I do the job as an electrician at a very large health care facility, over 900 hundred acres and twenty-seven buildings. The facility cares for people who are brain injured, spinal injured, and/or have behavioral problems. In 2oo8 a young women came to our facility who has AIDS and Hepatitis. She was very angry, violent, and protected herself with projectile vomiting fits. This young woman is a life destroyed by the world and has a death sentence pronounced upon her soul. A young soul that knew nothing of Jesus except when expressed in a profane cruse of fear or anger. A soul waiting for time to end and be cast into Hell’s Pit. She is one of the least, one of the un-reached, unchurched, one that world has cast aside and forgotten.
How can anyone break through her harden stone wall?
How Jesus How?
Who, Jesus will you use to reach out to this lost lamb?
The world had taught this young woman there is on such thing as love. The world taught this little one, no one cares and Satan has convinced her most of all God doesn’t even care to know her name. Sex, drugs and evil has taken her life and smashed it to pieces. All this broken vessel has to look forward to is death and then her judgment. So she was warehoused where I work to die alone where no one cares.
My heart grew very heavy for this lost lamb for I too had been beaten down by sin, but that is another story for another day. So for her soul I would go before the Lord night and day to cry, “Use me my God to break through hell’s stronghold on this life. Use me to crack the walls of this torture chamber that surrounds this young woman. Use me to help this lost lamb find its way into Your arms.”
My weapons would be kindness and a caring interest for this battle. I volunteered for every repair that came up in her cabin. A cabin where she was locked away from everyone but two staff women. The staff was in fear of her, everyone was in fear of catching her disease, she was the walking dead. The battle lines were drawn for a fight to the death for one lost soul.
Why volunteer in such a dismal place? Maybe I could speak some words of love or show a small act of love, God’s love. I would ask all about her, how she was doing; make small talk, maybe she could see someone just might be caring.
One day this fearful lamb said to me, “you know James I’m dying.”
I replied with the truth, “I know, but you don’t have to die alone. You no longer have to live the rest of your days in fear of dying.” She could not even ask how, the question was written on her face. I went on, “Jesus loves you more than anything you can dream of; He died for you, and rose from the dead, so you no longer have to fear what is coming next. Jesus wants to take you in his arms right now, love you, and never let you go. Guess what? Purple, you will never be alone again.”
Her staff did not like where our conversation was going and put an end to it. I guess I don’t live in the United States any more where we had Freedom of Religion or Freedom of Speech. Yet I did manage to swing the sword of the Spirit, the wall cracked a small bit, in which a seed was planted.
I learned at this time she had no idea who Jesus was and the mystery of the Gospel was a mystery. Mercy, grace, and faith were just words with an unreal meaning to her. All those churchly sayings we use around other Christians are useless. Washed in the blood, got saved, redeemed by the lamb, born again, and even sin was just a foreign language to this blind and death sinner. A true caring interest, kindness and much prayer weapons of war for what was going to be a very long fight.
Months went by, conversation after conversation; I watered the seed hoping for something. I was hoping for the seed to sprout. I was hoping that someone else would come alone side and explain Jesus in a better way than I. No one came. I was hoping that some man would join with me in a Prayer of One Accord no other man had the time. No other man wanted to stand with me for a fight to the death for this lost soul. Matthew 17:21, “However, this kind does not go out except by much prayer and fasting.”
I cannot use this young woman’s name in my writing this because of privacy act laws. I will start calling her Purple for I can see my Jesus adorning her in Purple someday. She is going to be a child of the King.
A few weeks before Christmas 2009 Purple ask me if I could get her some gum for Christmas. “Yes Purple,” I said “You can be sure you shall have your wish.”That night I told my wife what Purple had asked me to get her for Christmas because I would forget.
One night when my wife and I were at the Wal-Mart, she gently reminded me of my Christmas shopping. We picked up a large pack of gum and a nice gift bag. The gift bag was not my idea I don’t think like that. About a day or two before Christmas I placed the gum in the bag.
My wife said, “Please let me help you with that.” She got some tissue paper the kind you don’t use on your backside. You know most men don’t do pretty well, or they just play dumb at it. My excuse is I’m A.A.D. and my mind just moves on and on.
“We have this book” my wife said. “Do think Purple would like it?” asking she went on, “It’s called “The Real Story of Christmas” What do you think?”
“HU!” I replied, “I think so. Sounds good to me?” Boy that bag of gum sure was getting bigger and prettier.
Have you ever noticed how at times your wife’s voice sounds just like the Holy Spirit? Wow! That sounds like something fun I would like to write about!!
“Yes,” I went on to tell her, “Purple is not permitted to watch T.V. or listen to music, but she is permitted to read. She is kept inside by her prison guards and has very little contact with anyone.” The gift looked real good when my wife was done with it, for she had put Baby Jesus inside.
The day before Christmas my wife said, “Don’t forget Purple’s present.” Oh yes it was that voice again. my wife is never awake when I leave for work, almost never. I’m almost never awake when I leave for work either. Not much of a chance of me remembering the package without help. Purple was asleep in a chair when I delivered her present that day. I just set it beside her on the floor and left, I felt a bit like Santa. I did get in a small amount of trouble for giving Purple that book a few days later. Purple’s reading material was to be censored by her case manager. They didn’t want to give her any false hopes. I guess;” The Night Before Christmas” would have been more appropriate.
In January 2010 my boss took off to go hunting in another state he left me in charge of the maintenance department. No boss for a week this should be easy. By the end of that week Florida was having a record-breaking cold spell. Things began breaking all over the place at work. Busted water pipes, heater failures, cabins to cold, power outages, and generators not wanting to start were just some of the problems needing to be addressed. Friday of that week was to be the coldest night of them all I worked late into the night. It was so cold that the snow birds were saying they were going back north to get warm. Saturday I was called back to work at 4:00am for a host of problems. One by one I took them on and found solutions for them all by 8:30am. I then went to the main kitchen to get some left over breakfast. As I eating a thought came to mind that I should go building by building to make sure everything is ok before I returned home for some rest. When I came to Purple’s cabin and went in I found it to be warm and comfortable. I ask if there were any problems. I ask Purple how she was doing?
“James that book you gave me, I don’t get it!” Purple exclaimed.
I did not want to take the time to get into explaining that, I was in a hurry to get done and go home. My body was screaming for sleep and I didn’t want to talk right then. Before the first words came out of mouth to make an excuse, to get out of there:
I heard a soft gentle voice tug at my heart, “Why are you in a hurry? I placed you here to be in charge today.”
I lowered myself to the floor so I would be looking up at Purple . I began to tell her the old, old story of Jesus and how He loves us. Of how God loves us so much and wants to have a relationship with us but we all are sinners. God is perfect and Holy, He is the one and only God, creator of all things. God can’t look at sin without judging sin. So God can’t have a relationship with us because we are all sinners and He would have to judge us and punish us if He looked at us. So God became man to take the blame for our sin and receive our penalty of death for our sin. The words just came flowing out in a way I never heard myself speak before. No wandering from subject to subject as I normally do. I cannot even remember all I said that day. At some point Purple said something like, so that is why there is a Christmas, but I still don’t get it. I may have said nor do I, but all you have to do is believe. At some point that cold bitter morning a little lost lamb became found.
I felt very drained and God began to comfort me after I left Purple’s cabin that cold but beautiful morning. The Holy Spirit began to show me and remind me of all the little details He was in control of, like the cold. All of those little details of how He brought me into Purple’s life. The miracles He worked in my life, just to bring me from California to Florida. Of how He controlled my life preparing new places of employment all I had to do was say yes. I have never had to go looking for work the jobs always came looking for me. The details and miracles are so many I could fill thousands of books and that is just the ones I know about. He showed me all the people’s lives I have touched along the way and forgotten. I was so amazed that God would use a vile sinner such as I for this a very important mission.
This how one Christmas not so long ago I got to give away Baby Jesus. I still see Purple from day-to-day and shall again this Christmas She is growing in Christ her health has improved and she is at peace with God.
From Purple to all, “Merry Christmas and God Bless each and every one of you just as He has Bless me!”
James says AMEN!!
Posted by Men of One Accord in
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