Day 1 Posted by Jay-No , Tuesday, April 6, 2010 at 10:10 PM, in Labels: What People Think About Christians

I will have to be honest. When God gave us this idea to go around asking people what they thought about Christians, I didn't really know what to expect so I expected to get the worst. So then I almost aimed for the worst. I subconsciously created this agenda to slap Christians in the face and tell them to wake up and do their job. I was expecting to find person after bitter, tired person who couldn't wait to tell Christians what they thought of them.

What Sam and I ran into today was something completely different. We were only able to get two interviews, but they were booked by God. The first was a lady who we met while I was setting up my camera. She was watching over a mentally challenged woman while she was feeding the pigeons by the Jacksonville Landing. She noticed my equipment and asked a few questions about it. I told her why I had it all out there.
We were going to interview random people and see what they thought about Christians. I asked her if she wanted to be our first volunteer. She said yes because she was already a Christian and hoped to be able to say something to the Christian community. Exactly what I needed to hear- She said that Christians should do a better job of setting aside their differences and working together. We need to not look down upon the weaker brother but help them up. "The strong should help the infirmities of the weak." That was just such a blessing to expect a blasting shotgun and find loving kindness.

Sam and I walked around, looking for bus stops where people are not doing anything but waiting for the bus. While we were doing this, we ran into two men who asked us if we wanted to buy an I-pod for 50 dollars (something like that). Once we said we had no need for an I pod they asked if we could spare a dollar so that they could go eat lunch. They were very boisterous and just knew that if we had that nice little camera, that we had some money so that they could get lunch. Then the more loquacious of the two then wondered what we were doing with a camera out there in the first place. We told him what we were doing, and he said he'd answer the question for a dollar. Sam gave him five. But then he said thank you, and that he would've answered the question anyways.

This man's name was Joseph. He first wanted to ask us what we thought of all of the homeless war veterans that were on the streets. I said that I felt sorrow for the mistreatment of such brave men and that we helped out another guy just the other night. When he finally got around to our question, I got way more than what I expected from this homeless veteran named Joseph. This guy gave us a sermon on the gospel with knowledge, power, and conviction that is rarely found even among "ordained ministers". This guy thought we were here to put down Christianity (at first, until he saw that we did not argue against him) with a video so he was going to let us know what being a Christian was all about. He even gave us bits and pieces of his testimony to go along with it. He had just recently been released from prison and freed from the bondage of crack cocaine.

When he finally got around to what Christians should be doing, he hit it on the head. We should not just be feeding people in our churches, but going out and taking God's love and his word to the streets so that people who wouldn't come near to a Church can hear the Gospel. It was much more than that, but only the video can show all of it. It was just such a blessing to listen to this homeless man pour out his heart to us and to be able to share our heart with him. This was true fellowship. After he was done on tape, we prayed together and Sam gave them some more money to help them out.

We were blessed by him and he by us. We were all blessed by God in those thirty minutes. It just goes to show what God has been showing me a lot lately- A movement is coming that will not be spread by those we expect (those who are already out in the public eye). But it will be God using ordinary people changing their everyday lives to be used by him in ways that no one will expect. This wasn't a mega church preacher standing on a street corner, but God working in this man's life just as he was working in that lady's life, and just as he was working in Sam's life and my life. He will use ordinary people to change the world, just as he has many times before.

We couldn't find anyone after that to interview, but God was telling us that we didn't need to because he blessed us in those 30 minutes in the middle of Jacksonville, FL. We just marveled at what God had done. Praise God who brings all good things- Even those we do not expect.