A couple of weeks ago, FCA leadership and the Missions team went up to Chicago to start some planning for our spring break mission trip. When we go back in the spring, we will have around 350-400 college students giving up their spring break to serve the city of Chicago. We were told going into this trip that it was going to be a lot of planning and meeting with ministries. I think I speak for most of the team when I say that I was not expecting Antoine to walk into the picture.
We were on our way to a meeting that ended up getting cancelled, so we decided to run to the gas station and get some gas while we were waiting on the rest of the team to get done with their meetings. The first gas station was closed so we used the trusty gps to find another one close by. As Evan was pumping gas, 16 yr. old Antoine walked up and asked if he could wash our windows for food. A few of us went over to McDonalds across the street and got him some chicken nuggets and fries. Evan had been talking to him while we were gone and when we gave him the food, he said he wanted to save it to share with his little brothers when he got back. We continued talking to him about his family and began asking questions like “who do you think God is?” We ended up taking him to the grocery store to get a gift card that he could use to buy his family more groceries. He had said that he had a small Bible (more than likely one of those small new testament plus psalms KJV Bibles), but he didn’t read it because he didn’t understand it. We began explaining to him that once you accept Christ, your receive His Spirit that will guide you and help you to understand it better. We also gave him a Bible with a translation that is easier to read. We read him Romans 6:23 that says “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” We then elaborated on what that free gift was and what that meant for us.
He asked us if we were going to pray with him before we left like we had said, then he looked up at us and told us that he wanted the Spirit in him, he wanted to be able to understand. So right in the middle of a downtown Chicago parking garage, we prayed for Antoine and then got to listen to a sincere prayer to the Lord God from a 16 year old asking for forgiveness and guidance from the Spirit to help him live for Him.
God is already at work in Chicago! Be praying for hearts and lives to be changed in Chicago, not just for the hundreds of Clemson students that are going, but for the people we will be in contact with. Let’s not stop at one, live it out, live it out boldly!
“Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” 1 John 2:6
