"A Moment"

By Steve Zollos:

It Was A Moment

Neither Jimmy nor I really felt like going out to minister to the homeless tonight. Jimmy and Laura just had their 4^th child last weekend, Elsie Joy! I’m sure he would have preferred to stay home with the family. As for me, well the NCAA Tournament was on. I love college basketball and when it comes to college basketball, well March is ‘Madness!”

Thankfully we were able to trust God beyond our own desires and as we have come to expect God met us and encouraged us as we served the homeless in the streets of Norfolk. Here are some highlights from our time of service:

It was a warm day so we figured there wouldn’t be too many people out tonight. I made coffee and wondered if it would go to waste. We decided to pick up some pizzas from Little Caesars for $5 each and we just hoped it would be plenty hot by the time it was served. We pulled up to the bus stop a little later than usual and as soon as we opened the back of the van people began to surround us. A cold front pushed in and you could feel the temperature drop… it was almost immediately cold and a man I had never seen on the streets before asked if we had any coats. We didn’t have any tonight and I felt so bad having to leave him to face the weather without so much as a coat on his back. “It’s alright,” he said, “I’ll be okay.”

The pizza was a big hit. The things we take for granted are real treats, and a reminder of precious memories for many people. Jimmy had picked up some plastic serving gloves and began to distribute the pizza, and I took charge of serving coffee. Jimmy and I joke with each other as we serve and we get the folks laughing and joining in. I told the crowd that I had Jimmy in training for serving pizza and that’s why he was so slow. We all laughed. There were some new people tonight and we always ask everyone their names and tell them ours when they come by… we are doing more than just serving food, we are building relationships.

In Norfolk we have people who are commissioned to make sure everything is okay on the streets and one of these fellows approached our van. “Do you have a permit to serve food?” he asked. “No sir,” we replied, “but we are just serving pizza and we are using gloves.”

The man radioed in to find out if we could serve pizza as long as we have gloves. “You’ll need to shut down,” he said.

Then a really cool thing happened. The people we were serving came to our defense. “They are only trying to help,” said one. “Why would you stop them from doing good,” said another.

We assured the people that the man was also trying to do good and that we wanted to comply with his request. He allowed us to serve a few more people but the neat thing about it was that we saw our relationships in action. These friends of ours were sticking up for us. They wanted us there, and not just for the food. It was a moment.

We packed up and went to

19^th street

. The only one there was Charles. We stopped and asked him if he wanted food, but all he needed was a ride to get to another shelter. His legs were in terrible pain, so we helped him into the van and drove him to the location. There was a crowd of people already lined up waiting to get in. We opened the van and Jimmy and I laid hands on Charles and prayed for healing.

As Jimmy began to minister to others, Joy approached him. “My legs feel great, my legs feel great,” she told him, “and I know it’s because you prayed for me last week.” She had been in pain and obviously depressed, but tonight she was truly joyous, like her name. Another moment.

Daniel was there, the man who asked that we not keep trying to pray for him. “Hey Daniel, I can pray for you if you like,” I quipped jokingly. “No, no, I’m doing much better today,” said he, and I told him I was glad to hear it.

We gave out all our pizza and drained the last drop of coffee into a final cup for our talkative friend Mark. We were just about to shut down when ‘big Allen’ approached me. “Hey man, could you pray for me?” he asked.

I didn’t ask Allen. I didn’t invite him to be prayed for. He came up out of line at the shelter, found me, and asked for prayer. Wow! What a faith builder. I laid hands on Allen and prayed for health, peace, favor, and shelter for him. When I finished he hugged me, thanked me, and headed back to line. It was a moment.

Sorry for the length of this post, but we weren’t done just yet. Lee asked if we could give him a ride to another neighborhood and we were planning on heading that way so we said we would give this 25 year old a lift. We were driving and he said he was confused because he had been approached by some Mormons who told him different things than what we preach.

In the quiet of this car ride we were able to share with him that Jesus is God Himself come in the flesh so that we might be reconciled to a loving and glorious God and thereby have the free gift of eternal life – and that any teaching that suggests that Jesus is anything less than God is not the truth. We encouraged him to open his Bible and to ask God for clarity and that the Holy Spirit will guide him in the way of all truth. It was a moment.

Finally, we went to Ocean View to find my friend Dave. I know where he ‘lives.’ I was hoping we could take Dave to dinner since we were out of pizza. Unfortunately he wasn’t there tonight. It was a great night, and I’m so glad we went. I think God knew that we needed a blessing – A moment – and He did not disappoint.