Four months ago, I received a call:
“Pastor, one of your boys has been arrested. He’s at the police cell.”
After asking around, I discovered it was LK, popularly called Amacula, a brilliant young man in his late twenties. He left home as a teenager and had survived on the streets ever since, doing whatever his hands found to do. One Sunday, he wandered into our church under the bridge and became part of our community.
God had begun a slow work in him, reshaping, tempering, softening a man hardened by life. Some biblical teachings confronted him deeply, and he struggled with them, yet he kept coming back to learn. “A bruised reed He will not break” (Isaiah 42:3).
One Sunday while I was teaching, I noticed he was distracted. When our eyes met, he gestured, asking to step out briefly. He said, “Pastor, e jo, mo’n bo…”. I told the person beside me, “He’s going to fight.” And he did—beat someone up—and then returned to church, sat down quietly, and said, “Pastor, e jo, e ma binu.”
I was torn. How does a man fight and then return to sit under the Word so calmly?
Yet that was him, still raw, still unrefined, but already being worked on by God.
He had a strong sense of justice. He defended the defenseless, fought for the oppressed, and stood firmly for what he believed was right, though his methods were still being redeemed. “The zeal of your house has consumed me” (Psalm 69:9), though not yet according to knowledge.
When I heard of his arrest, I went to see him. No one else could, many of the brethren had past issues with the police in that area. By the time I arrived, he had been moved from the station to court, then to another court. I finally found him moments before his trial.
He pleaded not guilty, and his journey into prison began.
For four months, he was there, no father, no mother, no relatives. Only the church.
We prayed. We visited. We stood by him. “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them” (Hebrews 13:3).
And now, to the glory of God, he has been released.
Many of these men are hardened on the outside, but inwardly they are simply lost.
A simple message, “Jesus loves you”, can break even the toughest heart. “The Word of God is living and powerful” (Hebrews 4:12).
Go and tell everyone that Jesus saves. You may only be planting a seed, but God gives the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6).
Last year, the Lord did mighty works on the streets among souls battered by life.
This year, we go even harder for Jesus.
“The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).