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A Cry In The Darkness
By June Rush
Shh, listen. Do you hear the cry in the darkness? “Won’t someone please help me?”
I am dying out here in the streets. “Who is this Jesus I have been hearing about on the radio?” They are saying, He is the only way in which I can be saved from death, but I had never heard His name before tonight. Where does He live? I need to find Him now before it is too late. “Please, won’t someone help me? I am begging you, whoever can hear my cry that knows who Jesus is, please, won’t you have mercy on me, for I am dying out here in the darkness.”
I have been on drugs and alcohol since I was thirteen years old. I ran away from home, and steal every day to support my habit. I sleep in dumpsters, on street corners, in abandoned buildings, where mice, rats, and roaches run rampant. The lost and lonely, sick and diseased, and the rejected of the world are out here, and no one who cares what happens to them.
People pass by us as though we don’t exist, because of our tattered clothing, and holey shoes.
Oh, the pain is growing worse and I can’t hang onto life much longer. Does anybody hear my cry or care what happens to me?
Wait a minute; I hear a man’s voice, echoing through the darkness, the fog, and the filthiness that encompasses me. “I will help you,” he says, drawing closer to me as no other person has dared to do. I see a faint flicker as he draws closer. He is carrying a candle in his hand.
“I know this Jesus you heard spoken about on the radio. He is our Lord and Savior, He loves you and if you will accept Him into your life and live by His ways, your sins will be forgiven, and you will be healed from your addictions.”
He then took a book out of his briefcase, which He called the Bible. I recall him saying something about God, “whoever He is” and that He sent His only Son to die on a cross to save all humanity from their sins, and all I had to do was repent and turn my life around. I asked him what does repent mean? He said, just tell God you are sorry for the lifestyle you have been living, and ask Him to help turn your life around, and ask for forgiveness of your sins. He then read something from the Bible He held in his hands, “Repent and be baptized everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).
Wow, it is morning all ready, and we had talked all night about Jesus, and at last, I fully understood, just whom He is.
As we knelt down on the dirty pavement, both of us exhausted from the long night, we prayed together, and then I cried out, “Father, please forgive me, for I am a sinner, and I commit my life to you right here and now. Thank you, Father for sending this kind man to teach me about who you are and the sacrifice you gave, ‘your only Son’ for a lowly sinner such as I.”
Now, I know when I die, I will live again with you. He advised me to read Matthew 6:9-14, as an outline on how to pray.
I read it, and this is what it says, “’This, then, is how you should pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.’”
Shh! Listen. Do you hear the cry in the darkness?
Then take your candle. Go light your world. i
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