The Story of the Church Break In and Prayer Requests (Part 2)

One month had passed and we thought that our situation involving the drugs was behind us. The dealers had not returned to the church , no one had shown up at our house to ask Nate what he had done with the drugs, and we had seen the boy that we thought was involved around town. He seemed fine although he was acting very distant towards everyone in the church body. We were pretty sure we were in the clear, but this past Saturday we found out we were wrong. Once again Nate and the guys showed up at the church building to set up for Surf School and once again it was obvious that the church had been broken into as soon as the doors were opened. All of our stuff had been pulled out and gone through and there were knives all over the place. It looked like it was the same person returning to look for the drugs.

The GOOD news was that there were no drugs left this time, the BAD news is they took Nate’s guitar - probably so they could sell it and pay for the drugs that we threw away. Nathan was SO bummed, not just because it was a very nice guitar and he needs it for worship but because it had belonged to Nate’s dad and it was the only sentimental thing that Nate had ever owned. It was something that Nate had hoped to pass on to his kids one day. While Nate was super sad about the loss of his guitar he said that he would rather lose a guitar so that the boy could pay back the money lost on the drugs than see him get hurt… or worse.

We have a few different things that our prayer warriors can be praying for. The obvious one would be that the Lord would do a miracle and have the boy return the guitar, but the far greater prayer request is that we would be given wisdom in how to reach these boys for Jesus.

The boy that we are thinking is involved is 15 years old and has had a very difficult life. His mom is dead and his dad is a drunk who is so lazy he will not even fill out the paperwork to give his son a chance to go to school. We have seen this boy spend nights sleeping on the street and we have seen him dirty and hungry. We have had a relationship with him for the past three and a half years through Surf School, English Class, church, and just spending time with him. I remember when he prayed the sinner’s prayer after watching the Jesus Movie, we had high hopes that he would stay away from a life of drugs and gangs but sadly it doesn’t look like he is making good choices. It is hard when he is not in school and has way too much time on his hands.

Our heart’s desire is to reach these boys BEFORE they fall into this lifestyle, perhaps through sports or an after school program, but we can not do it by ourselves. We have people in the church body who share our heart and would like to have more opportunities to reach our community but on the practical side of it we lack the resources and the space. Please be praying that the Lord gives us the provision, the wisdom and the direction in what to do from here and how to go about doing it. We want to make sure that everything that we do is in HIS will and in HIS time.
We thank you all for your prayers, and we look forward to seeing the work that the LORD is going to do.