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Is anyone crying for J. and J.?

I’m sat here with my heart messed up. Nothing out of the ordinary has happened, but I was just sat here, in a rare moment of time before rushing off to the next thing, thinking about this week and talking to God about two guys I met at Hope City these last few weeks. My heart is moved with the compassion of Jesus for these men. One I talked with at the table while he was eating his dinner one Monday. Time was so short, but he shared that he’d just got out of prison having served a long sentence, and his hope and desire was to restore contact with his children. I didn’t ask what he’d done time for. I don’t really care, but I could tell that the time in prison hadn’t hardened him as it does to some people. His eyes were full of gentleness and maybe a quiet sadness. Sadness over years lost and moments with his children he would never experience. Yet a gentle determination that maybe, just maybe, there was still some hope of building some kind of relationship with them.

The other one I encountered as he was getting coffee at another prayer meeting. He’d been clean for 2 days. As he shared about different things from his journey he told me that he’d reached rock bottom, to which I responded “but then there’s only one way to go and that’s up”. As we were sat in the prayer meeting some of the workers from the project we were at came over to him and gave him shoes and some new clothes. The next week I didn’t see him there. But I hope that he continues clean and going forward, and most of all that he finds Jesus who is the one who restores and brings hope and future.

My heart definitely carries a burden for the broken. As think of these two men, hardened by the life they’ve lived, I wonder if anyone is missing them and fighting for them? As much as I would like to get more involved in a practical way in helping out these guys and the many others in similar situations, I know that the most powerful battle being fought is the spiritual one. And by taking my stand in intercession I am changing lives and bringing light and life to this city.

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