Befriending murderers and highly ranked gang members wasn’t on the forefront of my mind as we partnered with the Denver Dream Center in Colorado.
You see, I had the opportunity to hear the stories of these grown men who had a past honestly too gruesome to spell out on this blog. They are men that…when you meet them and hear their stories you just KNOW that the Lord has to be real. How else would these men have gone from the epitome of violence, hatred, crime, murder and drugs… to men that love and serve the Lord with their whole hearts?!
I had the privilege to spend a week with a handful of these men. We went out to the inner city neighborhoods, handing out much-needed meals, groceries and hygiene products. Not only that but also spearheaded a food drive that distributed supplies to hundreds of families and other distributing organizations. These men went from living a life serving the devil and spreading darkness, to living sacrificial lives and rejoicing to spread God’s kingdom of light.
The reason I write this blog is to remind you that it’s never too late. Don’t give up praying for the ones who don’t know Jesus or are apathetic to Him. Don’t give up on the ones that seem “too far gone” to ever possibly live a life knowing, loving and serving the Lord.
There’s something else you need to know. Do not define people by what they’ve done. The title of this blog may be about hanging with murderers and ex-gang members, but the truth is this: I was truly with brothers in Christ. Men who love the Lord and are considered children of God. THAT is what their legacy will be. And that is what they will be known for. Their testimonies serve to glorify God and how powerful His radical, pure love really is.
Their stories remind me of infamous Paul. His testimony involved murdering Christians, persecuting them for their beliefs in Jesus. He went from Murderous Saul to Saint Paul. He was remembered for the letters he wrote to the churches during his imprisonment in Rome. He was known to write the majority of the New Testament and live out what it meant to be a servant of God. And I want to encourage you that there are plenty of modern-day Paul’s walking around sharing the testimony of God’s goodness.
You just have to be willing to look for it.
Thank you Jesus for each of our testimonies and the ways in which you have brought us to you. I pray we can see others the way You see them: an identity of being made in Your image, and not in what people have done. Would you remove the log in our own eye before we point out the splinter in another’s. Would you humble us and continue to use our testimonies to give hope to the hopeless.
P.S. We were able to bless the organization with over 100 bibles to give out to the community on our last day there. Thank you to all who contributed to make that happen!
I met a man at Mark Wittig’s home many years ago who had been an assassin for Pablo Escobar at one time. At the time I met him, he had completed time in prison and had been become a pastor in the same neighborhood he had once terrorized. Jesus can do anything.
Such a great blog! I especially love how you encourage people to not judge people. 🙂
That good grace:)