Night the two...

28th September, 2006, 1:00am to 2:15am
Traveling the streets of Sydney
It was the second night we have traveled around the city looking for homeless people. Tonight however was much different from last night. Michael and I jumped in my Saturn and hit the road at 1ish tonight thinking we were going out looking for Homeless people; well that was our intentions anyway.
We traveled up and down George, Charlotte, and Esplenade looking around checking out nooks and crannies, any dark patch between the orange rays of light from the street lamps. Yet with all our searching we found no one. Although we were missing on the people front we did find the woods (for lack of a better term) between Charlotte and Esplenade which is supposed to be a gathering spot for homeless people in the winter.
After driving up Prince for a bit all the while shooting the breeze, I suggested we head to Whitney Pier or just the Pier as we have discovered it’s called here. Michael nodded thinking it would be good to scope out the area a bit. I don’t think, as I turned left at the Co-op, that I had any idea as to what God was planning for the rest of the night. In fact if I were to be totally honest, when I turned left at the Co-op the number one thought running around in my mind was the hope that we would finish up a little early so I could get some sleep before 2am. In hind sight which of course is always 20 20, I am glad that the thoughts running through my head at 1:30 in the morning aren’t the same as God’s.
We rolled into the Pier and as we did Michael shared with me that his oldest had come strolling into their room a bit earlier this evening and had simply began to cry for no apparent reason and without explanation. My mind began to wonder back to a weird dream I had had the other night about a person who appeared to me and told me that I wasn’t going to make it that I was going to fail. I had been weirded out by the dream the other night but as it came back to my mind tonight, driving through the dimly lit, run down streets of the Pier, most the shops boarded up or closed, the dream seemed to be a lot more then weird, so I shared it with Michael, and that’s when the feeling came. I use the word feeling here simply because I don’t really know how else to express, define or describe it. I also use this word because the feeling was different for Michael and I. As I began to share the dream I had had, driving down the main drag, Michael began to feel sick in his gut, his hair was standing on end and he was fighting his lunch down. Not to mention he had a pressing against his throat and chest. After sharing the dream Michael felt that this may have some connection to some things he has been experiencing and that he felt God might be showing him about the state of things here.
But no sooner had we turned onto the next street near the cemetery then my stomach began to twist into knots. I could feel fear trying to grip my and it was a nagging awful feeling of dread. I shared this with Michael and as we talked through it trying to figure out what was going down, God began to reveal some things to the both of us about what the deal really was. For me God seemed to be speaking to my heart revealing that the enemy had clearly claimed the Pier as his territory and that children of God were not welcome. More than that though it seems that the enemy has gripped the people of Whitney Pier and he isn’t letting up any time soon. It was tripping me out and I could feel the fear trying to pull me down.
Michael on the other hand felt God confirming the need for us to really get serious about this war we are facing. The truth of it is (and I don’t really care if people want to ignore the reality) God has gone to war for Cape Breton, He wants it back and He wants it back now, but the enemy is heavily entrenched here. In fact the enemy has constructed some strongholds and fortresses through, substance abuse, addictions, worthlessness, and self abuse. And the enemy doesn’t want to lose ground. Tonight I think we realized that more clearly then we have since we arrived.
We rolled into the drive way shortly after this all went down and personally I felt wrecked. More then anything I wanted to crawl into bed snuggle with my wife and try to push the fear that was still wrestling with my spirit out of my mind. But again thankfully what runs through my mind at 2 am isn’t what is running through God’s. Michael suggested we take some time and pray in fact he pretty much said we needed to pray, which in hindsight was the best suggestion all night. I took a deep breath waiting for Michael to open us up when the Holy Spirit showed up and decided that He was going to lead the show.
The funny thing about the Holy Spirit and when He makes up his mind to lead stuff is that most of the time you cant even process whets going down, most of the time your holding on for dear life like you would on one of those roller coasters that your feet dangle the hole time and you cant see through the dark tunnel, ha just close your eyes, feel the crazy butterflies doing death defying acrobatic maneuvers in the depths of your stomach and scream with glee as you enjoy the ride. When the Holy Spirit shows up all heaven breaks loose and tonight was no exception. I don’t remember every word that was spoken nor do I remember everything we prayed about and to be honest I don’t think I can ever really convey exactly what the Holy Spirit did while we sat in the car with the doors locked, in the drive way, but I can tell you that The Lord showed up and he found too seriously humbled fools crying out to him. And then there was peace, peace that passes all understanding and logic, peace that baffles shrinks and doctors, peace that trips the intellects and the scholars, peace that puts demons in their place and makes angels laugh like children. I believe that God showed us what is really going on in Sydney, underneath our good intentions, our grand plans, our newsletters and our contacts lists, there is a war raging on for the very souls of our neighbors, our friends, the people we haven’t even met yet, its for them that this battle rages, and its bloody, it hurts and its real. Oh it’s very real, more real then your everyday activities, your afterschool activities, your church socials, and your day jobs. It’s the thing that’s really going on when we find kids dying from overdosing, we find teens shooting up schools, when we see young adults getting sloshed out of their minds every day of the week, we find parents ignoring their kids or worse abusing and misusing them, and we find the old being herded together without any real concern for their well being. This thing is a war between heaven and hell and the battle ground is here on the plans of what we call reality, what we call life and we have a part to play. If ever there was a time for us who declare allegiance to the King of Kings to stand up and shout our battle cry the time is now, give up self imposed ignorance, throw down complacency, fight against apathy and stand up. There is a battle going on around us, in the very midst of us people are being lost.
We finished our time of prayer feeling exhausted but energized, at peace but restless to fight the good fight to be counted as one of the Lord’s fools. I truly believe that God is going to transform this place, He is going to build his church on this rock that the gates of Hell WILL NOT PROVAIL. The reason, GOD IS BIGGER, STRONGER AND MORE POWERFUL then anything the enemy can throw our way. God wants to raise hell to the ground here in Cape Breton and he’s going to build a church in its place. And it won’t be a Wesleyan church or a Pentecostal church or even a Baptist church, its going to be God’s church where God’s people come together and they worship him in Spirit and in truth, they help the poor and the orphans and the widows and the drunks and the addicts and the broken and the dying. In God’s Church his children are going to fight injustice, love the wretched, bless the poor, and feed the hungry. In God’s church a brother won’t be distinguished by color but by blood, Christ’s Blood which was poured out for all our sins, the blood that makes all men and women equal, the blood that frees the addicts, the drunks and the sex fiends. In God’s church we are going to dance in freedom and sing with Joy all the time. In God’s church we are going to understand grace that makes Holiness possible. Because in God’s church it won’t be about race, social status or who you know, wait, actually it WILL be all about who you know be cause in God’s church everyone is going to know who Jesus is even if they don’t know it yet.
And God’s church is going to start right here right now as his people pray. And prayer wont be a part of the day, prayer will be the day, any time all the time God’s children will be talking to their dad, they will be sitting in his lap sharing their darkest fears while in a traffic jam, they will be lifting up his praises while in the grocery checkout line, they will be praying for their lost brothers and sisters in their high school cafeteria all the while being scoffed at and ridiculed. In God’s Church prayer isn’t what we do it is who we are.
At 1am this morning when Michael and I hopped in my four door Saturn and hit the road looking for homeless people I had no idea what God wanted to do. At 3:30 am I sit here smashing keys on the keyboard with conviction. I still don’t know all that God wants to do but I know what he wants us to do next and that’s enough, to be honest I don’t think I could handle any more then that right now. So I’m going to post this get up from the computer and do what God has called me to do, but what I think God would like to know is what are you going to do?

peace
Matt