Yesterday, in Balboa Park, I was sitting on my wall, admiring God’s beauty in the scenery and in the people around me, when this man started to walk by. I asked him about his day. He said it was good and asked about mine. I said the same thing. Then, he added a comment about where he was headed. To me, that was an open door, so I jumped up to talk with him.

He shared that he was visiting and about why he was at the park. I told him I wanted to hear his life and asked how much time he had. He smiled, looked at his watch and said he only had a minute and began.

He lives in Honduras and works at the US Embassy. He talked about some pretty big decisions that needed to be made in his life. I was so excited. I told him about prayer, how I like to do it and told him I’d like to invite God to help him with his decisions. He said yes. I touched his shoulder and looked into his eyes the whole time and felt I could almost understand his heart. It was amazing.

He was positive we would meet again; although, we didn’t get each other’s last name, so when that happens, it will be a crazy Holy Spirit story that I will post about.

As I was walking back to work, I saw this homeless man that always looks grumpy and has always looked unapproachable, so I’ve never approached him, until yesterday.

He was sitting on a park bench with a very wide armrest and was rubbing his back against the bench, as if in pain. I stopped and asked him if his back hurt. He looked at me and grunted. I told him I would like to pray for his back, and he said, “Pray that I get $10,000 to get a place to live and find a job.” I said, “Okay” and sat on the armrest. His name was Leon.

When I pray for people (and if I listen), the Holy Ghost will tell me where to touch them, IF I’m supposed to touch them, and I always ask the person before I touch them. Holy Ghost clearly told me not to touch this man, and later, I understood why.

I let the Holy Spirit pray through me, and it was amazing. I haven’t always done that. I’ve had times when I’ve caught myself “thinking” of what to say, while I’m praying, and that’s not what I want to walk in, so I’m learning to always close my mind and open my heart, and this particular time was amazing.

As I was praying, it felt like God’s glory was resting upon both of us. At the end, Leon just sat there…didn’t move, only blinked. I didn’t dare move. I didn’t want to disrupt the Presence we were in. (That’s why I wasn’t supposed to touch him.) In His Stillness, something was being done inside Leon. He was so filthy…so dirty, and God was loving him so intently…so unconditionally.

We sat there for (at least) two minutes without moving. It was so intense, and then very slowly (like in slow motion), he started to turn his head my way and said, “Thank you.” I said, “You’re welcome” and stood up. I wanted to hug him, but he wanted to shake my hand, so I grabbed hold of his hand. It was so amazing. I know I made a friend and will get to talk with him more frequently.

I love when grumpy people encounter God and become nice. It tickles my heart.