His name was Giuermo.
He was a dark hispanic, probably around the age of 55 with long white curly hair and eyes that could light up the night sky. His clothes were a bit soiled, but overall, it was in decent condition considering he had been living on the streets for a while now. His face multiplied in wrinkles when he smiled, the creases on his face more defined on the meat where his mouth and his cheekbones met, wrinkles also forming near the edges of his eyes. His face crinkled with excitement and his eyes twinkled with joy and his teeth sparkled with the secret of paradise whenever he smiled.
We had met him last week at skid row,to put it plainly, divinely. In short, we saw him walking down the street and since he was too far from us, we decided to get back in the car and chase him down because we felt led to talk to him. His initial reaction was one of surprise and mistrust,but when Brian ran after him with a sandwhich in his hand, Giuermo turned around and greeted us with a big smile. he ran to us and gave us a hug, elated that we had brought him food. We also gave him a sleeping bag and he instantly looked towards heaven and clasped his hands, thanking jesus over and over again. His insurmountable joy for having God provide the simplest things was overwhelming. Although he literally had nothing, he had everything in Christ; even his homeless situation did not hinder him from clapping and singing praises of jubilation and exultation to God.
We knew he was of the christian faith, and when we tried to talk to him, he could only reply back in Spanish and a few English words. Miraculously, we still understood what he was saying with his hand gestures and his few English words scattered here and there. After praying and imparting blessings onto him, we told him that next time we came to visit him we would try to learn more Spanish so that we could communicate with him.
yet he replied back with a response that was both surprising and touching.
he said,
"in Jesus, the only language is love. I love you guys."
wow. so simple, yet so profound and so true.
What Gieurmo had said struck a beautiful chord in my heart, as I knew that this simple truth was so real. Love is the only language that can bridge social classes, racial differences, and cultural distinctions. Love really is the only language that everyone, no matter what you are or where you came from, can understand. Love does not raise walls of distinction or emphasize differences in background, culture, or intellect, but instead love looks past differences and strives for commonality, blurring the lines and bridging the gaps that would cause man to separate. Love has no boundaries. Because love is also an action, when you show someone an act of kindness, it is understood and received and known as love.
In our case, our commonality is Jesus, who is Love incarnate, the I AM who IS love.
And Jesus is the one who came down to earth to be the ultimate mediator between God and man. He is the ultimate bridge builder who bridged the greatest gap. He is the one who made an eternal way for man to be able to reach god, to have unlimited access to the Holy of Holies, into the most intimate place with the Father now and forever more. There is nothing that can ever come in between God's love for us now, no height nor depth, nor angels nor demons, nor things in the past or in the future that can ever ever ever separate us from the love of God through Christ Jesus our Saviour.
wow... and surely Jesus' love has no boundaries. And because of Christ Jesus, the boundaries of culture and society are no longer in place, for we are all brothers and sisters in one body, in one Church, under one god. In Christ, we can look past all these physical boundaries and limitations and acknowledge each individual as they truly are-- a precious soul, God's cherished creation. For in Christ there is no longer Jew nor Gentile, male nor female.
And at the end of the age, ALL peoples from EVERY nation, tribe and tongue will worship god and we will all come together with one mind and one joy, having love as our centrality as we all worship our lord and Saviour Jesus!
Love came down and rescued me,
Love came down to set me free,
and now I am Yours, I am forever Yours.
“ ....I don’t care.... ill curse god as many times as I want to! Let Jesus die 5 more times on the cross... and die 5 times again! Keep dying!”
“No, no don’t say that, you don’t want to keep crucifying Christ with your sin... please! just repent, god will forgive you. Lord...lord! have mercy Jesus have mercy!”
“No I don’t care about Jesus! Look at my eyes, do you see God in them?? That’s right... because I don’t worship God. I worship Satan. He protects me and he keeps me alive.”
“Satan wont help you, he’ll only hurt you... that’s a lie! God is the one giving you the grace to live each day.”
“God doesn’t give me grace, the demons give me grace. You don’t know how many demons I have living inside of me. woman, you don’t know what ive been through. Ive been raped twice, abused, beaten, mistreated my whole life, and been livin on these damn streets for years! youll never know what its like.” * lifts up her shirt to show us her abuse marks on her stomach*
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at that moment I realized—wow, she’s right. I really don’t know what its like... lord.... oh god.... please help me understand lord. my heart completely broke because I realized how much emotional trauma sherrie had to endure. Not having a place to live and having to sleep out in the streets with no shelter or comfort every day is bad enough, but being mistreated and abused on top of all the other junk, and being manipulated against her own will... must be so painful. These homeless people aren’t just home less—they are emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually afflicted severely. I cant even imagine what its like to be tormented by demons... but the whole atmosphere of skidrow reeks of them... at skidrow, truly you begin to realize how much Satan is like a roaring lion, preying upon people to devour. he walks the streets of skid row as if he owns them... skid row is his territory.
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Right then we saw the urgency of her situation and all encircled around her to pray to cast out any demons that were inside of her and she began resisting us and fighting god. but after 1 minute of prayer she completely broke down and started crying on her knees. The hard calluses of her heart had shattered and she realized not only how broken she was, but how great her need for redemption was.
Tears were streaming down her face like a river.
and god told me ,
“she just wants to be loved”
and my heart felt so overwhelmed, because I began to feel the excruciating emptiness that gnaws inside of her heart every night she needs to sleep on the streets, the pain she experiences for wanting to be loved but feeling unworthy of true love and respect—
and so I came to her and I hugged her.
“Sweetie, you know you don’t have to live like this. those demons, theyre tormenting you. they are not helping you at all, and this is why you feel so oppressed because you weren’t made for satan.”
she looked at me, still with tears in her eyes but her eyes were softer now . “youre right...they are tormenting me...”
“you were made by god and for god. the holy god is supposed to live inside of you, and you are supposed to be a holy temple for god. not for demons. they don’t belong in you, you know that? and the God that made you, Jesus... he loves you. he loves you, and that’s why he created you... so that you could experience his love”
“he loves me...?”
amy then took her hand and said,
“shout jesus is lord! shout jesus is lord! confess that he is king!”
and sherrie all of a sudden said,
“Jesus is Lord! Jesus is Lord! Jesus, I love you!”
and she looked at us and asked, “ does this mean that... im saved?”
“yes, if you have accepted jesus in your heart and you believe in Him, then you are saved!”
“ I am? I am saved!! I am saved! when I said that, there was such a burst of joy in my heart that ive never felt before... the pain is gone... just so much joy... I am saved!”
and she began to cry and cry and hugged each of us and kissed us, telling us that she loved us.
praise god! this is our king! our god is mighty to save! I cannot express the overwhelming joy I felt seeing Sherrie come to the lord.
Jesus. this is the reason why I live. to see your kingdom come, to see your will be done, to see your glory revealed. Jesus. there is nothing else id rather do, and no place id rather be—than to know you and to make you known.
wow.... this is the life. this is truly life in its abundance-- to know you deeper and deeper lord and to make you known to the ends of the earth, all the days of my life!
