Life on £25 a week, a prayer and a bag of Chips..

I met Kev (name changed) this Friday lunch time as we were out on the streets of Derby. Kev had recently come out of prison and began to share his story with me. Born into a single parent family in Glossop he was raised in a home where he made it to school 3 out of 5 days a week and his special needs were never really picked up on. He said as I gave him a New Testament that he had read a book once, but hadn't bothered since. He told me that the place he had been living in was rat infested so he had to leave and was now living in Allenton. He had been sent to prison because one day the voices in his head and the anger got too much and he hit 3 people in a fit of rage.

At present he was living in a NACRO shared house and getting by each week on £25 a week. He told me where you can buy packets of Noodles for 8p a packet so you can eat each day.
I asked him what he dreamed of being one day. "A forklift driver" he replied, "I just want to make enough to live" he went on to say.
I realised he had barely eaten in the last two days so I went and bought him lunch. Do you ever pray I asked him. "Why?" he replied " is anyone listening". So I went on to tell Him how God feels about the poor and the lonely and said I would pray with him that God would intervene in his life.
At 21 Kev with a prison sentence behind him he is pretty well destined to a life of poverty, petty crime and if things go badly for him in Allenton the Heroin dealers will get to him one day. From there he will join the 2000 Heroin addicts or 10,000 alcoholics that have lost hope and numb the pain of the inner voice of dispair in Derby.

So I held his arm and prayed, I prayed about the inner fear he felt, the hopelesness, the job situation, relationships in his family.......... However the moment I gave him a bag of Chips it seemed as though the prayer connected. "Why would you do that for me?" he asked. My answer seemed so cheesy but I meant it. "Because I really do believe that If Jesus was here now this is what he would do" I replied.
Across our city and our nation are thousands of Kevs that need someone to step into their life and connect heaven to the Hell that is their life.

I spoke this week with a director of a BBC1 programme and she shared with me some of her opinions on Christianity. It was facinating to hear how she felt about so many things it was a truly pleasent hour in St Arbucks. She too had met a few Kevs, they're everywhere. She was asking the God question as well, I encouraged her to go on an Alpha course and get some answers to her questions.
In both these cases the same prayer filled my mind "God would you meet them where they are and reveal to them who you are?"

Rich or poor we all need to know that there is a God who meets us at our point of need.

Stories of Hope from Derby's Streets

This past weekend we had a visit from the High Sherriff of Derbyshire Sir Henry Evry. He has been so supportve of the work of Derby Street Pastors, so keep looking in Derbyshire life magazine for an article that could be coming soon. We also had a phone call from BBC1's One Show they are proposing doing a short piece on Derby Street Pastors, we'll let you know when they visit.

This last Saturday night was a tough night for Robin and his team as a girl that we have worked with for a long time attempted suicide. The team did a great job and manged to stop the bleeding and get her to Hospital. I met up with her later in the week to check her dressings and to get her to sign up and think about going to Rehab. She really does need help and needs to come out of a very abusive relationship with her partner.

Today we had hardly been out on the Streets 5 minutes when a conversation turned to salvation as a lady who confessed to being a church attender asked Christ personally into her heart. Many great conversations ensued this lunch time around the Hope bookelts we give out to people on the Streets.

Most of this week has been taken up around Gang problems in a local secondary school we have been scoping an after school project and have been pleased to engage with some of the young A1 gang members we meet on the streets of Allenton.

Please pray for our Street pastor teams in Austin, Allenton and the City Centre this weekend.

Alasdair goes to Grantham tommorrow to commission their new Street Pastors, please pray he will be an encouragement to them.

Great time on outreach in the city centre today sharing the Gospel with folk and praying with people to be healed I love it ! Prayed with this lady sufferring with real arthritic pain and she was so grateful and said she would see us next week for more.

However my my best moment was in the multi agency meeting this morning when a probation officer testified that we had been looking for this homeless Girl and I came to the drop in to try and find her she then said "Alasdair prayed and she came into the drop in" Wow said all the agencies including Police and Council Officers maybe miracles do happen Alasdair.. yes they do!

Tonight we have the Lord High Sherriff of Derby out with the Street Pastors. He has said that he would like us to meet all the Lord Mayors of Derbyshire to talk to them about seeing Street Pastors right qccross the county.

Many thanks to all of you who prayed for Alasdair after the recent vandalism on his Car. The Police have been wonderful in terms of securing out home by sending in the crime prevention team and also putting in CCTV. We are determined to keep up our work in the south Derby estates and we have sensed supernatural peace as a family.