Interactions with God #24
The House of Israel Church, as I said earlier was a para-church ministry, meaning it was not affiliated with any church or denomination. Ray was the founder and pastor of this ministry. Rough as he was around the edges, he was doing something to help reach lost teenagers. When I moved to Houston to join them, in March of 1985, Ray was renting an apartment right in the main drag of the Montrose area.. He was also renting a house further out.. The house was walking distance, but far enough to discourage “returns”. The second house was where we took the kids who were considering an exit from their life of prostitution. It was also where we as “staff” lived.
In the house were several people who, like me, joined but had never been in that kind of life. The rest were people from the streets who remained to help others. Curtis, who was among my friends in Austin, had joined Ray's little group a few months before I did. He was there for a while, but had issues with Ray and eventually moved back to Austin.
Trina was a tiny girl, who was a bit older than me. She had been involved with Ray's ministry for some time. They were dating back then, and eventually got married. I got along great with Trina, she was silly and really loved Jesus.
Doug, was an ex-biker who rode with the Banditos. He was very large and covered with tattoos. He had issues with his temper, but also really loved Jesus and showed that more often than not.
Dick had come out of the streets several years before I got there. Dick had one of the saddest testimonies I had ever heard up to that point. His own mother and brothers tried to kill him, so he ran away from home and ended up as a male prostitute. Due to his horrific upbringing and perceived value, he got into S&M. Needless to say, he told me several stories to give me an idea of what it is like in that world...none of which I can repeat. Dick also really loved Jesus.
Bruce, also came from the streets, though not as rough an experience as Dick. Bruce loved God too, but struggled with jealousy. I think he struggled with how my background was not as difficult as his, so he kept trying to compete with me. Don't get me wrong, Bruce was like a brother to me, though an annoying bother to be sure.
Jerry, was a really young guy that Ray had taking a great liking to. He was the most recent from the streets. If I remember right, he was only 15 at the time. He was living in the house when I moved in. Sadly, though, he left and went back after a year of my being there. That one, still bothers me to this day, and probably always will.
There were many others who came and went. Some lasting days while others lasted months. We tried to transition them to something better, but most would just go back. It was a rather frustrating ministry. I could go into story after story, but that would take away from the purpose of my writing these interactions down. I want to focus on the events involving God and his noticeable actions.
Once, while at the house, Trina, Dick, Bruce and I were praying together. We were just sitting on the floor in the living room...Indian style. We started by praying out loud, but ended up just worshiping the Lord in our own words, without music or anything else. At one point in the prayer, the presence of God was really strong. My eyes were closed and had been so for a while. I began to feel like I had lifted off the ground. Curious, I opened my eyes just to be sure. No, I was still just sitting on the ground. A little disappointed, and already breaking the mood of the moment, I looked at my watch. Four hours had gone by. “OH MY GOSH!” was my immediate response. Which also killed the mood for everyone else. They all opened their eyes and looked at me like to see what I was freaked out about. I told them. They were all equally stunned. You see, we could have all sworn that we had only been there 20 minutes or less. None of us had any idea that so much time had passed.
I have not had that king of thing happen since...so far.