The Sleeping Boyfriend

As Stephen and I turned the corner we noticed them immediately. She was small and standing, he was made of muscle and fully laid out on the sidewalk asleep.

We approached quickly ready to offer help. There were two other guys standing alongside her. As it turned out, they’d stopped to help and had been with her for two hours while her boyfriend slept it off on the pavement below. His muscled arms were as big as my thighs, and he did not want to move. The ironic thing is that they were only about a 5 minute walk from their hotel. Stephen and I decided to call the center to get someone to bring the wheel chair down. We figured if we could lift him into the chair, we could wheel him back.  Within 10 minutes Lucy and Jaime showed up, and we made our first of many attempts to lift the sleeping boyfriend into the wheelchair. Remember those muscles I mentioned earlier? Well anytime we tried to lift him, he would get angry and just start swinging out to hit whoever was disturbing his sleep…lashing out at the very hands that were there to help. While Steven and the group tried to lift him, I maneuvered the wheelchair and prayed. After our fifth attempt he went into a deep sleep (snoring included) and at that point we tried again with success! Once we got him in to the chair, we had him back in his room and in bed within 10 minutes without any more fight from him.

The guys who stopped to help decided they wanted to see the situation through, so they walked back to the hotel with us. Along the way one of them said to me that before we’d showed up, he’d been thinking that he wished there were people in Ibiza whose job it was to help people…and then of course we showed up! I explained to him how amazing it was that we'd run into them, since they were not along our normal route. We’d only ended up on that particular street because we'd helped someone else back to a different hotel in the area. Every night in the prayer room we pray that God would send us into the situations he wants us in. So I’d say there was a little divine leading at work.

Most nights when I go home I end up reflecting on the conversations and situations I've found myself in that night. What is God teaching me in the situations he puts me in? Tonight was a reminder that the impossible is possible! After our third attempt to get “the sleeping boyfriend” in the chair, I started to get a little discouraged. Here’s this huge guy who starts throwing punches anytime we tried to move him…how does one deal with that?! But in the end a little prayer and a little perseverance won out. It’s a reminder not to give up on the tough situations in my own life. I’m also reminded AGAIN that prayer works. When we pray we’re speaking to God our father who cares about us and the situations we find ourselves in. I think God not only answered our prayers last night, but he also answered the prayers of a frustrated guy who'd stopped to help a stranger on the streets. His whispered wish was answered by a God whose watching.

I'm still raising money to cover my expenses for the summer. If you'd like to donate Click Here 

Never Off the Clock

Last week I was on my way home after a night out on the streets when God decided to teach me a lesson.

 It was about 5 am and Becky and I were walking home from the west end when we came upon a group of lost women. Turns out they were all in Ibiza for a bachelorette/Hen party. It was their first night on the island and they did what most excited tourists in Ibiza do. They go directly from the airport to their hotel, drop off their bags and head straight out for their first night on the town. The problem comes later when they need to find their way back to their hotel. None of them could remember where it was, and from the sounds of it the group had been wandering around for about an hour. Becky and I immediately recognized the name of their hotel, and within 15 minutes managed to walk them back safely.

For us on the streets we work from 11:30 pm – 5 am and when 5 o’clock rolls around sometimes I’m tired and ready to go to bed. I think the lesson God was teaching me, is that kindness and mercy never get to clock out. If I’m trying to be like Christ, that’s a 24-7 kind of aspiration. It also challenged me as I start to think about going back to Las Vegas. When I’m on mission I’m in the mindset to reach out to people. But shouldn't that always be my mindset?  The truth is when I’m at home, and I’m running errands I've got my blinders on and I don’t let anything get in my way. I really want to go home expecting God to surround me with opportunities to share his love and kindness with people. I really want to live my entire life like that, no matter where God takes me! 

Lesson learned :)

New

As I write this it's almost 7 am, and I am still awake. We usually finish our street work at 5 in the morning, but not tonight. Tonight was full of opportunities for us to help people get home safely...so that's what we did. 

On my way home, I took the above picture as the sun was rising. With the sun, came the light, and as I made my way through the streets,  I saw the effects of the night before. Empty bottles, broken glass and trash carelessly tossed in the street. It makes me sad, but I  also know that within a few hours the streets will be cleaned and readied for another night of mayhem. 

It's a new day, and with that God reminds me of this verse: 

"The faithful love of the Lord never ends. His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies are new every morning." - Lamentations 3:22-23

God not only reminds us that his mercy never ceases, but he also gives us a landmark to be reminded of that. With each new day may we be filled with a sense of hope as we remember God's faithfulness towards us. God's mercy never run out. They are never tired or strained. They never grow stale.

 Each morning they are new.

With those words in my head and a new day beginning right before my eyes I was suddenly filled with hope. Hope for myself and for this place and all the people in it. 

God isn't done with us yet! 

Hello June!

In just a few short days it will be June and the season will be in full swing. Every night I go out on the streets it feels a little busier & a bit crazier! The Space nightclub opening was on Sunday the 25th, and that usually signifies the "official" beginning of the Ibiza summer season.

On Monday our first short-term team arrives and I'm super excited. The teams come from churches all over Europe (and sometimes the States) to help in the work we do. I love it for several reason...I love meeting new people, and adding 7-8 people in the prayer room makes a HUGE difference! It's also amazing to watch people experience Ibiza and the West End for the first time.

I've had so many great interactions and conversations with people on the streets so far this season. My nights have been full of prayers and chances to help people get home safely.

Can't wait to see what's coming next!

Hitting the Streets...

It´s mid May and we have been going out into the streets of the West End for a few weeks now. We´re out at night from 11:30 pm until 5:00 am (sometimes later), and our goal is to help people. Sometimes that means listening, or praying, and other times that means sitting with them in their vomit because they´ve drunk a little too much. It´s still early on in the Ibiza season, but already things have began to kick-off!

 Last night I was out on the streets with Becky when we ran into two workers who we´d met briefly a few days before. Almost instantly the conversation turned to God, and I was amazed as I got a chance to share my testimony with one of them. I love having chats about God in the West End, and this was a good one! One of the worker´s who I´ll call Trevor was full of questions, and seemed to have a genuine curiosity about God and Christianity. We chatted for a while, and for every question I answered he had ten more. We parted ways before we were able to answer all the deep questions of the universe, but I know that God is doing something in his heart. Since he´s a worker, I´ll see him again, and the chat will continue.

I feel like this season so far has been full of small deep moments where people are pouring out their hearts and asking great questions about God. I love it when people are full of questions, because to me it´s a sign that they´re thinking about God. They´re searching for an understanding of who he is and what that means for their lives. Our prayer is that those questions will lead them to salvation.

 I once heard a pastor say that the truth can stand up to questioning. We believe that God is truth and that
 he´s big enough for all our questions!

It's That Time Again...

Time for another of my monthly newsletter's. This month we've gone for the video update again, so CLICK HERE and check it out!

Here We Go!

It's May 1st which means opening day for us here at 24-7 Ibiza. Today our worker's center opens, and tonight will be out first night out on the streets for the season.

Today I was reading in John, when this verse caught my eye:

"So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was FULL of UNFAILING LOVE and FAITHFULNESS. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son." (John 1:14)

The word full really stuck out to me as I was reading, and it excites me that it's there. Jesus didn't just come with a little unfailing love...no he was full of it! The bible is full of verses that document God's unfailing love towards us, and in 1 John 4:8 we learn that "God is Love".

As I sat and thought about the fact that God came equipped with a vast amount of love for us, it made me realize that if God truly is love, then everything he does he does out of LOVE. I want to strive to do that as well. I want to be full of God's unfailing love, and in all that I do I want to reflect that to people. Not only this summer, but throughout every area of my life.

I'll be praying that God reminds me of that verse when it's 4am and I'm sitting with someone in the west end who's too drunk to tell me what hotel their staying at. And when I get to give out bibles, or pray for people this season, Let it all be done in LOVE!