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You will make your prayer to Him,
He will hear you, Job 22:27a NKJV
The Defenders
The six or seven men were all large, burly, middle-aged, and homeless. I am a 93 pound, 5 foot 2 inch grandmother in her 70s. The men met over a former burn barrel covered with a sheet of plywood to form a makeshift card table. They stood around it playing cards every week that I went to the park to share Jesus. Without fail, weekly, I would see them there. While they declined my offers of prayer, we had a nodding acquaintance and sometimes called hello.
One day, my ministry partner and I were handing out sheets of Bible verses as we normally did to those homeless gathered about the park benches.
I walked past the card players, stopped, and said, “Deal me in…” then quickly shuffled out several sheets of verses for their table, as they laughed and accepted them.
The next week, they chatted a bit more than usual. I put a small pile of hard candies in the middle of their table along with the Bible verse sheets. They thanked us and talked a while.
Time passed. One day, my ministry partner dropped me off while he went to get supplies. I visited with the many homeless there as usual. The men at cards were fairly nearby but well off the path that I was on that day.
Suddenly, a young man who was a stranger to me walked up to me briskly, and said mockingly, “Oh, I bet you’re going to talk to me about Jesus…”
Immediately, all the card-playing men appeared at my side and loudly announced to him,
“Yes! She is!…Do you have a problem with that?!”
The young man left quickly and without a word.
My rescuers immediately headed back to their card game.
I approached their table. “Thank you, gentlemen,” I said quietly and shook their hands one by one. I turned to leave.
“Do you still do that prayer thing?” the ringleader asked.
“I do,” I said.
“I could use a prayer today,” he said, smiled and continued, “…maybe a few of us could.”
We all prayed together for the first time that day…and weekly thereafter.
God brought a miracle from what one man intended as an insult.
How blessed I was to be in the midst of it.