For Vespers this week, I asked the men to write a one-page essay on the following assignment:
Share how God has worked in your life. What has He done for you?
Cliff and I were inspired as we listened to their stories. Following are excerpts from each one:
I had a nice family – wife and son, a great job, good friends, a nice home, a good car and a relatively clean conscious with no guilt or shame. The use of alcohol and marijuana destroyed them all…. Here at DAP, God has turned me into, not just a man, but a man of God….leading me to repentance, faith and to accomplish His calling laid out before me. “ Emil Castro
God kept me safe during my drug use….I have used needles after people with Hepatitis C and didn’t get it. I’ve injected drugs in quantities that would drop people twice my size yet I never overdosed…God has placed a hedge of protection around me. And what’s more amazing is that He did all this for me despite me denying Him.“. Allen Davis
God has prevented me from going to prison, from getting caught smuggling drugs into my country and selling them to my own people. He has protected me from two most critical car accidents that could have gotten me killed.… He has shown me mercy and grace.. and has a plan for me. He chose me to be one of His beacons of light in this dark and sinful world….no longer living to please myself. I am living for God and to please Him.”
Kalei Luii
I am 20 years old…. God has watched over me. At the age of 15, I was shot in the leg. Three months later, I was shot four times in the other leg. At the age of 16, I was shot again. Last May, I was shot in the knee with surgery to insert screws plus physical therapy. These shootings were the result of ‘gang banging.’ I have three felonies for robbery and it’s a miracle for the St.Louis judge to allow me to come to DAP. I know that God loves me. He has blessed and watched over me. Jacob Merchant
“God has worked in my life by bringing me to DAP. Before coming here, I was lost. I could not tell you where my next meal was coming from. I was fired from my job and out of options. Nobody wanted to be around me….. Today, seven months later, I can see clearly. I can see where I once was and where I am headed. I actually want to do the right thing. Words cannot express the excitement I have for what God has in store for me. I can only imagine the prosperity that comes with His blessings. It’s a life worth waiting for with the Lord Jehovah God. Robert Reid:
Our Friend, we hope you are inspired with the work God is doing in the lives of these men here in the DAP ‘School of Christ.”
Allen
Robert
Jacob
Emil
Kalei
