THE GOOD NEWS

I just had the most amazing encounter with a homeless man, where God orchestrated something I could’ve never set up myself.

Just this morning, I put a Good & Evil comic book into both our SUV and our truck, along with some Starbucks gift cards. In fact, I want to start having these books on hand in the vehicles at all times for whenever the Holy Spirit shows me somebody who needs one.
So, after I picked up my twin boys from school, we saw a homeless man on a busy corner downtown, but since the light was already green I didn’t want to cause a huge traffic jam by stopping at his corner.
However, as we passed him, I really felt like we should have given him one of the Good & Evil books.
As we kept driving, I said to my boys, “Should we turn back around?”
I couldn’t decide at first, but voiced my thoughts aloud: “What if there’s no tomorrow? What if we’re in heaven tomorrow? This man needs to come too! Plus, we have the time, we have the book, we have the man, and we have the assignment from God to evangelize.”
So even though we were already halfway back to the house, we decided to turn back around and go deliver the book.

This time there was only one car in front of us at his corner, and the light was still red. So immediately I motioned to the homeless man to quickly come to my car because I knew I’d only have about 30 seconds to talk with him before I would have to keep driving.
First I gave him the Starbucks gift card, and then I handed him the Good & Evil book. As he took the book in his hands, he immediately recognized it and a flash of amazement and huge excitement came onto his face!
In fact, he was so excited that he completely ignored the gift card and became focused entirely on the Bible comic book!
What he said next blew me away: “I’ve been looking for this book everywhere, because I once read this in prison in Bradshaw, and I’ve been wanting to get this book again!”
At this point, the light had turned green, and I needed to keep going, but my last words to him were, “Promise me you’ll read it.” He exclaimed, “Are you kidding me? I’ll start reading it right now!”
I literally shouted in the car with joy as we drove off, because I recognized that God had just orchestrated something BEAUTIFUL that I could never have set up myself.
What are the chances that a random person on the street has been desperately searching for EXACTLY the gospel book I’m about to hand to him?
That homeless man was so incredibly excited, and I’m sure that getting his long-lost book again reminded him that God had never forgotten him. I can’t tell you how HAPPY I was that I turned back around for him!

So, my Jesus showed himself REAL both to that homeless man and to me today, and I shudder to think that I could have so easily missed this divine appointment. This has taught me to be extra sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s guidance. I’ll be your hands and feet Jesus; please orchestrate more amazing encounters like this!

by ~ Jennifer L. Texas