heaven. What can you do when everything seems to screech to a halt in your life? As I saw in James’ life, there is no such thing as a hopeless life on earth as a Christian. He doesn’t just keep you around on earth for no reason. He will pull through in some way – when the time is right and when His name is most glorified. James was able to see God work visibly in his own life, but I saw Him work in my life through this situation as well.

It is so painful to walk by so many homeless people on a regular basis, but it is an encouragement to know that there is one less now than before. Just another testament that God is alive and active around us. He desires to battle by our sides each day, if we would only let Him.

Verse:
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man of just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. - James 5:16-1