Keeping Faith

On the face of it, tonight was set to be a disaster. Satan had several dirty little tricks lined up for us but God overcame each of them and had the last laugh.

For good reasons we were short-handed; firstly Helen was away. Then Phil found himself in bed all day with a bad head and cold, and Sam had a school-related problem, one that he's not used to and that required his undivided attention. We didn't have the lovely gas bbq equipment that we had last week; the meat and bread supplies we had last week couldn't be obtained this week. I also found myself driving back to my home and the shop no less than four times because of little things that could have spoiled the evening - ok this was probably down to my failing memory again rather than anything satanic. While I was away there was a feeling that one of the neighbours looking out onto the green where we had set up wasn't happy with our being there.

A couple of days ago Phil said this...

"Sorry about this. Sometimes it happens, you try to plan something and everything works against it or makes it difficult to carry it out. The question is I think one of three things. Is it just a coincidence that it is getting difficult? Is it the Lord directing us to another day that would be better? Or is it that we are supposed to be doing it and the enemy is making it hard? We have come across this type of thing all the time in Gloster Rd. It hardly ever is the first one and it often is the last two reasons in equal amounts. This shows the need for constant prayer in decision making even for a bbq I suppose."

What actually happened was that Sainsbury's were selling 12 bread rolls for 29p, and burgers were a tenner for 30 from a nice little butcher in West End. George and Helen also had meat and rolls, so we were 'sorted' for not much more than £20. Then we were joined firstly by Ollie, George's friend, who sacrificed his football night to come out with us - George and Ollie came with their (St John's Church) charcoal bbq. Then Helen from The King's House, and Vicky her daughter joined us. Then Michelle, our walking-out spiritual support/prayer warrior turned up. And when we were out on the field, Helen phoned her husband Rob, who also came out and cooked our burgers. By the end of the evening we were a small army and the fellowship was great. Shirley, and then Malcolm, Sam's dad also joined us for the prayers at the beginning of the evening. He brought along his bbq in case we needed it. I felt we were truly blessed.

My first trips back home and to the shop were just niggly things forgotten, and rearranging one of our cars out of the way of a neighbour.

When I got back Michelle and Helen had visited the neighbour overlooking the field and explained that we were the local churches reaching out the young people. The lady who answered the door seemed to change her attitude to one of support.

Trip 4 turned out to be very interesting. Although I'd bought some large bottles of drink earlier this evening they were nowhere to be found when they were needed. They weren't in my car or in any of the bags so I asked the kids if they were desperate for a drink and they said they were, so I went home for them, but they weren't there. So I bought some more from the shop, and some cheese slices by popular request. George said that when I'd gone, the kids apparently said they were quite touched that I'd gone to get them drink because they'd said they were thirsty, and they started asking questions.

When I got back to the field the kids were enjoying their burgers. 'Why are you doing this for us?' one lad asked George. 'Because we're Christians wanting to start a little youth group meeting out here' he replied. Then, he took out of his rucksack some foot-long fake dollar currency bills with the Ten Commandments printed on them and handed them out. 'Look, we don't just give you food, you get money too.' What happened next will stay with me for a long time. The kids, who has been in little groups, formed one circle with George and asked him questions. 'What, I can't look at a girl and go, "pwhorr!"' George explained there's nothing wrong with appreciating beauty, it's lust that gets the thumbs down. 'Looking at this list and what we get up to on a Friday night, we're never going to get into Heaven'. 'Do you believe in Jesus?' 'George gave me a coin last week with the Ten Commandments on' piped up the youngest lad, etc etc etc, the questions and comments came thick and fast. It was great. There was no nastiness, no mickey taking and George truly had the Holy Spirit working in him.

After the burgers, George and Ollie were invited for another game with the ball. There was now friendship in the group. Throughout the time of interaction, Helen and Michelle were near the edge of the field praying! God was there with us, the atmosphere was electric with His presence.

It seems to me that even when everything seems to be working against us, when we're working for Him, when we pray and when we feel it's right, if we then push on regardless, God honours us. It would have been SO easy to cancel this evening and we thought about it. George was all for carrying on though, and earlier in the day I texted George and said 'prepare to be amazed'. The reason: as everything built up against us I felt ever more convinced that the devil truly hated what we were doing because he could see the way the evening was going to work out.

Last week, Nancy had three similar experiences that made her feel exhausted before the Old Woking bbq. Read George's blog below and you'll see that she had 5 or 6 kids sitting around her by the end of that evening, asking questions about God. I can tell you that she felt blessed by the end of that evening.

Without our Lord we'd be nothing. With Him we can join in His victory.

I'd love to encourage anyone who is reading this to do something different. Do it for God. Watch Him work. Whatever's on your heart, it's probably there because He put it there. Don't ignore it. If you do, you're missing one of the greatest privileges possible - witnessing Our Lord's grace working in those around you. I can't really describe the feeling that I get following an evening like this one. But it's a feeling any of us can have. All we have to do is GO.

With a little faith, you CAN.
(15th July footnote - just remembered I hadn't purchased the drinks at all. I'd gone to collect some kit from Phil who had got himself out of bed and wondered up to the church. I was early so went across to Sainsbury's to buy some fizz and bbq charcoal. But by the time I'd done this there was a queue of about 20, and no charcoal so I put the drinks back. In other words, I'm really losing it but God used that situation to His advantage because George noted the kids' reaction when I went for the drink, and decided to use the tracts this week, instead of in a few weeks' time as he'd intended.)