"...to the Highest"

As we began our small group last night, we had no idea that the Lord had something different in mind. Just as we were about to start, a man named Tony was standing outside on the sidewalk. He came because he remembered us from the summer. During our August block party, we offered him a cold glass of lemonade while he was working next to the James 5:16 center. But this time, the situation was desperate. His girlfriend had thrown him out of their apt.- he was hungry and had nowhere to go. He began telling us the whole story.



She was an alcoholic and very abusive to him. She did not work and he supported her. Earlier this year he spent 6 months in jail because of false accusations she made against him. Afterwards, he got a job with a contractor who didn't pay him the wages he was due - he found out later that the contractor was a crack addict!! Friday night he went to the contractor's house with a knife to "collect" his money. "Lucky" for Tony, the man's wife said he was asleep.



Tony came to us at the end of his rope - no job, no home, no food, no money, nothing. In his darkness, he found BridgePoint Church. We invited him to be part our our group that evening. We encouraged him ,prayed for him and I led him back to the Lord. His grandparents are believers and at an early age Tony had accepted Christ as his Savior. I could see the group was moved by compassion to want to help Tony in some way. I was so proud of all of them!



At the end of the night, Rick Balbo and I were talking with Tony. Rick felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to ask Tony if he wanted to go back to North Carolina, his home where he was raised by his grandparents. Tony said yes so Rick offered to buy him a bus ticket. Wow! Rick didn't even know that Tony had told me out on the sidewalk he tried to get a ticket that day but he couldn't without the money!!



I gave him a bible and my phone number to call when he arrived in North Carolina. Rick and I drove Tony to the bus station and he left at 11:30PM. At 7:00 this evening we got a call from Tony who was at his grandparent's house letting us know he arrived safely. He even wanted me to talk to his grandfather, George Clyde. George said, "Thank you to the Highest for helping Tony". He invited anyone from our group to visit if we were ever in North Carolina!!

I prayed for Tony once more before we hung up.



We don't know what might have happened to Tony if we weren't there that Sunday evening. We don't know what plan the enemy had to destroy his life. But we know that God is all powerful and all knowing- God had plans that night - and He used BridgePoint Church to "connect this real person to the real God!"