John Lubanski, Robert Reynoso, and my beautiful wife and I had the privilege of hosting this Wednesday a service on the corner of Montrose and Westheimer in Houston. It is a place where a bunch of homeless people, prostitutes, gang members, etc. all come out to be fed both the physical and spiritual bread of life. It was great being out there and getting to pray with, talk to, and hug some of the people that came.
It was a real treat getting to see Brett whom I had met on my last visit to the outreach. He remembered who I was and said that I had been the first to ever tell him that supernatural/existential visitations with the spiritual world were even possible. The first time I met Brett was during an altar call back in November. I probably spent about an hour and a half talking and listening to him share with me his life story, including how he ended up on the streets.
Brett had been an art graduate from a university up in New York where he met and married the love of his life who graduated from NYU with a doctorate. To make a long story short, they ended up moving down to Houston and during they’re time there things got rocky in their marriage. And thus they divorced against his will. The divorce sent him to drinking and for a whole year he said he was drunk every day. Sometime, during that first year of drinking he said that he began to see things while wide awake. I am not sure how awake you can be while drunk but I will take his word for it. These so called “things” he said he was seeing were sings, banners, and angles that would tell him that Jesus was Savior, King, etc. The most interesting, in my opinion, were the banners that had written across them something to the affect of “Jesus is Savior” and the banners would also sing it.
During his period of drinking he ended up moving in with his grandmother (because he had quit his job and couldn’t pay the bills) and when he told her and the rest of his family about the visions they all thought he was crazy. He said that he was raised agnostic and thus all the vision stuff was totally foreign to both him and his family. And so with a heart drowning in grief, his body full of alcohol, a boat-load of debt, and his family calling him crazy for having all these visions and him not know what it all meant, he ended up moving to the streets where he has continued his drinking but is now finding answers to his visions.
Brett is not your typical homeless guy. He is smart, witty, funny, and usually knows what he is talking about. Brett now understands that there is a God who loves him and who loves him so much that He sent His only son (Jesus Christ) to save his life. He knows that Jesus is the way, but as he told me last night, he has just not been able to give up the bottle and choose that way—at least not yet. For all who may read this I ask you to please pray for Brett. Perhaps the streets of Houston will be his sycamore tree where, like Zacchaeus, he will be able to see Jesus and respond to His invitation. Pray that he will find his home in Christ.
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For no real reason, apart from perhaps an unseen one, I was watching a PBS special on the life of Johnny Cash. It was interesting because it actually spoke a great deal about his faith and salvation from drugs. It may be that, as Johnny found being alone in the wilderness and caves a time to consider his life and find God, perhaps the wilderness Brett knows is the inner-city and God is calling him to consider his life and weigh his actions. Perhaps sharing Cash's testimony would help. (he also wrote a couple autobiographies I think before he died recently)
I have never read or heard about Cash's testimony but I will have to look into it now. Thanks for posting brother.
I can't even begin to imagine the trauma of the spiral that Brett went down. I appreciate (and know he does, too) the time you took to talk and listen to him. This moment reminds me of how Shane Claiborne's ministry started.
What stands out most to me is that Brett may actually be the "typical" homeless man, if there is such a thing. Witty, smart, educated...all things that describe the homeless just as much as they describe the housed.
Just a thought...does your friend realize that he doesn't have to give up the drink in order to receive Jesus?
Hey Lydia,
It excites me to know that you know about Shane Clairborne. I just began listening to some of his talks about peace and just love what he has to say. Plus he is an amazing story teller.
You are probably right, he may very well be the "typical" homeless guy, just not the typical homeless guy that I have hung out with.
Howdy Cassey,
I think it is the case that I have seen with a lot of people, where some will try to fix themselves by themselves before they allow Jesus to help.
Man is always wanting to be his own savior.
"Witty, smart, educated...all things that describe the homeless just as much as they describe the housed."
Point well made.
I think being homeless is really more of a spiritual condition than a physical one. Many people have houses but few truly have homes.
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