Dangerous Men

It was a complete privilege to serve alongside men whose lives were so evidently transformed by God. Most of the staff of the Bowery Mission family had gone through the 6-month recovery program at the Bowery and were offered jobs upon completion.

I say it was a privilege because it was so clear in the way they worked, the way they spoke to us, and the way they served that God had done some tremendous work in their lives. They were examples to me of what it looks like to point everything back to God for His glory.

One of the things that really struck me was the way Scripture permeated whatever they said. They constantly helped us focus on the joy we find in God, His provisions, and His abundance of mercies, love and grace. Everything we did was covered in prayers and praise towards God and His goodness.

In the context of an anecdote he was sharing with us, Jon Walton told us how dangerous it was for a man who only had the Bible to read and read it as if every word were true. That's what I feel like the staff at the Bowery Mission are - dangerous men - because they live each day waking up in order to read God's Word, live in obedience as if every word were true, and give God all the praise and glory.

It's powerful and mesmerizing to be in the presence of people like that, who are tremendously in tune with God. And it's amazing to observe that I didn't have to know what these men's lives looked like beforehand in order to experience and witness the fruit of God's work.

It's motivated me to figure out a way to start memorizing Scriptures again. I've always told myself and others that our lives would look completely different if we actually lived out everything we said we believed in the Bible. The men at the Bowery Mission are living proof of that change. I feel like the huge changes in my life over the past three or four years only scratch the surface to what it looks like to be transformed by the Holy Spirit. I can only begin to imagine how my life would be radically changed if I learned to drench myself in God's powerful Word.