excerpt from a prodigal's journey of faith...

luckily enough, the layover in st. louis was a short one..and that's where i first met a Christian sister that i would end up spending quite a bit
of time in fellowship with over the course of the night into the next
morning...

i met sister mitchell in line at the bus depot, and ended up approaching her later on the bus, telling her how encouraged i was by the fact that there was another vocal Christian on
the trip...she's from the jackson, mississippi area, and does ministry
work down here...while on the bus, we made tenative plans to go grab
coffee while we were on a 5-hour layover in memphis later that
night...thank God for opening doors in some of the most unexpected
places and at some of the most unexpected times...

well, that's all the time i have for now..i'll finish updating this tomorrow morning..

i had called my best friend prior to pulling into memphis, as i had heard(and read in a blog) that it wasn't the best of the places to be,
especially at the time of night we would be pulling in..i wanted to
make sure that there was plenty of prayer coverage being sent up..

one of the first people i encountered was a man, just 4 days out of the penitentiary, who was really having a rough time getting re-adjusted to
life outside..he asked if there was any way i could help him out, and
some thing was mentioned (don't remember what) that allowed me to let
him know that it was the Lord that allowed our paths to cross that
night in that bus station..when he heard this, he got up and began to
cry, tears welling up in his eyes...

i reassured him that Jesus Christ was right there with him, no matter what it is that he was going through..he gave me his contact info, and asked that i contacted
him as soon as possible..i told him i would, and gave him some
encouragement to continue to seek the Lord in all that he does..he
thanked me, tears still in his eyes..and walked off into the night...

over the course of the next couple of hours in the bus station, the Holy Spirit was moving in a mighty way..i had the opportunity to speak with
a handful of people about the Lord..a woman who was formerly a dancer;
a mother and her child traveling cross-country; a young man who had
been attacked and beaten a few weeks earlier in a rough part of town;
and a woman just recently out of a homeless shelter...

the woman from the bus and i had a chance to talk to, minister to, and share with others that night the healing and delivering power of Jesus
Christ...what i had previously been anxious and concerned about turned
out to be an awesome opportunity to encourage those around me, and the
other people within earshot had no question that there were a handful
of believers in their midst..praise God!

my new friend and i went across the street to get some coffee and fellowship a bit more before our bus pulled in, getting some much-needed energy..

once we were on the bus, it was time to try and catch up on some sleep..although the bus is not necessarily the most restful way to do
it...we pulled into jackson, mississippi later that morning, and i said
goodbye to my new sister and waited a couple of hours until my
connection arrived...

this area has been hit and affected by hurricane katrina, and the residuals are still evident in the demeanor of the people and the landscape around...a two-hour bus ride and i was
finally at my destination..