A Man By The Road

A couple of weeks ago during one of our regular men’s ministry outreaches we noticed an older man that had fallen asleep on a woven mat by the side of the road. I felt led to stop and talk with him. He told us that he had no family, no friends, and had been walking from place to place. He started near the Vietnamese border and was now sleeping beside a concrete wall outside of a slum community in Phnom Penh.

Can you imagine your grandma or grandpa having no where to go except to sleep on the street?

While one of our team members talked to him I felt like I was supposed to go find him something to eat. There was a local Khmer food stand nearby selling rice with a piece of pork, along with a cold drink. When we handed him the food, tears welled up in his eyes and he began crying and thanking us in the most sincere and humble form of appreciation. This moment was earth shattering for me. It rattled my worldview that had been formed in my small, safe, rural town in the states. 

It amazed us that a simple plate of rice could move this man to tears..

We prayed with him and told him that he was such a valuable man. We wanted him to know that he was so important to Jesus and that he carried intrinsic value as a human being, value that could never be taken away by circumstances or situations. As we walked away he waved and smiled constantly until we were out of sight.

We knew that this man had a special place in our hearts and the Lord had forever seared thoughts of him into our minds. Every time we returned for men’s ministry over the last several weeks we would hope he was there so we could spend time with him and provide him with a warm meal.

Each time we met with him the same heart breaking tears and gratitude streamed down his face. As we met him more and more it became even that much more of a burden on my heart throughout the week. I would catch myself complaining about how hungry I was, or how tired, or how hot I was. Then the Lord would remind me of this wonderful older man laying on the side of the road with no way to provide for himself. Then the reality of my situation would instantly be brought into proper perspective. The Lord was using this opportunity to bless this older man as well as to allow me to step into a deeper revelation of humility.

Humility shatters all the shackles of consumerism and entitlement that the world prescribes us. Humility brings clarity that prepares our mind to steward the countless blessings and opportunities the Lord has placed all around us. Humility is freedom.

Humility breaks the chains of our expectations and pride.

During all of this I heard from a XP team member of a possible organization that may be able to help this older man. In Cambodia currently there is very few organizations specifically helping men, so we were not exactly sure how to help him long term. I looked up their contact information about a week ago and kept it on my “to-do list” but didn’t ever get around to it. Last night as I was lying down to sleep the Lord kept talking to me about the older man and how important it was that I went ahead and called several places to acquire more information for him.

This morning when I woke up I called the NGO and within minutes of hearing his situation they asked if I could bring him over around lunchtime! I was so excited and couldn’t believe it! God is so good! So I rushed down the street to find transportation and invited Mark (one of the XP members) to ride with me.

We pulled up to the place he normally is laying and found him trying to seek shelter from the sun under an old blanket. When the translator asked him if he would be interested in coming with us because we had a place he could stay and get meals he didn’t hesitate to ask for help standing up to get into the Tuk Tuk. As we lifted him up it was so encouraging to think about the fact that he will not have to go through the upcoming monsoon season laying on the ground in flooding rain. He was walking when we first met him, and now he was so weak he couldn’t stand. Considering how quickly he was deteriorating it was extremely important that he found help as quick as possible! I am so thankful the Lord allowed us to be a connection point and the organization being willing to open their doors to him.

Here he is in the tuk-tuk on the way to the new facility.

As of lunchtime today, May 29^th this beautiful older man is no longer sleeping on the side of the road. As we drove he kept rubbing our knees and smiling at us and forming his hands in a prayer position saying “thank you”. We encouraged him to keep praying to Jesus and to know that he is so loved.

After arriving to the facility the staff showed us his bed and immediately started preparing him for a shower to get him cleaned up because he was so dirty. Isn’t that like our God? He finds us dirty, broken, and lying by the road. His love pursues us. Refuses to give up on us. Then one day when the right opportunity presents itself we find ourselves scrubbed clean, a banquet spread before us, and feeling peace that we had never known before.

Though this man had no family, no friends, and was all alone on the side of the road, he was not forgotten. God's unfailing love shines through even the darkest of places and I cannot wait to return in a few weeks to visit him and see how he is doing! I believe that he will be completely transformed with a giant beaming smile.

Allow this mans testimony to encourage you through your own personal storms. Allow the great things that are all around you to shine brighter than the storms of life. Allow humility to bring realignment in your own life, sorting out what’s truly a problem and what’s not. We have so many things to be thankful for and we serve a God that is able to turn things around in the least likely of ways. 

God bless you all!

Ward Farrior

Fairy-tales and Jesus

Something has been stirring inside me lately. A revelation that has the potential to step on a few toes, but also has the potential to shift mindsets and open doors in your life. I encourage you to read on with an open mind and open heart, and I pray you would take all of these thoughts before the Lord and seek Him for wisdom and revelation.

I have been reading a lot lately in the four gospels and in Acts. There are stories of great men, of valiant heroes that not only died for Christ but also lived their lives for His glory. Growing up I so often found these stories feeling distant, almost like fairy-tales. I had heard these stories from the Bible hundreds of times before. I believed they were true and I enjoyed hearing them but they meant nothing more to me than a cool bedtime story.

I accepted Jesus at the age of four, and it's safe to say that I have been an "active church member" since the day I was born. Growing up my parents read me every Bible story known to man. I spent my time watching VeggieTales, going to VBS, spent every year at Christian summer camps, starred in church performances, and attended a Christian school. I was considered "extreme" by my school friends, and "weird" by my high school classmates. I was the prime example of what any parent would be proud of. I knew tons of Bible verses, could quote every line to every Christian song and movie ever created. But I wasn't complete, I always felt something missing deep within my soul.

As a kid and even in my teen years I would crawl in bed at night and I would cry out that God would talk to me, but I wouldn't hear His voice. Nothing can explain the deep sorrow I felt and the yearnings of my heart to have relationship with Him. I would repeatedly repent for every sin that I could have possibly committed, thinking God wouldn't talk to me because of my sins. God felt distant and unreal to me. I didn't know how to reach Him, I didn't know how to talk to Him, I didn't know how to hear His voice, and most importantly I didn't know how to have a relationship with Him. All I knew was that I wanted Him to fill the void in my heart more than anything.

I remember as a child I would go to church and someone would begin to talk about Jesus on the cross or about the healing of the leper and I would just tune them out. It wasn't that I didn't love Jesus, because I did. But I had heard it all before, these "stories" were so "normal" to me that they lost their significance. There were a whole lot of people telling stories but there was no one in my life living it out. The only thing separating fairy-tales and Bible stories is reality, and life application. If you don't live out the teachings in your own life, and it doesn't impact how you live, it becomes nothing more than a fairy-tale.

It's normal for your child to see you go and buy groceries but is it normal for them to see you pray for the sick?

It's normal for your child to see you drink your morning cup of coffee but is it normal for them to see you praising the Lord every morning?

 It's normal for your child to see you frustrated in traffic but is it normal for them to see you thanking God for your blessings?

It's normal for your child to see you shopping at Wal-Mart but is it normal for them to see you stop and feed the poor?

 

A friend of ours and his beautiful daughter praising God in the morning.

 

When was the last time that these stories left the page and became real life in your home? In our modern day society we take our children to visit Disney World to meet Mickey, Cinderella, and every character ever created.... but do we teach our children how to meet with God? If Queen Elsa is more of a reality to your child than their heavenly Father is...there might be a problem.

Being a children's pastor, I am obviously a big advocate for children being raised in church. But, being raised in church myself I have found that it adds it's challenges. When you hear the story of David and Goliath, the stories of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo, the story of Daniel in the lion's den, these stories get lost somewhere among the stories of Cinderella, Jack and the Bean Stalk, and Snow White. Somewhere (for me at least) these stories became exactly that... just stories. I can only imagine what my life would have looked like growing up if I had known how to commune with the Father from the age of four... Can you imagine the impact an entire generation would have if they were taught that the reality of God is greater than the realities of this world? My passion is to see a generation that understands our need for a Savior, a generation that looks beyond their smart phones to find an all-knowing, all-powerful God that is just waiting for them to make time for Him. A generation that turns those Bible stories from fairy-tales into their normal everyday routine. A generation that slays giants, raises up warriors, and sees their King glorified. This can only be accomplished through amazing parents and leaders teaching our children how to have relationship with God. We have to make Him part of their everyday lives, not by telling stories ABOUT Him but by spending time with Him and allowing our children to actually encounter His presence! Every person has a God shaped void in their lives that only He can fill, let's teach our children how to fill this spot from a young age and they will never have to experience life not knowing how to communicate with our loving Father.

Let's raise up powerful children that become the heroes of their generation. 

Will you join me in this challenge to make fairy-tales become a reality? To raise up a generation who knows the words of God more than they know their favorite Disney song? Who's reality of their Father is greater than any Disney character that has been created? Will you join in with me and see this generation grow up to bring heaven to earth?