I was walking on 16th street downtown Denver tonight, camera in hand, with the 16 Day student ready to capture some shots of them doing different ministry outreaches around the city when I hear this voice behind me “hey man could you take my picture for me?” I thought to myself that this is probably a drunk guy messing with me but instead it was this veteran who wanted to share his story. Little did we know how big this moment would turn into for both Jeff and I. Jeff is a Veteran who has served in Afghanistan for 4 terms and watched friends die, had to things which still gives him nightmares and brings tears to his eyes, got shot in the leg, and has to deal with everything war does to a man on top of that. He deals with PTSD and being Bipolar, having Dyslexia and on top of that he is managing a broken neck, that he got recently, and is trying to get to his mom in Florida that he hasn’t seen in 5-6 years. Despite all that he is going through he still has a smile on his face. Actually the first thing he told me after asking me to take his picture was this “hey whatever you do make sure to smile every day so that you can make someone else smile and help make this city a better place” he would tell everyone he could that same thing as they passed him on the street. He was super grateful that I would stop and listen to him and actually care about him. I was just doing what God has called us all to do, love people. He wanted me to share this though about him and many others on the streets. I don’t know how accurate this statement is but the guy that was with him said about 80% of the homeless people here on the streets are veterans. apparently the system there doesn’t really do much if anything for our veterans and so many of them end up out on the streets with nothing. He wants to raise awareness of this that something might be done. He carries this american flag with him wherever he goes. his love for his country is inspiring and made me a little more proud of my country as well and gave me so much more insight and respect for our men and women that risk everything day and day out and to find out that they have to continue fighting for their lives once they get back state side it breaks my heart and that should never happen. We need to make sure our soldiers are taken care of as much once they get back and not only when they are overseas. Even if it simply you thanking them for their service. The first thing I did when I saw he was a veteran was to thank him for his service and he then went on to say that hardly anyone has ever told him that, that blow my mind. So even that small act can be a huge encouragement and blessing to them and it lets them know they are not forgotten. I promised i’d share that so there it is I know there is a lot of things being done for our service men and women in places but there is still a huge need that needs to be met. This is where the story gets really awesome. he told me that someone asked him why he is always smiling and he laughed and said “I don’t care how crazy I sound but I find my strength in God. I make it a priority to read a chapter a day from the bible and that is why I can smile each and every day!” we began to talk about God and I felt led to pray over him and he got super excited when I asked if i could. I began and almost immediately began to cry my heart began to break for this man and everything he has gone through. I began to pray for emotional healing for all the things he has had to deal with in war I prayed over his body for physical healing that his neck would be healed and these disorders he has would be healed as well he soon was crying as well and as I was closing up he began praying over me and speaking truth and life into me as he prayed. I felt so honored that this man would pray for me. I will never forget that moment as long as I live. we continued to talk about life, God, and random things he then pulled me a side and told me something he has only told one other guy, He said while back he came to this moment where he fell on his knees and told God that he has always been a warrior but today I am going to be a warrior for God and that Satan has nothing on us now. So that is why he smiles all the time and why he believes he is there on the streets. I encouraged him to share that more freely and to live into that calling as a soldier/warrior for God more fully. before we parted ways he grabbed my arm as they do in the movie “Gladiator” and said this his how true brothers greet and then I went on to say a quote from the movie that goes a long with the embrace “strength and honor” which he really thought was cool and thanked me for that. I then said a blessing over him and we parted way. Later this evening I observed him engaging with people and asking them what he asked me to do, “just smile so that you will cause someone else to smile so that we can make this a better place!”
Never had I seen such a vivid and clear example of God and His love then tonight with Jeff. I learned so much from him about what it looks like to love people, be bold in the faith, and live a devoted life to God. A moment that I felt like I might get to minister to this man turned into not only that but this many ministering and blessing me in a huge way. Remember guys just smile and see what happens.
thanks for reading you have been prayed for!
PS: sorry for the bad rambling, grammar, and spelling of this blog post its late but had to get it up before I head out in the morning with the 16 days students up into the mountains for a few days.
Journeys of Relentless Warrior 