Behruse meets God and we stand in awe

Last night Brian and I witnessed someone experience God for the first time.
It was unexpected. For us. And for Behruse.
We planned to leave. So did he.
God had different plans. I'm in awe of His timing.

The plan was to find a comfy spot at English Bay in Vancouver to watch night 2 of the Celebration of Lights. It was South Africa's turn to show Vancouver what they've got. The forecast was to be about 29 in the afternoon and 23 in the evening with 10 percent chance of rain. It was to be the perfect night for fireworks. I heard on the radio they were expecting 350,000 people to be there.

After a great supper at SalaThai - yum... It was about 7:30, we walked down to the water and found a nice little spot not right on the beach but with a beautiful view... and then the clouds began rolling in and it started to rain. We kept telling ourselves that it wasn't going to last, we'll wait it out and it seemed to slow down a bit. I got a call from a couple of friends who were going to meet us who decided not to come anymore due to the rain. We talked about it and decided we probably wouldn't stay either. We were soaked and the sun was beginning to go down and we were not prepared to be wet AND cold.




Brian, who was just in a tshirt and shorts thought it would be a good idea to head back home knowing that there are 2 more fireworks shows next week that we could go to. Me being the stubborn girl i am, wanted to stay. I thought we were already wet we were already there, with great seats, and really i just didn't want to be a "quitter"... someone who couldn't handle a little rain. lol. But after talking it out for a bit, we packed up our stuff and began towards our car.

Once we got up to Davie street it continued to rain at a steady pace but we were warming up due to walking so we decided to keep walking down davie towards the water in a different direction and just stick it out. By this time the sun had begun to set, and it was absolutely breathtaking. People were stopped in the rain taking picture after picture. It was thundering and lightening out like crazy, something i don't think i have ever seen/heard since living out here. I kept saying/thinking wow all these people came out to see fireworks and God's like "i'll show you fireworks". It was beautiful.



It was almost 9pm when i got a hankering for yam fries. As we kept walking we found a little restaurant/pub on Davie that had their menu on the steps that had yam fries on it. We tried to get in, but the door was locked and said use other entrance. We were seriously soaking wet and as we tried to find the other entrance we decided we were just too wet and they probably wouldn't want us in there.

This is when we met Beruse.

As we're standing on the crowded street by the pub a man watching the sky turned around towards us and approached us. My immediate judgment I'm sad to say was that he was going to ask for money... although he did not look homeless, then i went on to think maybe he was going to ask if we had any weed... as that's a common occurrence here in Vancouver. Instead the first thing he asked was. "Have you ever seen anything like this before?" Before we had the chance to fully answer he answered his own question saying, "I have lived here for 22 years and I have never seen a sky like this". He went on to say, "I'm not normally a religious man, but this sky is a sign to us, to me, that God is real. That God is with us." He went on very passionately listing different gods and expressing his need for one. He repeated God, Jesus and literally cried out how he needed Him. How he was lost and weak but how he could feel Him inside of him. He cried out to know Him and to see Him and as Behruse was calling towards the beautiful sunset for God lightening would strike. I couldn't help but laugh at God's response!

On the middle of Davie street in the pouring rain surrounded by thousands of people Behruse began to weep as he cried and prayed telling God how he needs Him, how he promises he'll go to church, but only if He will show up like He did tonight. I still can't believe what I witnessed, I don't know how to put it all into words. He spoke out of his heart into the sky through tears his desperate need for a God who knows him and who has chosen him for this moment to be caught off guard and caught in His beauty. He admitted to us his brokenness that for the first time in 6 months he drank alcohol tonight because his cousin had to leave, that he smoked 2 puffs of marijuana, that his wife and daughter who is 14 and son who is 25 isn't with him anymore. He told us that in his country he would be shot dead in the middle of these streets for doing what he was doing now, speaking to us of a God who has caught his attention and stolen his heart. He continued to ask us if we could understand him because his english was normally very poor, but what we heard was extremely eloquent and passionate, He thanked God for that miracle.

I said to him that we were planning to leave earlier, that we weren't really expecting to be down here on davie tonight, but that I was convinced that God had a specific plan for all of us to meet. He also said that he had actually left earlier deciding not to stay but later decided to come back because God wanted him to see this beautiful sign of His beauty. He prayed that he would never forget it and that everyone walking would see what he has seen.

I still am in awe that in hundreds of thousands of people that God connected us to Behruse. Not really to say anything special or to be these great Christians with answers, but simply and majestically to be a witness (as Behruse put it) to this man's first connection to God, the the One who made heaven and earth. To be an ear to hear this man's story, to catch a glimpse of what our desperate need for God looks like.

I was so challenged and encouraged and just knocked to my feet. To find that hunger, to live with that conviction. To see God in everything and let it transform me! I'm so thankful to have been there last night, for God to interrupt our plans.

We ended up just getting to the beach as the fireworks started, and let me say, they were beautiful, but God could not be outdone, he continued to do His light show in the sky that just showed me His awesome power and beauty, how I'm honored to know Him. To be called His daughter.