Pure

This is very long, but I had to write it...


"Jesus LOVES you and is very POWERFUL!" This is a qoute, written simply with an ink pen, the lines etched over and over into the old worn out back pack of a man named Earl. Something in me changed as I read this, like a hard shell melting away, and at the same time something inside me jolting to life that has been shut off for longer than I care to remember. Actually I can't tell you when that shut off inside me. In fact I don't know what this thing is...I'll try my best to explain the simple words of Earl.
I met Earl some time ago. All I saw was the top of his head, his face buried in his hands. I watched this older man for some time, trying to discern, to know what the Lord was doing in his life. I came up with little. I will tell you why later. As the evening went on I finally aproached the weary man. Placing my hand gently on his shoulder, I asked Him if there was anything I could do for Him. To save this story some time all I will say is he shared very little, but just continually said that God would take care of him. At the time he was homeless, without a job, and with no friend or family to turn to, yet he trusted.
His testimony was amazing. He had been saved in prison some time ago. All he had in his cell was the book of Matthew that someone had brought to him. He read it and one verse stuck out to him: "seek first the kingdom and His righteousness and the rest of these things will be granted to you as well." Soon he was out of prison and had two questions: where is this kingdom at, and where is this righteousness? He asked tons of people, truly and simply seeking the things Jesus told him to seek. He says that after a great deal of asking an searching, he learned that "The kingdom is within me...and Jesus is my righteousness." as quoted by Earl, even speaking of the memory years later seemed to bring a humble love for Jesus back to his soul. With Earl it isn't
doctrine or theology, it's simply truth and he let's that truth speak love.
The story goes on, we hooked him up with a one night apartment at the luxurious JCI Rentals (the Brickleys apartments), some pizza from my fridge, and few cold sodas, and an old Bible from my back seat. Very little in our eyes, but I have never seen a man more thankful in my life. As we left the cold empty apartment, he stopped us, placed his hands on Spencer and I's shoulders, and prayed a powerful prayer for us.
Next time I saw Earl he had his own apartment at JCI. He had went to Pizza Hut and asked if there was anything he could do. All they had an opening for was dishes and cleaning, in which he replied, "I'm your guy!". He volunteers at Salvation Army in which he just gets a meal for a few hours of work. He started going to the Nazerene church, and immediately volunteered to clean and do maintnance weekly. He made cards with his name and number, writing scriptures on the back, which he just hands out randomly. I still have mine in my truck, daily reminding me to take up my armor in Ephesians 6. He bought an old beat up bicycle in which he wobbly rides everywhere he goes, rain or shine. Whenever I see Earl we converse and his true and simple care always seems to bring rest. As we finish our conversations, he always walks away and shouts "THANK YOU JESUS!" with power and authority, because he really means it. There are few I've ever known that are like Earl. Some may look at his story as sad, but actually I don't. I admire Earl greatly.
You see, Earl is pure. He doesn't do the things he does for selfish gain. He is fully happy no matter where he is. He doesn't need more and he lives his life accordingly. He doesn't use his godliness to look good or impress, he just wants people to know him. He truly cries out to God in prayer for people, and not out of conviction letting out a ten second prayer for someone like I do. God is not his routine, or his way of doing things, or his obligation, God seems to truly be life to him. God is not his way of getting things, God is his one thing. I believe I didn't get a word for Earl when I met him, because he didn't need one. He didn't need to hear the specific will of God to trust Him, he just simply trusts Him because he knows Him. Earl is a fool, a failure, and one to be pitied in the world's eyes, yet I've never met man more joy filled than him. I watched Earl ride up on his bike this week, rain pouring down, bike wobbling the whole way, barely moving along, trying to avoid the potholes so he could come home and sit in his cold apartment. Even I, who thinks that I understand the ways of God, pity this man, wish better for him, wish he had more, but I stop myself. Why does he need more? He is where God has him. He is changing lives everywhere he goes, and he has no clue he us doing it! He shares Jesus with purity and true love at Pizza Hut, Salvation Army, church, at JCI, a place crawling with sadness and dispair. Who better for God to send in there than Earl- the simple and the true. I'm even tempted to get him to come to New Life, so he can be a part of "the big thing in the city". How selfish of me! How hypocritical! Earl doesn't need to be part of a big thing, he just wants Jesus. Earl is the opposite of me in so many ways.
When I look at the rough writing on his backpack, I am moved with power. Earl did not write that because he was told to, or because it's the right thing to do, or to look good, or to feel good. I know the only reason Earl wrote this was because he meant it, and reading these most simple words from someone who was real, not fake, not made to be, but someone real,
it just melted me...

Please stay simple and pure, just know Jesus, nothing else, just know Him and it is enough, and always remember...

Jesus LOVES you, and is very POWERFUL!!!