New Berlinia

It was a late Monday night, almost three weeks ago. I had stayed after Bible study to talk a bit with one of my teammates about some different things that he was going through. As I was walking back to my apartment, I saw a few homeless guys pushing a buggy down one of the streets. I recognized them, but I decided to cross the street and avoid them. After all, I had tried talking with them several times down at the river ministry that I help out with. But each time they had grumpily told me to leave them alone. I had also heard rumors that they had been in several fights recently, and so I wanted no part of that.

After reaching the door of my apartment, conviction came over me. How could I simply just avoid those guys? Who knows what sort of needs they had. I grabbed Chris and Luke, as they were both still up, and we made a few peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to take to them. As we approached them, I offered it to them and they happily accepted them. I introduced myself, as well as Luke and Chris, and they did the same. They told us their names were: Bobby the Badger, the Colonel, and Soldier. We asked how they got those nicknames and they told us they simply just made them up! We also found out from them that we were no longer in Huntington, but in "New Berlinia". We were part of a real-life video game.

I asked about the game and Bobby asked if I had seen Grand Theft Auto. After replying yes, he explained, "Well this is Grand Theft Buggy! Check out our rocket launchers (as he pointed to the front of his buggy)." For those of you who are worrying right now, he didn't really have rocket launchers.

We talked to these three guys for about half an hour before they had to take off. They were on their way to Flapjacks to get some coffee. Soldier offered for me to jump on top of him and ride down with them, as he was laying in the buggy that Bobby was pushing. I politely passed up the invite.

At the same time they were leaving, another man approached us. He was a middle-aged black man. We began talking to him as well, and we found out his name was T-Bone. He had recently left the club and was telling us all about the women he had been with. Trying to change the subject, I asked what he did for a living. He told me he had enrolled back in school and was hoping to open his own business some day. He also began telling us of his dreams of success. I asked him to define success for me, and he spoke a lot of money, women, and fame. Shortly after, he began sharing more of his life with us, including a story of how he once saved a young boy's life. I asked him if I could share a story about a man who saved my life and he agreed to listen. It was then that I was able to talk to him about Jesus.

Like with most people, as soon as you start talking about Jesus, he became extremely spiritual. T-Bone told us of the days he was in the church and wrote Christian songs. He sang a few for us, and it was fairly obvious he was making them up on the spot, but they really did have good lyrics. After listening to a few, I offered to share one of my favorites, rapping the third verse of "Don't Waste Your Life" by Lecrae. He enjoyed that and said he never knew white people liked good music too. That led him to teach us one of his personal favorites. The lyrics follow:

I'm just a nobody
Trying to tell everybody
About Somebody
Who can save anybody

We stood around and sang that song with T-Bone until a little past one in the morning. While it was a simple song, it had a catchy tune that stuck with you. As we parted ways that night, each of us continued to sing that song aloud, filling the streets. I even woke up the next morning hearing Luke singing it in the shower. While it is a simple song, it has great truth to it. In fact, it is probably the story of my life. I'm just a nobody trying to tell everybody about Somebody who can save anybody.