Praise Habit: Finding God in mafia games and a homeless man

Immersion Night- from the "L"
Originally uploaded by kickeur77.

I've been reading Praise Habits by David Crowder(excellent book). It explains how everything we do and see and say can be praise toward God. The littlest things in our everyday lives can bring us closer to our Heavenly Father. This trip to Chicago really opened my eyes and I saw God in the most suprising places.

I SAW GOD...

~In each one of the kids at WECAN. They all have different backgrounds- most of them with troubled futures. But every time I talked to one of them and looked into their eyes, I could see hope for each one. Their goals were so high, yet I knew they could achieve each one if they held on to their determination. I think because there was no language barrier, I was able to really get to know the kids, find out what their situation is like and who they are. I pray that by our words and actions, they will remember us as a group who loves God. I still get sad when I think about leaving them on that last day, but knowing that we had a positive impact on those kids and that the main goal of showing Christ's love was accomplished, makes that a bittersweet experience.

~On Michigan Avenue. The night we plunged into "the immersion experience", Dallas and I had the privilege of meeting Eric. He looked like he was taking a break from work, so we decided to talk to him. I didn't think about him being homeless because of how he was dressed. We asked him the basic intoduction questions about the city and he seemed to be really open. He told us about his dad that died two years ago and his mom being a heroine addict. He sleeps on the L every night. He works for five dollars an hour handing out flyers for a lady who does palm readings. In the midst of all his troubles, he briefly mentioned that he believes in God. That caught my attention right away. We asked him more about this and he proceeded to tell us that he doesn't blame God for what's going on in his life but doesn't know why this is all happening. I told him that God puts obstacles in everyone's life and this is just his one big obstacle. God does this so we will earnestly seek after him all the more. God fed me the words that I said to that man that night. I know it was God who spoke because I don't even remember all the things that I said. Dallas suggested that we pray with Eric before we left. God was in that prayer circle, too.

~In mafia. Our group was so awesome!! I felt God working in every single one of our hearts, whether it was at our meetings at night or the numerous mafia games we played or yes, even while we played intense rounds of WATER SPOONS. God worked in our lives in different ways, but we still have this trip as our common bond. God brought together so many various and wonderful personalities and used each one to shine His light in this city that has been covered with a thick black sheet. Hearing the laughter and the stories in our group was so comforting because I knew God was working in our lives in an awesome way.

~In William Foster. God used this man to change my life. No other person(besides Christ) has affected me this much. I casually walked up to this sixty-year-old man and asked how he was doing. We had a couple minutes of small talk and then he began to really open up to me. This man has been clean for four years. He was once addicted to heroine and alcohol. He has been married and divorced twice and had three daughters out of wed-lock. His dad died two years ago and his mom lives in the suburbs. He's been looking for a job that allows him to work on the railroad. He asked me questions about school and college- just wanting to get to know me. He asked me if I was really "religious". I've never had to answer that type of question before but I explained what I believed and that Jesus is my Savior. We started talking about the Bible and he said that he doesn't understand most of it(mostly prophecy because he can see that in the world now and Genesis). He reads the KJV(which is already difficult) and I had to explain the NIV(something I've never had to do before). Then...(this was completely God giving me the words) I asked him if he has ever accepted Christ into his life. He said no because of the Bible issue. This really crushed me. I thought, "if that's all that holding him back...". I explained that he can't know everything, that's part of growing closer to God once you've accepted him(we talked awhile about that issue). Before he left, he told me that he honestly would think about what I said to him and that I explained things well. That was my way of knowing that God was pleased with what I said to William. God gave me peace at that point because I knew I planted the seed and He was in control.



God has used my previous missions trips to show me about my future. God has called me to foreign missions through my experiences and I thought that he was going to show me a different type of ministry I could possibly do in the future. I think on this trip God showed me how to change my life NOW. He stretched me so much more than any of my other trips. There were times when I actually feared doing various tasks for our night activities. But God revealed Himself more and more each time I stepped out my comfort zone. Now that I know I can do it, I shouldn't be afraid to take certain leaps of faith that he presents to me at any time. I found God on this trip- in my fortune cookie in China Town, in the sock puppet I helped make for Sheeva, in the golf club Dallas hit me with, in the hot van we rode in during the week, and in time spent with my team members. I found God- what an INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE!