Feeding The Poor / Treasure Hunt

Published: 15th of May 2012

The definition of a treasure hunt is an instance of searching for something that has real or imagined value. When it comes to my wife and me, our definition of a treasure hunt is similar but different at the same time. A treasure hunt for us is when we go out in search of people that need healing or prayer. The main focus is to spread the love of Jesus Christ. Mark 12:31 states “love your neighbor as yourself.” Just like the original definition of a treasure hunt, we look at people we pray for as having real value. We go out in search of people that God highlights to us. The easy picks are the ones with walking canes, wheelchairs, or someone with a visible injury.

It all started one Saturday afternoon after dropping our daughter off at the daycare/play area at the mall, where our journey began. Now this is not the first time we have tried to go on a treasure hunt. The previous time we could not find anyone who spoke English considering we are in Lille, France. Our plan was to feed the homeless while looking for people to pray for at the same time. We made 30 bags with food/snacks/water to give to the homeless. Before leaving our apartment we prayed that the Lord would reveal to us who to pray for and that we would come across people who spoke English. People do speak English here but it’s not common. We had no idea what the Lord would do this day and by the day’s end our faith was definitely raised to another level.

Our journey started as we walked through the center of Lille. Within 5 minutes of walking we ran into a homeless man with a pet dog and to our surprise he spoke English. We stopped and talked to him for a little while and asked him if we could pray for him. He told us he needed money to get his dog vaccinated so he could get a passport to leave France. After giving him some food, my wife prayed for him, and that was our first successful encounter. There are usually homeless people everywhere in the center of Lille but on this day we just could not find the homeless. We walked and walked until the Lord highlighted a man to my wife Amber. Now this man had a walking cane and was sitting on a bench in front of a church. We approached him and this guy did not speak any English, but the man sitting next to him spoke great English and said he would translate for us. We talked to this guy with the walking cane to see what the problem was, we proceeded to tell him that God wants to love on him and that He is a healer. He told us his left hip/leg was hurt in a previous accident he had and that it could not be healed without surgery. He told us that we could pray for him. I asked the man where the pain was, I then placed my hand on the injured area and began to pray. This was a strong 15-20 second prayer. After praying we asked the man to stand up and walk around. He began to get up from the bench; it was hard for him to get up. As he began to walk around with his cane and it was obvious that he had problems walking. The man could not walk without his cane. He told us that it felt a little better, so we thanked God and asked could we pray again. This time my wife prayed for him. Again we asked him how his hip/leg felt and he said it felt better. After praying for the second time he told us a little about his family and when he finished we all went our separate ways. While walking away I turned back and seen the guy walking better with each step he took. At that moment the Lord told me that he is healed, so I leaned over and told my wife. About 15 minutes later we were walking looking for more homeless people and what do you know, we ran into the man with the walking cane again. Now this time this man was walking with the cane but he wasn’t even using it. Once we saw this we were at awe and amazed at the power of God. This was our second successful encounter of the day.

We only had an hour and a half to give out the food and find people to pray for because the daycare/play area would close. As we were walking back towards the mall, where our daughter was, I told my wife I wish we had more time because I feel like we are pressed for time. I told her that we should have looked up where the homeless people gather at. I was like now we don’t even have time to pass out everything because we only had 15 minutes left. We still had a big duffel bag full food to give to the homeless. Little did I know that the Lord was working it out as I was speaking. With only one block left before arriving back at the mall, we ran into a very large group of homeless people. All I could do right then was thank God because I just had said to my wife about us finding where the homeless hang out. It was so amazing because in that area, homeless people were never there. We were then able to give out all the food we had and be able to see the smiles on these people’s faces. I know it was God because we had already walked by that area before and there were no homeless people there. This was our third and final encounter topping off a wonderful day. The Lord might not come when you want him but he always comes on time. All of our prayers were answered that day; God is definitely a faithful and awesome God. I challenge you today to go out, spread the love and treat others how you want to be treated.