Sometimes Purpose Looks Like Taking a Weird Picture and Following a Random Guy Down a Mountain

So there was that one time...
when we had 4 girls. One Honda Civic. 13 hours.
when we prayed our trip to CO would have purpose.
when we prayed God would give us opportunities to share the gospel.
when we prayed for the obedience to dive into those opportunities.

Little did we know.
Little did we know what kind of adventures were about to take place.

So, there we were, walking down downtown Denver. We looked up and saw a ridiculous mural on a tattoo parlor.of a little boy getting a tattoo and screaming. So, naturally I tell the girls that we should take a picture with it. Clearly that would be great. So there we were, trying to take a selfie when a friendly guy walked by and offered to take our picture. After taking several, he started talking to us and mentioned how he was one of the tattoo artists there. I saw some weird flowery tats on his arm and asked him if his tats had any special meaning behind them. He started getting really passionate as he explained they represented these different forms of positive energy. Then, he lifted up his sleeve to show us a giant Buddha face. Oh yeah, this is about to get interesting. He said he wasn't a Buddhist but liked a lot of there philosophies. We spent the next 30 minutes asking this guy questions and simply trying to understand him and where he came from. He mentioned that he grew up Catholic but his mom was bipolar and switched to wicken. He had been searching for truth his whole life and came to believe that there are many ways to God and that as long as you have positivity, you can get through life just fine and find your way to God.

After 30 minutes of us asking him questions and hearing about his past and learning about what he believed, it was time. I have never been so emotional when witnessing with someone, especially a stranger. Words passionately came out as I explained that "positivity" can only come through Jesus. I explained how much I personally need Him every single day and how I am never able to do things on my own or have that joy/hope without Him. I became really emotional while sharing with him because it was like I saw myself in him, without Jesus. I saw a person confused and searching for truth. I saw a person that tried to make sense of it all. I saw a person that desperately wanted to find hope. I wanted so badly for our new friend Stephen to experience the beautiful hope that we have. I wanted Him to see the earth-shattering truth that we have experienced.

I loved that we searched to understand him and took the lies he believed, which had glimpses of truth and take those glimpses and point him back to the gospel. We ended up talking to Stephen for over an hour in front of this tattoo parlor. By the end of the conversation, he said that we had given him some things to think about. Funny things happen when you pray for purpose.


The next adventure makes me laugh every time I think about it.
So we are almost to the top of this 13,000 ft mountain. We begin to trek through snow and get to the point where every footstep is carefully placed. Let me tell ya, we were riding the struggle bus for sure. So we look down only to see this guy RUNNING up the mountain in the SNOW with shorts on.... Ummmm....Ok.

He passes us saying, "it's just a workout" and keeps running. We met up with him when he ran back down and we ended up sitting on a ledge chilling with him and some old people who were frustrated that there was no "bloody sign" at the top to take a picture with. This guy's name is Austin and he's this 18 year old guy. He then decides to walk (run) back down the mountain with us because he "didn't have anything else to do" that day....that or he enjoyed hanging out with some older girls. Anyway, he's basically leaping down this mountain. We started talking about how cool God was and how powerful He is, that He would create the landscape around us.

So we are literally leaping down a mountain with this guy. Guess it's time to dive into one of those
opportunities we prayed for. We are running behind him, constantly trying to catch our breath while witnessing to him. He was really interested in Christianity and was asking a lot of genuine questions. Long story short, we were going to go to dinner with him since we didn't know the area. When leaving, he hauled out and we decided to take the safer route. But then we saw a moose in the distance and decided to be "those people" and stopped to take a picture. Who knew what kind of adventure that stupid moose would cause....

As we are driving down this two lane road we see a car bottomed out in the ditch, taking up an entire lane. OH MY WORD....are you serious? It was Austin. Poor guy tried to turn around because we had stopped to see that moose and his car rolled into the ditch. So we stayed there with him, looking like the damsels in distress on this log while he directed traffic. One of my favorite parts about this scene was watching the people as they drove by, looking horrified as they looked at the car then looked straight at us.


Side note- when life hands you
opportunities to put a cool vest on and direct traffic, you don't question it.

After the park rangers showed up, they questioned him and searched his car, thinking he was on drugs. Then they began to question these girls on the hill who are hyper and giggly, thinking we were high, but clearly we were just high on life. Then they proceeded to tell us their bear stories and tell us all the details of weed. No, sir, we do not want to know exactly where to get it and how many plants you can grow. Anyway, the girls thought about another way we could be Jesus to this guy, which was to help pay for his tow (I have some pretty cool friends, let me tell ya). We gave him money to help pay for his tow once he got the bill and he was so overwhelmed. He then immediately downloaded the Bible app and asked us how it worked.

We went to bed that night in a cold tent, laughing uncontrollably at the neat yet ridiculous opportunity we got to be apart of that day. Who knew? I don't tell you these stories to say, "hey look at us!" but I tell you these stories to show you how much the Lord can use us despite our brokenness when we simply pray for strength to seek purpose. Only our sweet Jesus could have orchestrated these conversations and crazy adventures. Clearly He has a sense of humor too! That stupid moose.

Please pray for Stephen and Austin. Pray the Lord will show them truth and break them so He is able to save them. Pray the Lord will love them in a special way this week. I truly believe the Lord is going to save these two guys and use them in crazy ways. How cool is it that He allows us to be apart of their salvation despite our brokenness?

This fall break I learned the importance of being on mission at all times and how beautiful adventures are when they have purpose. I'm learning the importance of not only praying for opportunities to live missionally, but for the obedience to dive into those opportunities. Wake up ever morning and pray that day will have purpose. You will be surprised at the adventures the Lord will take you on.