Nolan's Ministry Update!!! (Nolan)

This happened last week...God is awesome!!!


Tuesday afternoon March 26th 2009…as of this day my efforts in finding out who owned the vacant lot behind my house have been in vain. I have been trying for months now to get in touch with the person listed as the owner just to call and get no answer. The address listed for this property is a church on Pearl St. across town…every time I go by to see if anyone is there, the place is vacant. It has been frustrating and I begin to wonder how long God is going to let this go.

I am supposed to be meeting Sam, my best friend in Dublin, for dinner this night. Before I am supposed to meet him, I decide that I’m going to go to the gym for a workout. I had a plan to get a workout in, shower, and meet him before the designated 7pm meal time… so that’s what I do.

As I drive up to my house on Prince St., my neighborhood bustling as usual, I pull into my driveway, park the car, get out, begin to walk up to my porch when I hear a loud man’s voice call out to me, “Hey you play basketball?”

I looked over across the street to see a face that I had never before seen in this neighborhood. Curious I answered the man “yeah, I used to…yeah I guess I still do”.

He then told me in a gruff voice to come over there…Having no idea what to expect from a man who is standing in a group of 4 other guys smoking and drinking Hennessey, I went. He begins to tell me about this basketball league he’s trying to put together for this summer and wants me to play in it. Thinking to myself that this might be a good idea for me to get to know some people and build relationships that I wouldn’t have otherwise, I agree to play and give him my cell phone number. The conversation then turns…and turns again…until I realize that I had to get out. He told me his name was Amil. He talked about everything from smoking weed to playing chess, this guy was all over the place. I excused myself from the conversation finally, went in and got ready to go meet Sam.

I went inside and quickly took a shower. Put my clothes on and got my stuff. When I picked up my cell phone I noticed 3 missed calls. Two calls were from a number I didn’t recognize and one was from my mom. So I passed the two calls from the unknown number off and called my mom back. Turning off the lights and locking the doors I called my mom back. While on the phone with her, I shut my door and walked towards my car…when I heard a voice from across the street yell out, “Why didn’t you answer my &*%$ call?”

A bit startled, I looked over to see that it was Amil who had said it. Thinking to myself I better explain, I told my mom I’d call her back and went across the street to explain. So I walked across the street explaining how I had been in the shower…that I didn’t ignore his call on purpose. I told him that I would save his number and not miss his call again…encouraging him to call me when he gets the basketball stuff in line. I then tried to get away telling him that I’m supposed to be meeting folks for dinner and that I was late. The conversation then quickly and divinely changed.

Amil asked me where I was going to be eating dinner and I told him that Sam and I were meeting two girls who were cooking us dinner at their house. He asked me who these girls were, to which I responded that they were just friends. The next question is where God stepped into the conversation (so to speak).

The next question was him asking me if I liked black girls. Caught off guard, I answered “well I guess, yea”.

He said, “well I’ve got some strippers…”. Thinking this wasn’t good, I quickly said that I don’t do strippers…I know now that he didn’t take that the way I meant it.

He said, “ you don’t have to #@$& them!”

Panicking I told him that what I meant was that I don’t patronize strippers, never have and I didn’t plan on compromising now.

“What kind of girls are you into?” he asked.

“Well I don’t care if they are black or white or whatever (thanks MJ)” I responded. “As long as they are Christians and they love Jesus.”

Realizing that he may have been out of line, he tried to change his tune a little bit. “You go to church?” He said.

“Yep. Every week.” I responded.

“Can I go with you sometime?”

“Definitely!” I said.

“Well if I go with you, you’ve got to go with me sometime.” Amil replied.

“Absolutely I will!” I began to sense that God was guiding this conversation now. So I got excited. I then asked him where he went to church. He told me that he had two churches that he went to…

“One up in Montezuma (about an hour from Dublin) and one across town on Pearl street”.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing!!! I quickly asked him if it was 220 Pearl street…the little one room church on the corner. He looked at me puzzled and surprised and said yes. I began to ramble off and try to tell him how I’ve been trying to get in touch with the pastor there because of the lot behind my house. I asked him how I contact the pastor to talk about this lot.

“Man that lot?” Pointing behind my house. “My wife’s family used to own that lot. There used to be a house there and when it burnt down they donated it to the church on Pearl.” He said that he could call his wife and get some more info on it.

If I have ever realized that God was working out tiny details to get things done this was the time. This wasn’t coincidence…God in his perfect plan put us here together for this reason.

We then walked back there and talked about the lot and what my plans were for it. I told him all about how I wanted clean it up and make it a safe place for the kids in the neighborhood to play. He opened up and started telling me his life story about how he used to sell drugs and carry guns. He went on to explain that if he had someone guiding him as a kid that he might not have gotten into the mess he’s in now. He said he thought he was at a crossroads in his life…that he wanted to do the right thing, but he felt like there were demons trying to trick him and leading him astray. He said that in light of that, he’s all for helping kids and would support me any way he could.

I then got to share illustrations from the bible about how God used people who had made horrible decisions in their past, but God was still able to use them. I shared with him stories about Moses, David, and Paul and encouraged him that God still wanted to use him…despite of his past.

We chit-chatted for a few more minutes on the vacant lot behind my house and then he asked me for a ride home. All in all, we were back there for about an hour.

As we got in the car and drove towards his house we both had a sense that God had been in control of our whole encounter. When we drove up into his driveway I asked him if I could pray for us. He agreed enthusiastically so I began to pray. During this prayer I was using his name, Amil, when he stopped me and said that Amil was his nickname for me to use his real name…Travis. So I did. The cool part is when I got done praying I thought that was all…but then he started praying. He prayed a rough around the edges sincere prayer that he understood that he wasn’t where he needed to be, but that God could somehow use him for good.

We have arrangements for him to call me when he gets back into town this week.

Praise God!!! He is in control of everything. That conversation might not have taken place unless everything was executed with perfect detail. From strippers to the prayer in the car…God worked everything out.

Praise his name!!

-Nolan