Over the last couple of months I have been spending time with a friend from university: Desmond. Desmond is not his real name, but it will be his name for the sake of this post. When changing names articles often use boring names – Desmond isn’t a boring name, a bit ol’ school perhaps, but not boring. Desmond didn’t ever finish uni – his life has become pretty messed up since I saw him last in AD2000.
Recently, I “just happened” (read: God in his providence) to cross paths again with Desmond. I was sitting down in a local cafe at the start of January doing some work in preparation for summerfest07. A man grabbed my attention out of the corner of my left eye as he offered to sell me a wetsuit. As our eyes made contact we both knew that we knew each other from somewhere. He looked different, but I could still tell that it was Desmond. I could tell by his appearance that he’d had a rough couple of years. He had. All sorts of different addictions to different drugs. He told me that he was trying to get his life back together – and without any prompting by me – he said how much he thought of me because I was a Christian. We were able to speak briefly about Jesus and I was able to answer some questions that he had. I needed to get home – but we arranged to catch up and talk more and read the Bible together in a week’s time.
During that week Desmond became homeless after being ripped-off by some tough nuts. He was in a bad way – life wasn’t going too well – and he had become more vulnerable now that he was living on the streets. I just sat and listened to him, found out what had gone on over the past couple of years and talked to him about Jesus. I went with him to Vinnies to get some clothes because he had none. It was a good time – so we arranged to do it again.
On the next visit I gave him a Bible with a photo laminated to the back of Desmond, 2 other class mates and me. He was in good Spirits but during that 1st week out on the streets he was exposed to the darker side of our town. As his anxieties increased so did his intake of random pills to get him high. As well as methadone he was popping a whole bunch of pills at once.
For a couple of weeks it became less and less possible to communicate with him – he was that stacked up on pills. Those weeks didn’t lead to super-fruitful conversations but it was good to be there and he has appreciated the time that I have spent with him. He has a lot of time for Christians. He knows they are different. He knows that they are the main people staffing the Soup Kitchen.
Desmond has lost the Bible that I gave him… but I’m going to give him another one next week. He’s keen to come to church as well.
I’ve had a bunch of friends praying for him – and would love you to as well. Praise God that Desmond recently received a Housing Commission house. Praise God for the time that Desmond spent in detox last week. Ask God to give Desmond strength to decrease his methadone. Ask God that Desmond would understand who Jesus is – and that he would put his trust in Jesus.
The last couple of months has been a helpful time for me to think through how it is that we as Christians are to care for those who are poor and helpless… and how the only hope for the world is found in the gospel of Jesus’ death and resurrection. I believe that gospel – and believe that God can radically change people.
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This is my 200 post on eternal weight of glory!! Congratulations Dave!! You’re incredible!
PS – this post was written in the middle of the night – I was falling asleep at my computer – so the English isn’t the best! But you’ll get the idea…
