Street Warriors of the Gospel

I spent three years or so doing street evangelism in Hollywood. God did
incredible things. Prostitutes saved. Addicts set free. Lives changed.
There are two stories that stand out right now...

The first is the story of a bumper sticker. Tim, at 6'7",(most of it
legs) was the tallest of our group. He needed a new car. I still
don't know where he put those legs when he was driving that little yellow
Capri. One of the people who heard and believed on Jesus had been a very
successful madam of some local parlor. One night, following God's
leading, she simply handed Tim a set of car keys...to a late model gold
Cadillac. More than enough room for Tim, his legs, and more than half a
dozen of us street warriors of the Gospel...and the bumper sticker
proudly/humbly proclaimed...GOD PROVIDES.

Then second is the story of a decision. Saturday night. There are
several of us standing(tracts in hand, Bibles in arm, smiles in
evidence) in front of a gay hang-out. A belligerant lost soul wearing
black leather and steel spikes loudly threatens to shoot any of us who
dared to still be there in 15 minutes time. And then he swaggers off
down the boulevard, presumably to get his gun. Fifteen minutes to
run...or to stand. How real is this Saviour we serve? What is this Faith
worth when faced with the prospect of pouring my blood out on the grimy
Hollywood pavement? Run and live to preach another day?...Fifteen
minutes to decide?...I needed less than one. Fifteen minutes later we
were all still there. The man with the gun never showed, but we were
ready, so ready, to die, if need be, for this Saviour, this Faith.

Daily I am called to make this same decision(on a smaller scale) to give
up what I want for what He wants. I like to think that I have more
successes than failures. (Living for Him, one moment, one decision at a
time, has often proven to be far more difficult than dying for Him.) But
the decision has NEVER been deeper or more real than when I stood on
Hollywood Boulevard with my life in my hands, like an offering to the
God of Heaven.