a l i v e & a w a k e

A Homeless Man on Street

Another Guest Blogger Paul.

I have had the privelege of meeting Paul and seeing the way God works in ourlives. More importantly he is capturing the Way God is meeting Him.Paul has the eyes to see Christ in the seeking and finding of life. He is just starting to put this story down in journal form and felt he could share it. It is encouraging me to have a heart to seek God's story evidencing in my own life. This is the first insightful journal from Paul;

Looking back on everything that I've accomplished has brought me great joy and pain. There is so much history that took place. A lot of that history took place when I lived in Calgary, for it is there I  truly believe God was speaking to me.

At the time I was homeless and lived on the streets, and having a christian background just opened my eyes to a lot of hurting and confused people. Although I was struggling with my own sins and troubles, at the time, God was still able to use me. I had a deep hurt seeing the different types of people just living their lives, some with the idea that there was nothing in life worth living for. There were others who, pushed and fought trying to regain some sort of life without the pain of addicition and the slavery of the streets.

Everywhere I looked I saw mass addiction to drugs, it was a means of escape for them. A way of forgetting the troubling past that haunted them day to day. Everyone had a different story to tell, and had a different history they carried with them. But apart from all the pain and selfish lives some people lived, there were good people.

I had flown to Calgary in hopes to attend Teen Challenge because of my drug addiction, but 3 days into the program I was kicked out. I was left next to a subway station with nothing but the clothes on my back. I knew no one and had no idea where I was going. It had to be the most frightening time in my life. All I could do was pray that God would lead me in the right direction and give me a sign. So I was on a train headed to no where, unsure of what was going to happen and still in shock. About 30 min in I saw a church off to the side, I stopped in and was given directions to a christian shelter named "The mustard Seed".

Upon my exit of the train I saw a man and a women having a smoke, I told them briefly what happened and needed help. They too were headed there, and it was those two people that taught me everything I needed to know and succeed on the streets. For one whole month they cared for me as if I was their own. You could say the woman was kinda my street mom. She was someone I could go to when the times where down.

Even when you think that you're alone and have no one to turn to, God has your back. He was watching mine, and it's because of his help I was able to accomplish a lot of ministry work within the months to come.