JOSEPH'S STORY
There is one reason, and one reason alone that I desire to write the details of Joseph's story. God's glory. I watched God work miracles these past few weeks, and I desire to share these details with others so that they may see the hand of God, who has worked in this man's life, and that He may receive the glory due His name.
Evan's first encounter with Joseph was many years ago in a back alleyway. Little did he know that he would later have an opportunity to share the gospel with him and see God do a work in Joseph's heart.
Joseph has come to the Thursday night studies on and off since we started. Frankly, he was one of the few that made me nervous. He seemed harsh, angry, and you never quite knew what he might do or say. He was lost, broken and had turned to drugs and alcohol to cover up his issues, as temporarily as that might have been. But praise God! Through the hearing of the gospel being taught week after week, and through many many MANY people praying, God changed his heart of stone, which then made it possible for Joseph to see himself in the pit he was in.
There is one reason, and one reason alone that I desire to write the details of Joseph's story. God's glory. I watched God work miracles these past few weeks, and I desire to share these details with others so that they may see the hand of God, who has worked in this man's life, and that He may receive the glory due His name.
Evan's first encounter with Joseph was many years ago in a back alleyway. Little did he know that he would later have an opportunity to share the gospel with him and see God do a work in Joseph's heart.
Joseph has come to the Thursday night studies on and off since we started. Frankly, he was one of the few that made me nervous. He seemed harsh, angry, and you never quite knew what he might do or say. He was lost, broken and had turned to drugs and alcohol to cover up his issues, as temporarily as that might have been. But praise God! Through the hearing of the gospel being taught week after week, and through many many MANY people praying, God changed his heart of stone, which then made it possible for Joseph to see himself in the pit he was in.
One Thursday night he came in, completely sober. He sat on the couch, completely attentive all night long. He sang softly as he read the words on the song sheet. He absorbed every last word spoken that night. We all walked away and said, "Who was that, and where did 'Crazy Horse' go?" ("Crazy Horse" was the name he gave us weeks earlier that he wanted to be known as.) We discussed using some of the money in the fund we had to send him to U-Turn for Christ, if he ever came to that place of wanting it. We both felt this strongly on our hearts.
The following Thursday, again, he was at the study. He was a bit different, as he sat on the couch with his eyes closed all night, but a person could still tell he was paying attention. We didn't know it at the time, but he was in the middle of detoxing from meth and alcohol. The following day, he was in the shelter, and he went up to Farren, who runs the shelter and told him he was serious. He wanted to change, and he wanted that change to start with surrendering his life to Christ. Praise God!
Farren called us up, and within an hour, we had him signed up for U-Turn with a bus ticket bought to get him there. He needed some supplies to go with him, so we did a little shopping for him after church on Sunday, as he was to leave around 7:30pm that same night. Evan took the items over there we had packed for him and when Evan walked in the door, Joseph ran up to him and gave him a huge hug, before he even really knew all that had been set in place for him. Evan later took him to the bus stop, where he ended up getting about an hour and a half alone with him before he left, due to some bus issues, but what a blessing that time was.
And so Joseph's journey began....
He was suppose to be on the bus 48 hours total, getting to his final destination Tuesday evening. Little did we know, his bus trip would take 24 hours more than we previously thought, with Joseph going through many difficult situations. Before I talk about his trip, let me back up for just a second.
One hour after we had Joseph signed up for U-Turn, which is an amazing, Scripture-based treatment facility, completely focused on changing lives for Jesus Christ, he received a phone call from a non-Christian addictions treatment center that he had been trying to get himself into. They had been full, but called and said they had a bed one hour after he was signed up for U-Turn. His response to them, "I have a better place to go!"
As far as the funds go for paying for all of this, we have a fund set up through our church that several people have felt led to give to that are completely outside of our church. They wanted the funds specifically to go to the community that we live in. That money has sat for several years. We know God has a plan/purpose for that money, but it's been amazing to watch it unfold as it hadn't been clear until now. I called up one of the contributors to that fund to let them know how some of the money was being used to help Joseph. She said to me, well, I have another $1000 sitting here that I wasn't 100% sure where to send it, and I had prayed for confirmation, and I now know I have to send it to you guys. She had no idea, that Joseph's total cost came to right around $1000. God is so faithful. We won't even have to touch the fund money we have at this point. Maybe that will be for future "Josephs".
So, back to Joeseph being on the road. Keep in mind, he has recently detoxed and is very vulnerable to temptation. He called Evan a couple of times and one of the times he said that it looked like his trip was going to be much longer than orignially thought, and he was already out of food. He thought he was going to have a layover in St. Louis, so we called Evan's sister who lives there. Bless her heart, she put together a care package for him and had lined up a gentleman from her church to go meet him and take him out for dinner. The only problem was that he ended up not having ANY layover there and had to jump right onto the next bus. Bummer. So, he's still really hungry, as we only sent him with enough food for the 2 days and didn't send him with any money, for obvious reasons. I felt really bad, but really it just gave God opportunity to show Himself in mighty ways to Joseph along the way.
His long layover, ended up being in Nashville, TN. I woke up early that morning with a burden to call the Calvary Chapel there to see if they could help in any way. While I was working on that, Joseph called Evan. He was choked up, exhausted, hungry and ready to give up. He had been threatened by several guys on the bus, and he was scared. Evan wasn't sure what to do, but told him we were working on getting him some help. A gentleman from that church met with him. He brought him food and encouragement. Joseph called Evan again after his meeting with this man (whom I don't even know his name, but what an angel he was!) and his whole attitude had changed. He was ready to persevere and keep pressing on. He wanted to do this. His bus left for Knoxville, but everything east of Knoxville was cancelled due to weather. So, he would have had to spend an unknown amount of time in the bus station there. Before he left Nashville, Evan told him, "I will have someone there to pick you up and bring you the rest of the way." Evan got off the phone with him and looked at me like, now what? Thankfully, we have a big God! I contacted another church in Knoxville, and they had 2 gentleman willing to drive him the remainder of his trip. This was through snowy roads over an hour one way. These guys work with the prison ministry that church does and have lots of experience working with people with addictions. Praise God! Two more angels sent his way!
I called these gentleman to make sure they had connected with Joseph (Evan was out of town at this point) and Joseph asked to talk to me. He wanted me to tell everyone THANK YOU for praying for him. I said to him, "God is good, isn't He, Joseph." and he said, "Yes, God is good."
Joseph had an army of people praying for him, and I want to personally thank those of you that played a role in that. Watching the body of Christ come together across this country was so encouraging. It's amazing how complete strangers can feel like family and come together and care for someone they had never met in ways that most people would think completely strange.
The following Thursday, again, he was at the study. He was a bit different, as he sat on the couch with his eyes closed all night, but a person could still tell he was paying attention. We didn't know it at the time, but he was in the middle of detoxing from meth and alcohol. The following day, he was in the shelter, and he went up to Farren, who runs the shelter and told him he was serious. He wanted to change, and he wanted that change to start with surrendering his life to Christ. Praise God!
Farren called us up, and within an hour, we had him signed up for U-Turn with a bus ticket bought to get him there. He needed some supplies to go with him, so we did a little shopping for him after church on Sunday, as he was to leave around 7:30pm that same night. Evan took the items over there we had packed for him and when Evan walked in the door, Joseph ran up to him and gave him a huge hug, before he even really knew all that had been set in place for him. Evan later took him to the bus stop, where he ended up getting about an hour and a half alone with him before he left, due to some bus issues, but what a blessing that time was.
And so Joseph's journey began....
He was suppose to be on the bus 48 hours total, getting to his final destination Tuesday evening. Little did we know, his bus trip would take 24 hours more than we previously thought, with Joseph going through many difficult situations. Before I talk about his trip, let me back up for just a second.
One hour after we had Joseph signed up for U-Turn, which is an amazing, Scripture-based treatment facility, completely focused on changing lives for Jesus Christ, he received a phone call from a non-Christian addictions treatment center that he had been trying to get himself into. They had been full, but called and said they had a bed one hour after he was signed up for U-Turn. His response to them, "I have a better place to go!"
As far as the funds go for paying for all of this, we have a fund set up through our church that several people have felt led to give to that are completely outside of our church. They wanted the funds specifically to go to the community that we live in. That money has sat for several years. We know God has a plan/purpose for that money, but it's been amazing to watch it unfold as it hadn't been clear until now. I called up one of the contributors to that fund to let them know how some of the money was being used to help Joseph. She said to me, well, I have another $1000 sitting here that I wasn't 100% sure where to send it, and I had prayed for confirmation, and I now know I have to send it to you guys. She had no idea, that Joseph's total cost came to right around $1000. God is so faithful. We won't even have to touch the fund money we have at this point. Maybe that will be for future "Josephs".
So, back to Joeseph being on the road. Keep in mind, he has recently detoxed and is very vulnerable to temptation. He called Evan a couple of times and one of the times he said that it looked like his trip was going to be much longer than orignially thought, and he was already out of food. He thought he was going to have a layover in St. Louis, so we called Evan's sister who lives there. Bless her heart, she put together a care package for him and had lined up a gentleman from her church to go meet him and take him out for dinner. The only problem was that he ended up not having ANY layover there and had to jump right onto the next bus. Bummer. So, he's still really hungry, as we only sent him with enough food for the 2 days and didn't send him with any money, for obvious reasons. I felt really bad, but really it just gave God opportunity to show Himself in mighty ways to Joseph along the way.
His long layover, ended up being in Nashville, TN. I woke up early that morning with a burden to call the Calvary Chapel there to see if they could help in any way. While I was working on that, Joseph called Evan. He was choked up, exhausted, hungry and ready to give up. He had been threatened by several guys on the bus, and he was scared. Evan wasn't sure what to do, but told him we were working on getting him some help. A gentleman from that church met with him. He brought him food and encouragement. Joseph called Evan again after his meeting with this man (whom I don't even know his name, but what an angel he was!) and his whole attitude had changed. He was ready to persevere and keep pressing on. He wanted to do this. His bus left for Knoxville, but everything east of Knoxville was cancelled due to weather. So, he would have had to spend an unknown amount of time in the bus station there. Before he left Nashville, Evan told him, "I will have someone there to pick you up and bring you the rest of the way." Evan got off the phone with him and looked at me like, now what? Thankfully, we have a big God! I contacted another church in Knoxville, and they had 2 gentleman willing to drive him the remainder of his trip. This was through snowy roads over an hour one way. These guys work with the prison ministry that church does and have lots of experience working with people with addictions. Praise God! Two more angels sent his way!
I called these gentleman to make sure they had connected with Joseph (Evan was out of town at this point) and Joseph asked to talk to me. He wanted me to tell everyone THANK YOU for praying for him. I said to him, "God is good, isn't He, Joseph." and he said, "Yes, God is good."
Joseph had an army of people praying for him, and I want to personally thank those of you that played a role in that. Watching the body of Christ come together across this country was so encouraging. It's amazing how complete strangers can feel like family and come together and care for someone they had never met in ways that most people would think completely strange.
My mom e-mailed me these Scriptures that she happened to be studying that morning. I thought this was rather fitting.
Gen 39:2 The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered....
Gen 39:21 While Joseph was there in the prison the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden... the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in what ever he did.....
The following day, I sent out an e-mail to Robert, the man who drove him to U-Turn. I thanked him for all he did for Joseph. His response to me blessed my heart beyond words. He said, "Joseph is really nice young man and I could see the love of Christ in him. It was truly a blessing to meet him and I will continue to pray for him."
Now, that is the work of God, and He receives all glory, honor and praise!!!
1 comment:
How beautiful! We will be praying for Joseph. God truly is Good AND Great and able to do FAR above what we ask or think.
Love,
Camille
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