Grace Vineyard Christian Fellowship

I parked my van under these white sneakers and unloaded groceries for a family in need. My fifth grade friend ran to help me. He wasn't the only one to greet me. The resident drug dealer approached me too. The sneakers hanging from the wire is a code dealers give their customers. White sneakers, in this case, advertised meth-amphetamine.

The street-wise fifth grader saw what was going on and informed the dealer, "That's the church lady!" Haha. I've been called worse :-)

I went up the stairs to the apartment with grocery bags in my arms and the dealer stayed behind with my young friend. This ticked me off immensely. I was angry. Angry that kids have to be surrounded by drugs and gangs and dealers. And all this anger, maybe a little hatred too, was directed at the dealer below.

I delivered the groceries and had a nice talk with the dad of the family. When I got back down the stairs, dad shouted down, "Hey, God has rescued me from a lot of bad situations."

I looked up and asked him if he ever heard the story of Jesus walking on the water. Peter tripped out when he saw Jesus, thinking He was a ghost. Then he said, "If that's really you, let me come out too." Jesus said, "Well, come on then!"

And Peter stepped out of the boat and with his eyes focused on Jesus he began walking on water too.

Then Peter started freaking out. The winds were howling, waves were crashing. He got scared and he started to sink.

Peter cried out my favorite prayer in the Bible, "Jesus, save me!" Peter didn't have time to get religious or wordy. His cry came from the heart in a time of desperation.

And immediately Jesus reached out and rescued him.

I assured the dad I spoke with that Jesus would rescue us from whatever mess we are sinking in.

"Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:13)

Good news.

It wasn't until later that night, when I was finally still and quiet, that I realized God had arranged for that drug dealer to be there, listening to the whole story. I was struck with an incredible sense of God's love for this young man and His desire to rescue him from the mess he was sinking in. My heart softened and instead of bitterness, I was filled with Hope. 

C. Darr