I’m amazed and frightened sometimes by how God uses Fisherman’s Club as a means to meet those we’re to meet.  Those we meet are not always homeless, but through the cosmic workings of God last summer we met a successful doctor on Broadway curious about who we were, and he so happened to also be wondering about who God was as well.  He eventually came to know and accept Jesus Christ as His King and Savior.  By this I’m amazed. 

This Friday we met a man.  He hailed a taxi in the parking lot near where we were standing and talking.  He needed directions to a local restaurant/bar and was wondering if we could help.  As we were giving directions his taxi driver decided he needed a burger from the nearby fast food place.  The guy waited in between the taxi and our group.  We were standing around talking with Ratboy, whom we hadn’t seen in a long while and his friends.  The guy asked me what was going on, what were we doing.  I just said we were hanging out, like a meeting up with old friends.  Then John Bear walked up with his usual cheerful greeting and the party grew.  Then the guy tapped my shoulder and asked if he could have a word with me for a minute.  He had noticed Ric writing down prayer requests and he asked me with a bit of paranoia on his face what he was doing.  I explained we were Christians with a church and he was taking prayer requests, because we pray for people.  I then introduced myself, learned that his name was Gene* and I asked him if there was anything we could pray for him about.

As this initiation was given to Gene the floodgates were opened.  Stories just poured out.  He is a man who has seen and been party to more horror than many will ever witness and he carries the guilt of it all in this life and he believes he will as well into the next.  Hell he believes is his destiny as God could never forgive him for what he has done, a tortured soul, for whom his own cruelty to himself feels better and more deserving than God’s grace.  Please pray for Gene, that he would hear that he is heard by God, for his safety and salvation.

This is where the frightening part comes in for me, in that God’s invitation to people to be prayed for, to be lifted up to the very bosom of God has more power then I can ever begin to understand and it is often more power then I often know what to do with.  I could barely hold what was given to me this night.  God’s power is frightening because it opens us up; it is frightening in its mystery and its exposure, and for me this night frightening in how it then calls us to trust Him to be good.

-Susan Kim

*Name has been changed