We work to bring about flourishing.
Several months back the kids and I began praying for people in a house (I asked you to pray too). Typically if I forgot to pray one of the kids would remember – praise the Lord. I told God to put someone in their lives to show them His grace. I actually told Him that I would do it if He introduced me. The house burned down last Tuesday. I remember driving by and praying after it burned down and just aching. Thursday night I got a call and was invited to meet Jacob – the young man who was living in the house. I did not want to go because I was tired (I actually said no) but I ate dinner and went to meet him. As I listened to his story I was trying to see where he was in life. He has plans. He wants to be a nurse and build motorcycles (that was said in the same breath along with a few other things). I do not know for sure but I believe he was still high – meth is his drug of choice. I ask for prayers – that God open up a door for him at a rehab center. This is what he claims to want so we just need to pray God’s will be done.
That same night I met some other people. It was quite an experience. I had a 13 year old boy inquire about my drug use. “Do you do meth?” He talked about the porn on his phone while his mother (who was standing right there) joked with me about being arrested for child porn. It was surreal. The number of people living in this two bedroom house was crazy – the 13 year old, his 17 year old sister, and their mother; an uncle, three teenage boys, a pregnant lady, and the grandfather. I imagine the stories of families like this in Southeast Texas alone would fill volumes. I left almost three hours later exhausted. I did see a light shining from one of the neighbors. I only saw him for a moment but I ask that you pray for him and his family – that he persevere and continue to touch his neighbors.