So at the beginning of the year I got roped into this church ministry by a friend from a bible class (Robby-big tall basketball player). Of course, before starting I got on my knees before the Potter, who cares enough for his lumps of clay to spin us in the direction that will yield the most beautiful/wicked awesome shape.
Before I move on I just want to relay what a privilege it is for me to pass on what I know to be God’s interaction in my life. I pray God will teach you to act on faith through this blog like he is teaching me.
1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every {branch} that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.
3 “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither {can} you, unless you abide in Me.
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.
6 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.
8 “By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and {so} prove to be My disciples.
I want to tell you a story of fruit. A juicy, bursting pear.
That church in Dayton, Ohio, do you want to hear about it?? I thought it was awful for a long time. The worship sounded like a bunch of dying cows and everyone in the church looked fake, always greeted with the same, “How you doin’?” “Okay” “Great!” I was doing the same old riggamarole trying to have a “real” convo with someone when something moved on me. My eyes catch a man right in his scraggly beard all by himself, sitting down. I felt my Jesus say, “Sit next to that man!” I went to my seat-the usual one next to my ballin’ Christian friends in a cluster. This time I checked with God and remembered his verses about the marginalized and needy and how Jesus treated them horribly right? Haaa No. I also “remembered” I would look weird/feel weird/could flat out creep the guy out. I stood straight up, screamed in my head for the Lord to bring love and before I knew it I asked the guy to sit with him and was feeling sick again-and it wasn’t a pre-track meet nervousness. I was swimming in cat urine. This was Daryll and he reeked.
“God, what have you gotten me into?” I question once again in my mind.
It took a lot of prayer to get through the service and more to see Daryll through God’s eyes-a beautiful creation. I got to know Daryll, who sang baritone in high school, then and over the next weeks. One day as we were walking he said he once owned a bookstore in California, had a wife and a kid-pretty good considering shortly after his birth he was found by a policeman in a dumpster.
Christmas Eve his wife and child were killed by a drunk driver and “snap” he flowed back into his old ways in foster care-heroine/alcohol, you name it. I tell you this in choppy sentences because this is how I learned of his life story before he became homeless. I wanted to cry and hug him and swear at the top of my lungs because the 40-year-old Daryll I had come to know had a giant heart and was friendly. Instead, I just listened to his stories with my mouth open in awe that God had preserved his life through it all. I should say that he told me all this after he and I were finishing up evangelizing to a local neighborhood (I convinced him after about ten minutes to come with our group).
After his stories I saw him with new eyes. I had no idea the homeless man I had chosen to sit next to actually had a reason to be homeless. Sounds ignorant on my part because it is…I am not perfect by any means. Well, we both dreaded my last day before summer-I didn’t want to leave him because it meant three months away while he didn’t want me to leave because of “bad news.” There is a foot-long tumor in his back and he was pretty certain he’d die soon.
I did what I had been taught by my teachers in Nicaragua, I put my arm around him and prayed God would heal him. Daryll put his arm around me and prayed for me (it was awesome, yes!) and I gave him a Bible and letter with challenges in it and we said goodbye…
ul wrote the churches in Galatia about what grows on the vine that we can choose to be on. Gal 5:22-23 “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Since I chose to live on the vine (Jesus Christ), when God said “Sit next to that man!” I chose to pluck love and gave Daryll what God gives to me. He downed that pear so heartily that I hope he ate the seeds too because I know God will grow them. Mrs. Marshall (my neighbor up the hill!) thinks God is not done with Daryll…and I pray he isn’t either! My relationship with Daryll is what I call a hand-picked, giant pear given to me by God because of love. You can pray for him-he has an awesome testimony but needs courage-and can also pray God will remove his tumor.
7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.
8 “By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and {so} prove to be My disciples.
Love Joe Carter
You’re awesome.
Praise God! that is all I want to say. Praise God for loving us so. I pray for Daryll and his tumor, and I thank God for Daryll and for you Joe. I thank Him for his faithfulness. What a beautiful love story.
There is hope! Always.
I should scribble this in the margin of my Bible in Hebrews 11: By faith Joe Carter obeyed the nudge of God and shared love with a stranger. By faith he prayed believing that Jesus has the power to heal.
For a 21 year old (ummm that would be official tomorrow, May 7th) you impress me with your desire to listen to God first, act in faith almost immediately, and only later question your sanity.
One of my favorite verses…oh, taste and see that the Lord is good… I should have known you’d go buffet style.
Keep living for HIM and give HIM all the glory!
“By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit”
And happy 21st!
MOMS
BroeJoeCarter –
Your testimony poses a real challenge for any and all brethren who read or hear of this. And the challenge is to aggressively avoid this one devilish thing: that we not assign such an honor and duty of sharing the Gospel, a duty of serving out the Great Commission solely to those whom we may view as thus ‘gifted’ so that we, ourselves, may live comfortably and vicariously through you and other brothers and sisters who have taken the deep breaths and dived into a ‘fishing hole’.
The olfactory sense that initially stole the show as you broke through the barrier with Darryl was a fragrance that our Lord and Savior no doubt experienced in his witnessing during His perfect, sinless life on His earth.
– billo
Hey Joe, you didn’t tell me it was your birthday. I’d have baked cookies for you. Maybe I will still be able to, after I finish mowing. If you don’t get them today, you’ll have then in the next few day. I love having you come up the hill and visit with me. I love our time of sharing and time of prayer.
I praise God for putting you and your family in our lives.
Thanks again for Daryl and your adventures with him.
HAPPY 21ST. BIRTHDAY.