Meet Brooke. She is also known as "Crying Brooke" in my world. Brooke is a young lady that I met on the beach a few days ago. She left such an impression on me that at the time of our meeting, I felt I had to give her a new name. Of course, the "Brooke" part of her name was titled by her mother and father many years ago. Although the name of "Brooke" is a beautiful name (I am partial to "Br" names, I have five sons that start with "Br") I feel the more relevant part of her name is "Crying". Now, she may not agree with me, nor her parents, but I just have to say that I would have to challenge them on one thing concerning that statement. Although I will not be in her presence when she reads this, I know that more than likely she will be "crying" by the time she has finished reading this blog. In fact, I'm sure of it.
Now meet Heather. Heather is the girl on the left in this photo and she is very good friends with "Crying Brooke". Heather is also an astounding young lady that I also met on the beach that day. As I talked with her that day I could see that she has a lot of wonderful opportunities ahead of her also.
As the story of our initial meeting goes, I was carrying the cross along the beach in front of many hundreds of people. As usual, many people that day were quite amazed at what they were witnessing. Some were in shock and some pretended I was not there by looking straight ahead. They acted as though they did not notice me. As I came near the end of my trek on the sands, I was approached by the two young ladies mentioned above. Their introduction to me was one of remembrance due to the fact that they both had looks on their faces that clearly indicated the thoughts in their heads.
Heather, with a guarded, but interested look in her eyes, stopped me and shyly asked me why was I carrying a cross on the beach. As Heather spoke to me with a timid voice, Brooke looked away while only glancing at me with her watery eyes, as if she was trying to hold back her tears. As I answered the question, "Because someone out here needs to know that Jesus loves them", they gazed at me with the look of an enamored fan. Folks, you would have thought I was John the Baptist himself telling of the coming Messiah, as I began to speak to them. As I relieved them of their initial worries, Brooke began to cry with tears streaming down her face. As for Heather, she appeared to be in shock and got tongue tied trying to answer a few very important questions that I had asked her. Within the first few moments of the conversation they both exclaimed with excitement that they had tracked me down after miles of walking to find me. They had seen a picture of me a little while earlier and had to track me down and speak to me. With star struck eyes, they eagerly hung on to every word that I spoke. As I spoke to my new found fans, I explained to them not to look up at me, but to the Savior Who sent me. The conversation continued for about thirty minutes as we spoke of their lives and mine. We shared some precious Christian love in those few short minutes. Just before we parted, we prayed together and then went our separate ways. I gave them both one of my ministry cards and they promised to contact me as soon as they got to a computer.
I must say that meeting them was an incredible witness to my spirit. It truly humbled me to find out that two teenage girls had been tracking me for a very long distance just to speak with me, the man that was carrying the cross. It made me realize how important it is for some people to see a "sign" from God so that they can be reminded and encouraged to continue in the faith. I did not expound specifically on our conversation in this write up, quite simply because it was very personal and private to both of them. I want them to know that my intention in our conversation was one to lift them up, and not meant to belittle them.
They did in fact contact me shortly after we met. We have had several conversations via the Internet that have been both a Godly experience and a comforting new friendship.
Heather, and Brooke, this God ordained friendship between you guys and my family started out as you chasing me down in a way that an obsessed fan would attempt to locate one of the Hollywood stars. I just want you to know that you may have begun chasing me down initially, but I now am the one that admires you and I will continue to be a fan of yours. When we met that day, I saw in both of you the desire to serve God with your lives. I believe that God wants to use both of you in great ways for His Kingdom if you choose to follow Him. I also believe that I am here to help you find that path. Thank you for letting me be one of the positive and Godly influences in your life. God loves both of you. God is after you because He wants to do something great with you. He will chase you for the rest of your lives because He has a plan for you. Please continue to chase after Him with everything you have. Stick together while chasing God. It's always easier to run the race with brothers and sisters running right beside you. Don't lose heart, you can do this!
Spread the WORD!!
Barry
Wow.
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