Story :)
Okay so the story that goes with that entry down there...
Basically, we (Magen, Tyler, Charlie, Sam, Brett, and me) were hanging out that night and we went to Starbucks. So we were trying to figure out what to do because it was sort of late, and Tyler had the sudden urge to walk around 1st street (this boardwalk area by Jax beach). So to make a long story short, I was down crying my head off on the beach over some REALLY horrible things this girl said about my dad and the whole cancer situation, and they were all waiting for me on this bench. So I finally caught up with them, and we are sitting on this little bench, and all of a sudden we hear change falling from this port-a-potty. So we were laughing and joking about it, and then this homeless guy comes out and I guess he was chaning into his "pjs" in there. So he puts his other outfit by this trash can (aka his bedroom) and then he looks over at us and yells:
"HEY! ARE YALL CHRISTIANS?"
...and we said "yes, sir!"
"Are you REALLY?"
"YES SIR!"
"Do you follow the Bible?"
"Yes, we do!"
"Do you KNOW the Bible?"
(At this point I am like crap! Now he is going to quiz me or something and say I am a horrible christian because I don't know every verse and reference etc)
"Yes we do!"
So then he comes over to me and stares me dead in the eyes and says..
"Are you really a Christian?"
"Yes sir, I am!"
So he walks over to Tyler.. and I am not even joking ya'll.. this happened all in a matter of like 30 seconds.. and he says...
"I want to pray right now that I can become a Christian! I want to be a CHristian! God has been working in my heart for the past 3 weeks and I just know He wanted me to talk to you guys for a reason! Will you pray with me to become a christian?"
So Tyler, of course, says yes! And as they are praying I just lost it again! :) More happy tears this time! But basically we talked to this guy for about an hour and it was just INCREDIBLE!! He was sobbing, and you could totally tell he was so hungry for God! We asked if we could go buy him a Bible and he said he has one and he is going to read it all the time. This Sunday Tyler and I are picking him up for church! YAY!!! Oh yeah, the sweet part.. after we had talked to him for about an hour, we had to head out. And as we were walking back, this other homeless lady was walking in his direction with likea 12 pack of beer. Rick had mentioned that he was an alcoholic but Tyler prayed with him that he would no longer be! He also told us that he thinks it is his purpose in life to reach all of the people that walk along that boarwalk... which was awesome!So we were watching him for a minute, and he was walking and he noticed this homeless lady sleeping. And he goes and gets an umbrella and uses it to cover her up! (I was like AWWWWWWWW! I just thought that was soooo sweet and he was just wanting so badly to show love to someone! It was incredible!) So anyways, the lady with the beer is walking towards him and we are like CRAP!!! So I was like TYLER PRAY!!! And we got in a circle and prayed for him to be able to resist temptation and we just prayed hardcore!! Brett and Sam were watching from a distance and ... ok amazing part here ... they said that when we started praying, the lady walked up to him and put her arm around him and they wstarted walking together, but as we were almost finished, Rick takes his arm and flings it down as if "SCREW THIS!!!!!" and walks in the opposite direction!!!! It was soooooo awesome!!! :) :) :) :)
Story number 2:
Okay so all day Tuesday I really had this desire in my heart to go back to the spot we met Rick (oh yeah... that guy up there's name is Rick, if ya'll want to keep him in your prayers!) and have a worship night (we have worship nights that I lead on a lot of (used to be every) saturday nights :) its awesome!) right at that spot. So we ended up going there and doing worship. It was amazing because at first, haha this group of people put money in my purse :) it was funny! And God is really working with my insecurities especially that night with just SO many people complimenting and stuff.. so that's an answer to prayer! But anyways, so all night we didn't see RIck.. but we got to minister to about 20 homeless people there! Most of them stayed and listened for a while and I got a lot of them to sing Amazing Grace! It was incredible just to be in unity with them! I have realized more and more lately that that is probably the number one reason why I love and want to be a worship leader! Becaues for those moments, EVERYONE is in unity! There is no gossip or jealousy or lust or anything but just people with eyes shut just in awe of their creator!! I can't wait for heaven when that is all we will do!!! So we bought them all food and decided we are gonna start doing that every Tuesday night! We thought it would be awesome to do it often enough taht they will start knowing the words!! WOW! THat would be incredible! Oh.. and about 5-10 more of them said they want to come to chruch! So we're bringin a huge van and were gonna meet them at this spot!! Pray they will be there!!
OKay so this was extremely long! But I wanted to share those stories! :) :) I pray God is working amazing miracles in your lives as well!! Everyone have a great weekend!!! YAY for movie ngiht tonight!! It's OUTSIDE at the jax beach pavilion and its INdiana Jones on this HUGE screen!! THey were sayin 3000-4000 people come!! I'm so excited about it!!! Okay have a great ngiht everyone!! :) :) :) XOXOXOXOXO! -Jess <>
Basically, we (Magen, Tyler, Charlie, Sam, Brett, and me) were hanging out that night and we went to Starbucks. So we were trying to figure out what to do because it was sort of late, and Tyler had the sudden urge to walk around 1st street (this boardwalk area by Jax beach). So to make a long story short, I was down crying my head off on the beach over some REALLY horrible things this girl said about my dad and the whole cancer situation, and they were all waiting for me on this bench. So I finally caught up with them, and we are sitting on this little bench, and all of a sudden we hear change falling from this port-a-potty. So we were laughing and joking about it, and then this homeless guy comes out and I guess he was chaning into his "pjs" in there. So he puts his other outfit by this trash can (aka his bedroom) and then he looks over at us and yells:
"HEY! ARE YALL CHRISTIANS?"
...and we said "yes, sir!"
"Are you REALLY?"
"YES SIR!"
"Do you follow the Bible?"
"Yes, we do!"
"Do you KNOW the Bible?"
(At this point I am like crap! Now he is going to quiz me or something and say I am a horrible christian because I don't know every verse and reference etc)
"Yes we do!"
So then he comes over to me and stares me dead in the eyes and says..
"Are you really a Christian?"
"Yes sir, I am!"
So he walks over to Tyler.. and I am not even joking ya'll.. this happened all in a matter of like 30 seconds.. and he says...
"I want to pray right now that I can become a Christian! I want to be a CHristian! God has been working in my heart for the past 3 weeks and I just know He wanted me to talk to you guys for a reason! Will you pray with me to become a christian?"
So Tyler, of course, says yes! And as they are praying I just lost it again! :) More happy tears this time! But basically we talked to this guy for about an hour and it was just INCREDIBLE!! He was sobbing, and you could totally tell he was so hungry for God! We asked if we could go buy him a Bible and he said he has one and he is going to read it all the time. This Sunday Tyler and I are picking him up for church! YAY!!! Oh yeah, the sweet part.. after we had talked to him for about an hour, we had to head out. And as we were walking back, this other homeless lady was walking in his direction with likea 12 pack of beer. Rick had mentioned that he was an alcoholic but Tyler prayed with him that he would no longer be! He also told us that he thinks it is his purpose in life to reach all of the people that walk along that boarwalk... which was awesome!So we were watching him for a minute, and he was walking and he noticed this homeless lady sleeping. And he goes and gets an umbrella and uses it to cover her up! (I was like AWWWWWWWW! I just thought that was soooo sweet and he was just wanting so badly to show love to someone! It was incredible!) So anyways, the lady with the beer is walking towards him and we are like CRAP!!! So I was like TYLER PRAY!!! And we got in a circle and prayed for him to be able to resist temptation and we just prayed hardcore!! Brett and Sam were watching from a distance and ... ok amazing part here ... they said that when we started praying, the lady walked up to him and put her arm around him and they wstarted walking together, but as we were almost finished, Rick takes his arm and flings it down as if "SCREW THIS!!!!!" and walks in the opposite direction!!!! It was soooooo awesome!!! :) :) :) :)
Story number 2:
Okay so all day Tuesday I really had this desire in my heart to go back to the spot we met Rick (oh yeah... that guy up there's name is Rick, if ya'll want to keep him in your prayers!) and have a worship night (we have worship nights that I lead on a lot of (used to be every) saturday nights :) its awesome!) right at that spot. So we ended up going there and doing worship. It was amazing because at first, haha this group of people put money in my purse :) it was funny! And God is really working with my insecurities especially that night with just SO many people complimenting and stuff.. so that's an answer to prayer! But anyways, so all night we didn't see RIck.. but we got to minister to about 20 homeless people there! Most of them stayed and listened for a while and I got a lot of them to sing Amazing Grace! It was incredible just to be in unity with them! I have realized more and more lately that that is probably the number one reason why I love and want to be a worship leader! Becaues for those moments, EVERYONE is in unity! There is no gossip or jealousy or lust or anything but just people with eyes shut just in awe of their creator!! I can't wait for heaven when that is all we will do!!! So we bought them all food and decided we are gonna start doing that every Tuesday night! We thought it would be awesome to do it often enough taht they will start knowing the words!! WOW! THat would be incredible! Oh.. and about 5-10 more of them said they want to come to chruch! So we're bringin a huge van and were gonna meet them at this spot!! Pray they will be there!!
OKay so this was extremely long! But I wanted to share those stories! :) :) I pray God is working amazing miracles in your lives as well!! Everyone have a great weekend!!! YAY for movie ngiht tonight!! It's OUTSIDE at the jax beach pavilion and its INdiana Jones on this HUGE screen!! THey were sayin 3000-4000 people come!! I'm so excited about it!!! Okay have a great ngiht everyone!! :) :) :) XOXOXOXOXO! -Jess <>