As I listen to my favorite song by Chris Tomlin, “God of This City”, I reflect on the day God placed me in downtown Springfield, MO. It was on Dec 12, 2009 that God broke my heart for the lost and broken. He brought Michael B. Free to me and as God allowed me to bless Michael, He allowed Michael to bless me as well.
It was my last weekend in Springfield and I had set the whole day aside from my studying from finals because I felt God drawing me to pray from 10am to 10pm in the square of the city. A few of my friends joined me. We began praying that God would move in the city and lives would be changed. We didn’t expect to see anything come of it that very day. A drunk, homeless man interrupted me at about 10:30. He told me his name was Michael. We talked for a while and around noon I started getting discouraged. Here my friends and I were trying to pray and this guy Michael wouldn’t leave us alone. He just kept telling us his life story. So I began complaining to God about it. Then God told me something I will never forget. He said “Jesse, I brought you here for you to show this city my heart. Michael IS Springfield.”
Every village we enter here in India is the same way as Springfield. There are people everywhere desperate for a change. God has brought our team here to be the light. We have been here for almost a full week and my eyes have been opened more than I could imagine. It’s amazing to see that God’s love is unfailing and it reaches to the ends of the earth. For one week, we have literally been the hands and feet of God. And this is just the beginning.
So, that was my lesson learned thus far. Lol. Here is a little bit about what we’ve been up to this week.
We arrived Sunday morning in Hyderabad around five. A man named Raju picked us up from the airport. He is the guy who has been driving us around all week; incredibly fun to be around. From there we drove six hours southeast to Ongole. We are staying in the guest apartment on the top floor of ICM headquarters. We are truly blessed with the living conditions. ICM (Indian Christian Ministries) is the organization we are working with while we are here. James and his wife Sarah are the ones who run it. Monday morning we woke up and went to an orphanage called Victory House. We went to different orphanages over the next few days and met the children, who we all have fallen in love with. On Wednesday we starting going throughout villages and going house to house with the pastors to pray for people. At night we have been going to different churches and two of us preach each night. The people here are so generous to us. They open up their homes to us to have lunch, eat a snack, or drink tea with them. Today we went shopping in the city. We all had a blast with that. Haha.
I want to thank everyone for their continued prayers. They mean the world to me.
God Bless,
Jesse R Herndon
Prayer Request:
Some of you know that I have been considering different options for this fall as far as what God would have me to do. So here is an update on that: Although I still have absolutely no idea what God wants me to do, a door has already opened up for me in Hyderabad. At this time, I can’t really go into details about it. But please be in prayer about that.
Also pray that we will have continued strength. We have been going and going and get pretty wore out throughout the week.
P.S. Thanks Lisa for playing that song. J
