NYC Day 4 Posted by Jay-No , Saturday, April 17, 2010 at 11:40 PM, in Labels: NY, What People Think About Christians

Today is to be my last full day in New York City. It was a very good last day though. I actually woke up early enough to eat the free breakfast in the hotel. They had one of those waffle irons and premixed waffle batter. I really enjoy those things.

After eating, I came back to the room turned on IHOP and read a bit. Not long after I turned it on, they started singing about being the fragrance of Christ. It is something that has been the theme in a lot of things I’ve been hearing and reading lately. I love it. Then I read John 16. I especially like verse 21 where it says “May they all be one as you Father are in me and I am in You. May they also be one in us, so that the world may believe you sent me.” That is another thing that God has been speaking to me lately through what is happening with this video. I know that many of you are praying during my travels and encounters with different people and I thank you for that. I also pray for you. And it seems like God is beginning to give believers almost a single mind because we are all learning similar things about him at the same time. And it is so amazing. The thing that one lacks, the other is making up for, and we are beginning to look like a body which has a network of neurons that work together by individually doing their job while talking to those in their reach of the network. It is so neat to see it all start to come together.

I left the room and headed back towards Times Square looking for Starbucks. The main Starbucks was packed so I continued on, thinking I would find some other coffee place to grab coffee at. I went up a few blocks and didn’t see anything. Then as I crossed the street to turn around, I saw one on the next street. It was just so cool how I decided to turn around on the only street I would’ve seen this Starbucks from.

So I went in and ordered a drink. As I was waiting for it, I sat down at a table that some people completely just trashed. Not long after I sat down, the guy who was cleaning up says, “What are you doing making a mess for me to clean up?” I kind of chuckled, but was actually able to come up with a reply- something like “Well, I can always make more of a mess for you. I’ll just wait until you clean this one up. I can do it in like five seconds.”

We ended up talking for a while. His name is Michael. He is a gay guy who is really big into gay rights and awareness, especially after a class that he just got finished with. We talked about that for a little bit and I told him where I was from and what I was doing. But he had to be doing his work even though we were having a really good conversation. He said he would be on break in an hour so I told him I would come back, and we could do the interview and talk some more then.

I talked on the phone with Sam for a minute and walked around some. When I came back, the place was packed. That’s when God did something really cool. I almost want to call it crazy, but its only crazy to us human beings. Thursday, Sam told me when he was praying that God showed him that someone was going to offer me coffee, I was going to get to do something I wanted or get a souvenir for free, and I was going to meet a pastor. While I was waiting, Michael said he was sorry he couldn’t get out right now, but I could have a free drink on him while he was waiting. Any drink I wanted. I was just like “Wow God you’re so awesome.”

He was finally able to get out, so we went to this little place where it was pretty quiet. As soon as we sat down, he just said “Woah, I just had the craziest déjà vu ever.” I knew in my head that it was God, so I was just like “cool.” And then he said, “It just happened again. It must be like God made this happen or something.” I was just thinking, “If you only knew.”

We started out with the interview. It ended up being really good stuff that I could use because he was talking about how religion was pointless, and people have built religion to fit their own lives. Which is actually really true. Then we were talking some more, and I told him about the coffee thing. It just totally blew his mind. It was really great and I was excited. We exchanged numbers and said we would hang out later.

I walked to Central Park because Chad was supposed to meet me there, but they somehow ended up on the other side of Central Park. I just hung out there and called Michael after a while. While I was waiting on him to meet up with me I went back to Times Square, where I went in the coolest Toys R’ Us ever!

Michael finally showed up and brought his friend along. We just hung out and went to a comedy club. I was able to share with them about my heart and God’s love. And it was just awesome hanging out with them. I was able to interview his friend and she ended up having a lot to say too. We ended up hanging out at the hotel and just talking about poems and life until they left around 4AM.

God keeps his promises and when we meet people we should always love them first and never come at them with a message of condemnation. Jesus didn’t even condemn people. Why do we sometimes think we should? We are no better than anyone else.