He Came to Church

I love being on the worship team at the Dream Center, I love the people I serve with on the team, in the church, everywhere. I NEVER miss Sunday Service and I have to tell myself  "No" to going on every outreach. It's because that is my church, my community, my people. Dean and I know we are called to be a part of that family.

But last week after Easter service, I was just tired. I felt like I needed a break. I started contemplating missing church this Sunday. Every day this week I weighed out the pros and cons of missing but at the end of the day, I decided I needed to just suck it up and go.

On Saturday nights I lay out our clothes for Sunday morning. I never change outfits, what I lay out is what I wear. This morning, while thinking I just shouldn't go to church, I changed outfits 3 times. Which to me was a sign that I should not go.

But I went. And I struggled to be nice, to be patient, to feel like I was even at church.

A small voice kept saying "cuz' you should have just stayed home".

Worship started and I decided to enter in, worship God even with my cranky heart. He broke it and it was good. I was glad I came.

Then after worship service Dean tells me that one of the transvestites we have reached out to on Plank Road was in service. He recognized me immediately as I approached him "Hey! I haven't seen ya'll in so long!" He said in his high pitched girl voice. He sat with a lady who had taken him in off the streets.

Mike Hamman was the guest speaker today and he preached on missed potential. He gave an alter call to people who wanted to live up to the God given potential inside them.

Our transvestite friend went to the altar. I went over to pray with him. (no guys would because they thought he was a she) While I was praying with him I kept saying "he" because I knew he wasn't a girl even though others didn't. I prayed that God would surround him with love, grace, mercy and forgivness, free him of condemnation and hopelessness.As he started to talk to me, his voice went from high pitch female sounding to deep and manly.

After wards we talked and he told me his grandmother died two years ago, she had been his only care giver and after that he wound up on the streets, dressed like a girl, selling himself,  in order to survive.

He is only 20years old.

I contacted the lady I work for, Charity, and we are going to visit him Tuesday and see if we can help him more.

Today he received some groceries and some hope for the future.

Am I ever glad I went to church. The enemy was trying to keep me away...wow, what a blessing I would have missed..today was meant to happen.

Comments

Ron & Maria said…
I'm glad you went to church too, especially for your friend. It's easy to give in to the enemy - when I want to be lazy, I'm going to think of the high pitched voice becoming more manly - and the love that he's feeling from the right place!
Amen! and peace to you!
Marai
4/11/2010
jennifer maggio said…
Did yall see to him on yesterday? How is he? Gosh, that is awesome.
4/14/2010
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gay Adoption

Image
This week our Louisiana state senate was presented legislation that would allow both partners in a homosexual relationship to be named as a parent in an adoption of a child . pro-family and political Christian organizations were at the capital "fighting for traditional families" And they won, the law expansion was not approved. I'm all for free speech, fighting for what you believe in, so they have a right to speak out if they feel so led. I don't know every person that was at the capital fighting against this law expansion, but I do know many of them, and of the ones I know, NONE of them have ever adopted. I would hope they had at least funded an adoption, are part of a mentoring program for children in foster care or something that helps orphans, but I don't know if that's the case either. I do believe from over 25 years of being a part of many pro-life, pro-family political action groups, that most of the people who are in these groups have no adopted
Read more

But Did You Die?

Image
Funny how life smacks you in the face with yourself. And it will smack you in the face with everything else. Both good and bad and at the same time too often. This last year I've said to myself more times than I can count, "But did you die? No? So shut the hell up. Buck up! Grow a damn vagina Carole! No one else is going to do it, you have to!" And somehow I make it through another day. The great benefit of being raised by a single mother and watching my sister live her life, balls to the wall is I KNOW I can rise to the occasion simply because I'm alive. I am in pain everyday in my heart and in my body. I have Frozen Shoulder. My entire left arm hurts all day every day pretty much. I'm in physical therapy which helps. Motrin helps. I have to take it before bed and get up and take it during the night.  I'm left handed and it is of course my left arm. Washing my hair is difficult. I can't reach back to my bra strap with my left hand. The joy o
Read more

Sneaking Back In Through the Window

Image
It was a cool, starless, October 7th 1982. I was 15 years old and I was climbing back into my house through my bedroom window at 4am after a night of partying. It wasn't a low window but it wasn't super high up either. Kinda' mid way between the roof and the ground. It was a normal, mid sized window. I had flung my leg up onto the ledge, ducked my head into the open window pane just as the phone rang inside my house. I jerk lifted my head hitting it on the window, startled by the ringing of our phone in the formerly silent darkness of my house. What the?! Why was the phone ringing at 4am? Crap! Someone must be calling mom to tell on me! A neighbor? Crap! Maybe it's a cop who saw me cruising around town! I don't even remember who I was with that night or why I had sneaked out.  I dove into the window,  I heard mom running down the hall past my door, to the kitchen to answer the phone. I ran to my bed across the room and dove under the covers fully dres
Read more