For guys like Victor and Mike

Why did He do it?

Why did He care?

Why did He endure?

Why did He notice?

Why did He not defend Himself?

Why did He accept the humiliation?

Why did He endure the Cross?

Why did He lay down His life?

Why did He return to this same group of people who had just crucified Him as the the Holy Spirit?

Why does He continue to be ever-vigilant?

Well...

For guys like Victor and Mike...

I met Victor last week...

I could not get into the apartment complex that I originally wanted to do outreach in, so I drove down the street to the neighborhood where, according to law enforcement, 70% of the narcotics traffic in Galveston County are either sold or pass through the run-down houses that line the streets.

I got out and started placing postcards on the doors of the homes...

I was not alone...

My Father-in-law, Greg, and my six year old son Gavin were with me...

The two of them took one side of the street and I took the other side...

I had no explanation for this, but I looked across the street and told Greg to go ahead and go down another street, and I would finish the one we were on by myself...

After I finished and was headed back, I saw a man walking toward me...

I slowed my pce inorder to intersect him before I turned down the other street...

As I introduced myself, Victor's eyes began to water...

He began to share his story with me...

Two degrees in Engineering and Mechanics...

Wife divorced him...

Took the kids...

and the house...

and the cars....

and Victor is now living on the streets...

I began to tell Him about the love of God...

and tears began to flow...

from both of our eyes...

and as I asked more questions, I discovered that Victor is a backslidden Pentecostal...

Needless to say, Greg and Gavin finished the other street while I talked with Victor...

When they walked up, my little six year old Gavin witnessed his daddy with an arm around a homeless man's shoulders, tears dropping to the pavement, praying in the middle of the street...

Why did Jesus do it?

For guys like Victor...

Meet Mike...

I met him today...

As I was finishing mowing the grass (for the first time since we moved in this house a couple of weeks ago)...

My neighbor came outside to empty her trash...

I looked at her and said, "Would you like me to cut your grass?"

What?!  Of course!  Huh??

So she goes back inside, and I mow her grass...

While I am finishing the trimming, a car pulls up and a young man gets out with his backpack over his shoulder...

--Enter Mike--

He looks at me with a befuddled look on his face...

Two questions are running through his head...

1.  Who is the potbellied guy in my front yard?

2.  Why is he mowing our grass?

I nodded and said hello, and he walks inside...

After a few minutes Mike comes out and asks if I would like a glass of water...

and we start talking...

Mike is a high school junior...

Wants to go to TSU when he graduates...

for a degree in music...

says he wants to produce recordings...

rap...

"Like them rappers be doin'"

I smiled and talked music for a few minutes...

And set Mike, Desmond, and their mom's infilling with the Holy Spirit as a personal goal over the next few weeks...

See, in all of our feverish attempts to build churches and community relations, we are in danger of forgetting why we have the Holy Spirit...

Why do we have it?

For guys like Victor and Mike...