San Francisco God Moments

On Tuesday, my group was given the task to help as many homeless people as we could with $20.00 in hand, a 24 block cutoff and a 2 hour time limit. Before I came on this mission’s trip I really prayed that God would make these people real to me. So while we were on “the mission” (God Wink), otherwise known as the Latino section of San Francisco, we met a man named Gill. Gill had the stereotypical dirty hair, shopping cart full of treasures and a stand-offish vive that I had always pictured to be a homeless man. Realizing that we were sent to help him, we stopped and chatted with Gill about his life. To my amazement, along with many of the others in our group, Gill had actually served ten years in the Air Force and has traveled the world. That was when I realized that this grungy-looking man was real, he was not a fragment of my imagination. Gill could have been someone’s father, uncle, brother or friend. My friend Colleen suggested that we pray for Gill which he seemed to be ecstatic about so Josh began to pray. All of a sudden, Gill suddenly started asking to pray for his grandmother, grandfather, father, mother, uncles, aunts and brothers… who were all dead. We could not even fathom the thought, but he continued, please also pray for my wife and my two sons… they are also dead. How were we to help this broken man? Of course we turned this task up to God and prayed for His mercy to heal Gill and to be with him. I knew that God had sent Gill to show us that the homeless are not just unrelatable people when Gill started to break down and cry while we were praying for him. It showed me that even the smallest gesture can make an astonishing impact in someone’s life. This mission not only made Gill real but it made God real to me! (Jenny C)


On Tuesday afternoon we headed back to CSM after our morning ministry work. We got back and after a few minutes, Jimmy our CSM Host, told us we were going right back out for another project. We were going out to help as many homeless people as we could with $20.00, some socks and blankets. After about 90 minutes, we started to head back to our meeting place. On our way to the meeting place, however, we ran into this very nice homeless guy named Jeff. We were talking for a little while and we gave him some things and told him we were from a church in the Boston area. He had a surprised look and said that he was from Marlboro, MA. Then we told him we were from FCCH in Hopkinton, which is a touch town to Marlboro and we flew out here with the church to volunteer in the streets of San Francisco. This guy was flabbergasted. He went on and told us how he has been struggling through his own struggle with the Lord and that about two days ago he had told the Lord that He had won and to show him that the Lord was real. He wanted a sign and boy did God provide. Two days later a group of Christians from the other side of the country came from a town that he was familiar with to help street people and they (we) found him. Jeff told us that we are an answer to his prayers. Towards the end of the conversation, he asked us if we had a Bible for him so Marc ran to a book store and got him one. While Marc was gone, we prayed over him and he told us what a blessing we were. It was definitely a God moment all around!! (Josh L)


On Tuesday night, I had just prayed about an experiencing God this week with my AT (Accountability Team). It was the last worship song and I decided to sing the meaning rather than the text. When the song ended my body felt like a Tesla coil channeling electricity throughout my body with my stomach as its core – for it felt like I swallowed a cannon ball. It was the same feeling from a vision I had last year in New Orleans. I knew God was talking to me, almost yelling. I felt like a child being scolded for something I didn’t even know was wrong. I felt helpless and stupid. I fervently searched for anything He might be telling me and my eyes were eventually drawn to the song lyrics I was holding. I read the words and they gave me complete comfort to something I had been struggling with. The sensation ceased, I thanked God and returned to earth. (Jeremy S)