Deadliest Catch

It’s the 5th day in New Orleans and my head is spinning with all that we have done and seen! I could go on and on but I want to just talk about a part that has truly opened my eyes…the French Quarter (this is where Bourbon Street is located).

I want to begin by saying that I went through a tough season in my life, beginning at the tender age of  14 where I was  living a life giving into my fleshly desires. I did the whole party scene, and actually worked @ Bourbon Street in Jax for a while! You know how sometimes you don’t see a situation’s impact and clarity until it’s in hindsight? Well, I can honestly say that I was truly devestated walking down the streets of New Orleans, in what is considered one of the biggest party areas of this country. Why was I devestated? B/c as I looked around me all I saw were people, young and old…searching for some sort of fulfillment, even if it only lasted until they put their head on their pillow. Women outside of the clubs, dressed in hardly anything, trying to catch the bypassers to come and enjoy themselves. Little do they know that they are the bait and they just got hooked, and reeled in. Consider it the deadliest catch. More so then emptiness in the eyes of these people, you see an evil, a sense that they have lost all hope.

We walked these streets, praying. And I thanked God for unhooking me, and setting me on a solid foundation…one where I was no longer the bait …living for myself and doing all the things that this evil world seduces us to do…but now I can help catch those who are about to be pulled under, and also those who have sunk to the very bottom.

I read an interesting verse in 1 Peter 4:3-4, which says, “For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles-when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood or dissipation, speaking evil of you.”  *I can totally relate to these 2 verses, b/c I was once there. I once craved the darkness of this world, but please let me tell you that when you taste the lightness….God’s love, peace and joy….your entire aspect of life and purpose awakens! 1 Peter 4:7-8 says, “But the end of all things is at hand, therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins’.” 

Our purpose is to love others to the fullest, and to bring them to Christ. I was incapable of loving others with a pure heart while I was hooked…trapped in darkness. I was incapable of giving others the pure love and encouragement they needed, and thus bring them to Christ while I was living in the world….b/c I was living for myself and wanted what would benefit me.

So, I pray for all those who are hurting, lost, confused, broken, and searching. I pray that God softens their hearts so He may mold them into the figure He so wishes. I pray for other Christians to come alongside of them to dry their tears, pick them up, dust them off and show them compassionate love and encouragement in order for them to finish their race…their purpose. I pray God uses our team tonight as we go on our second prayer walk through the French Quarter. I pray God’s love and light so shines through us and upon us that it is so apparent to each person on these streets. I pray we have the opportunity to witness to the lost, to love the hurting, and give them hope. In Jesus Name. Please pray with us.

*Hilary*

~ by Celebration IMPACT global on June 26, 2009.