Bill! I saw Bill again!… Matthew 4

In a previous post, I had mentioned how I believe God is putting the homeless in my heart. Well A few weeks back, I met a homeless man at the corner of Fletcher and I-275 (on the off-ramp). His name is Bill.

I was stopped at the light and I offered him a few dollars. Then he said God bless you and asked if I would pray for him. I said of course and the light turned green. So on my way home I prayed for him and ever since, he has been on my heart. But I haven’t seen him around in awhile. Until…

Yesterday on my way home I was stopping at the corner of MLK and Nebraska at the light and I noticed a homeless man walking around the building. As I approached the light I noticed it was Bill! His crutch was an immediate give away and I think he was wearing the same clothes as before
I was sad because he was out of sight and I couldn’t give him anything now. But I believe God told him to turn around ’cause about 10 seconds later, he appeared from the other side of the building with his “hungry” sign. So I nodded at him to come over and I said, “you’re Bill, right?” He was so happy that I remembered his name. I told him I had been praying for him and I was able to give him 2 dollars before having to drive off.

I hope I get to meet Bill again. God keep him safe and I pray that somehow he finds you. If I’m that way then I let you use me however you need.

Ok. Matthew 4. The infamous temptation of Jesus by the devil. In verses 2-4, Jesus had not eaten in 40 days and was tempted to turn a rock into bread. I don’t know about you but that rock would sound pretty tasty after 40 days of no food.

Verse 4 says: Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” I’m going to pretty much stop right there and concentrate on that verse today. Nothing I can humanly do will allow me to live the way God intended for me to live. Only by what God has instructed of me shall I truly live. Wow. I know that God will provide for me. I do not have to worry about it. That is awesome.

But I bet the homeless who don’t know Christ and his love would understand that if you just told them.

God allow me to be used by you in any fashion you desire. Let my hands be your hands and my feet be your feet. Give me the courage to step out of my comfort zone and reach out to the homeless because I know they need to know of Christ’s love for me. 

I’m working now!

Wow… it’s been awhile since I blogged. If you look back at a previous post entitled unemployment: Day 1, It’s been just over 8 months since I’ve been unemployed. So I’m pleased to come back to blog and tell everyone that I’m finally working again!

It’s really been a God story on how I got the job so I’d like to share it with you.

I’m a graphic artist. It’s what I do for a living (good thing I love doing it, haha). But there was a problem with that. Being a graphic artist was all I was willing to do. I was too good to do manual labor,  standard office work, or whatever else. The thing is, I have a family to support. But I guess I didn’t care because all I wanted to do was create and be that artist that I thought I was supposed to be. Well, I think that not only did my wife disagree with this, God disagreed as well.

He shut doors in my life.

When my unemployment checks stopped coming in, I knew I had to get something quick; an artist job. Again that’s all I would do for work. SLAM! SLAM! The doors stayed shut. I apply to place after place after place and most of the time, I wouldn’t even get a response! SLAM!

Soon I realized what was going on. I needed to lay down the pride.

My brother-in-law, Mike, through out this period of unemployment, always had a crazy idea or two or three about what I could try and do for work (at least I thought it was crazy; mainly cause I didn’t want to do it). But the last idea of his stuck in my mind for some reason. I don’t know why because it’s something I would have never even thought of doing; becoming a Detention Deputy (basically a jail guard).

Once I realized the importance of taking care of my family, I knew what I must do. So I researched how to become the deputy and I marched downtown and signed up and took the test (which was the 1st step). I laid down my pride and took the test; pasing with a 72/80. I was ready to move on to step 2 and fully pursue this new career path. Then I got a phone call…

“An interview? This Thursday? Sure! I’ll be there!” That’s how I ended the call. Would you believe It was for a graphics position? I guess God was honoring my willingness to lay it down. Well it didn’t end there because later, after I had just finished my (awesome) interview, I got another call for another interview! Both of which I had applied to months before!

Long story short, I took the 1st job and that’s where I am today.

Man, if I had just done that months ago.