In the summer of 2007 I was at a park in downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. I was doing some thinking about the men I saw there--men on the streets. Addicted to alchohol, addicted to drugs, addicted to various other things, aimless, hopeless, perhaps in despair.
I wondered, "If these men were the dregs of society, if they were outcasts, if they had no more value, then why was the devil still dogging them?"
Then it occurred to me: Though of some value, the value of a man is not their color, their social status, or their upbringing. The value of a person is in the soul. And the soul does not go to hell until it DIES without Christ.
There is still hope that a man might come to Christ as long as that man is still alive.
During that same summer, it occurred to me that each face of each man on the street has a story behind it. They are somebody's boy. They are someone's brother. They may have children of their own. They were once children. They had hopes and dreams. I'm sure that as children they never had the dream of being on the streets, on drugs, on alchohol, or anything else that destroys life.
What happened? What went wrong? Are they a child of God who has been deceived into thinking their Father has turned His back on them? Are they someone who has never given their life to Christ because they don't fully understand what God is offering them?
I believe God has put a burden on my heart for the men on the streets. So I decided to do something about it.
I want to get their stories. I want to put stories to the faces we see everyday. I pray God (and I ask that you would pray also) would make straight paths for me to do Search & Rescue (finding and encouraging our brothers in Christ), and to introduce Jesus in perhaps a more personal way to those who don't yet know Him.
And I want to bring these stories to you. So you can see the value of these men. And so you can effectively pray for them.
I hope to get these stories from all over the country. I will use only first names (sometimes these names will not be their real names, but when you pray for them, God will know who they are).
I ask also that you would pray for me and my wife, Stephanie. This is enemy territory, and we need God's protection.
Happily married to a wonderful Christian woman, Stephanie. We live in Arkansas and travel a lot with my job. We both love the Lord and seek ways to serve Him.