Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Building Relationships

The Lord poured a huge blessing right into our laps today! After heading out to hang with the kids at the youth center, only to find that it was closed for the day, our team decided to walk to the nearby park to engage in some group prayer and discussion. Ironically enough, the topic of our discussion was on how we could be most effective in sharing Jesus with people through building relationships. . .

All of the sudden two young men with whom we had spent time previously at the youth center walked up to us and aksed if they could chat with us! Yes, THEY actually asked us first! (Usually it's the other way around.) Because we had taken the time buidling up the relationships over the past few weeks, they now felt comfortable talking with us about deeper spiritual matters. We spent every part of an hour shooting the breeze with Dylon and Tufi, chatting about everything from Oreos in America to how cool God is and why we go to church. Were we not under a time constraint at the time, we could have stayed there all day. We plan to see these boys again tomorrow. . . who knows where the Lord will lead!

The good thing about being here in Airds over the past 2.5 weeks is: 1) Airds is small enough that you see the same people over and over again everyday; 2) Our consistent presence in this 'ghetto' has often caused bewilderment among local neighbors. More often than not we get the question, "Why in the world did you come HERE to Airds of all places?' 3) Living right here in the neighborhood has opened our eyes to the great need present and has allowed us to build some trust among our neighbors.

Praise the Lord for the people He has purposely put in our path. Interwoven throughout this trip are the lives of hurting people, just like us, who need the love and salvation of the LORD Jesus Christ.

No comments: