In the right place at the right time

Dear friends

I’m quite sure you’ve experienced it – as I have – to be in the wrong place at the wrong time…. and being in dire circumstances because of it….?

Today’s account is about divine appointments and about being exactly where and when GOD wants us to be – it happened to me TWICE this week!

I started a new job on Monday.

It’s not the one I originally thought GOD had for me – that one is still “in the pipeline” as it is not even advertised yet – even though the person who had the job had left in November 2022 and I had been speaking to the manager of the department and a colleague who is also working there, they had been excited that I wanted to apply and they had assured me that the advert would come out shortly – I was so certain that this is MY job!!!
In the prison where I love working so much, as a chaplain, which I believe is my calling….

But sometimes GOD has other plans and sometimes HE takes us to our purpose via detours…..

So since I had already resigned from my old job, the Drug and Alcohol Worker role in that particular prison, I had to find something else, something interim, and I had to find it fast – it wasn’t an ideal time to have resigned from a job and needing a new one and also needing to be brilliant in job interviews, because – as some of you may remember – 3 days after I had resigned, my dad died and I wasn’t in the best shape really – in fact, I had an interview on the day I traveled there to say goodbye to my dad – and as you can imagine, I wasn’t really “smashing it” in the interview and I didn’t get the job.
I wasn’t surprised at all – I didn’t even remember what I had said….

But I managed to get another one, one in a Young Person’s Supported Housing Project. I learned a lot in this job, but I knew that this wasn’t “for me” in my very first week there….. then an advert popped up, 2 to be precise, and I was invited to interview for both.
In the first interview, when I sat down at the table with the panel, my first thought was “I belong here”.
They offered me the job on the same day in the evening…. and as I said, I started last Monday.

It’s a job where I work with the Street Population…. rough sleepers, sex workers, people who have been warned because of aggressive begging or are subject to an antisocial behaviour order….

On my very first day, about 30min after I had arrived there, some colleagues from an enforcement team offered to take me out so that I could get familiar with the area and I gladly accepted their offer.

We came across a man who had been sleeping in a bin shed and he had refused to work with anyone who had tried to speak with him.
When they asked him if he would like me to help him, he looked at me briefly and he agreed.
I was about 1h into the job and had my first client!
No idea what to do, although I had been working with this client group before, I didn’t know any of the processes, didn’t even know the postcode of my office, let alone any phone numbers or where to refer him….. he came with me to the office though and somehow, we managed to do a housing application for him….. however, he was unwell and after many hours on the phone with the ambulance services, I managed to get someone to come and they took him to the hospital.
I went back the next morning, as I had found out more about him and he apparently had a place where he could go and the rent was up to date, however, they discharged him the same night – at 7pm….. and his Mental Health was obviously very poor at the time, he is very vulnerable, that’s why I had gone there first thing the next morning, but he wasn’t there and they had put a padlock on the bin shed, so he wasn’t able to return there either, so I was unable to find him again……… I sent his information out to everyone so that they could keep an eye out for him, but he hasn’t been seen anymore by anyone this week.

But this first day in the new job was a confirmation for me that I am in the right place and that some of the clients will trust me and will work with me, even if they decline to work with other people, which means I am an asset to the service and will be helpful for these people.

The week continued on like this, I went around the area and introduced myself to “my people” and their reactions were very positive.
I knew that they would speak to me, as normally, people living on the streets or people with addictions or prisoners, they speak to me anyway, if I work there or not, even when I am on my way somewhere in public transport, normally, they will speak to me, that’s how I know that it is my calling to work with them.

I did my best to go out a lot, meet a lot of clients and a lot of colleagues whom I will be working with. One of them was a worker from a partner agency who has been working with the rough sleepers in the area for many years and I went round with her and spoke with her and I learned a lot of how things work in our area. We spoke about what I had done before and when I told her that I had been a Drug Worker in prison, we spoke a little about interventions and addiction and she also mentioned that she had a Naloxone kit in her bag….. thank GOD we had had this conversation!!!!

On day 3, before I had met with her, I had been to one of the places where many of the rough sleepers spend the night, I had gone there to find one of them, whom I had met the day before when I was out with the enforcement team and I had promised him to come back and speak with him – he was agitated around uniformed people and they had issued him tickets before, so I wanted to speak to him alone….. he wasn’t there, but another one was, and we had a little chat…. he said he was working with the colleague I was about to meet, the one I mentioned before, the one who showed me around…. and he mentioned that he had been waiting for her to update him on his case – I told him that I would meet her later in the day and that I would let her know that he needs to speak with her, and he gave me his name and his phone number. He presented very polite, friendly and I didn’t detect any signs of him being intoxicated – but mind you, it was only around 10am in the morning……

Day 4, I had attended my first meeting where all the cases are being discussed with different agencies, and I had already met quite a few of the people who were discussed…. after the meeting, I went out to try and find my clients from day 1, 2 and 3…… no luck, so I returned to the office….. when the phone rang.

It was the lady from the other agency, who works with the rough sleepers… she asked me if I could come to the parking lot where many of them sleep, one of them was lying there unresponsive, supposedly with an overdose, one of the other guys had alerted her and the ambulance was on the way, she had just wondered if I could come and tell them what he had said to me, as she hadn’t seen him in a while, this was the one I had spoken to the previous morning.

When I arrived there, he was lying on the floor in the parking lot.
I wish I could post a photo of the scene…..the one I posted here is from the internet, I feel the need to protect the individuals I am writing about and also the area where I work……
In that particular parking lot where I work, it looks much worse than in the pic I found online.
There are 3 tents on the floor.
There is a lot of garbage and the smell is incomparable…..
He was lying there, in the middle of all this dirt and smell, he was breathing, but not responding……
His clothes were dirty, his hands were black from dirt, some filth (probably from vomiting) was stuck onto his T-shirt and his face, one side of his face was swollen…..no shoes on…..
His friends had put him in the recovery position and had alerted the woman I work with…..
I tried to call him, I told her what I had observed and what he had said to me, and at the same time, I was praying and going through my head asking myself and GOD what we could do…….
Nobody knew what he had taken, but it was clear that this wasn’t a “normal overdose”, he was occasionally moaning, not opening his eyes, he didn’t look like someone who has “just” overdosed – not that I had seen too many people who had overdosed, as I had worked with them in prison, not on the streets….. but this was clearly some sort of contaminated drugs that he had taken, we all knew that there is a lot of this around in the area, different poisons mixed into the drugs that are being sold, to stretch them in order to make more money, the lives that may be lost are not of any concern at all to the dealers, it’s a business!!!!

Suddenly, the Naloxone kit she had mentioned came to mind and I asked her if she still had it.

She confirmed, but she said she had thought since he was breathing and since he had taken whatever he had taken the night before, a long time ago (that’s all we had been able to find out), she didn’t give him the injection.

The main reason why she had called me and asked me to come was that she knew I had been a drug worker.

She looked at me.

I said: “I would give it a try and see if he responds to it”.

So she did.
She was clearly nervous and I thought, if she asks me, I will do it and give him the injection, although I hadn’t done it before… but she went ahead and opened the kit, brought the needle out and gave him the first shot in his thigh….
And after the first dose, he started to move and moan more and was lifting his head more…..
After the second one, he tried to sit up, tried to open his eyes, was moaning more, but also shouting and kicking and screaming from pain.

All I could think of was how cruel these people are and how they don’t care what happens to the people who are buying and using their poison.

A few minutes later, the paramedics arrived.

They had to wait for the police to help them restrain him as he was shouting and kicking too much, he was in too much pain….

But the paramedics said that giving him the Naloxone had saved his life.

One of the policemen said the same thing.

I was thanking GOD that I had been there, that I hadn’t started any later (it had been a struggle to get a starting date as the pre-employment checks had been going very slowly)…. that I had met this woman and that we had had the opportunity to talk a little, that she had been able to trust me, that she had called me…..that I had remembered that she had the kit on her…..

For me, all these factors are not a coincidence.

Of course, I was in shock when I saw his struggle against death and against the devils inside of him.

And I know that he may not even be shocked after this event and may continue using whatever he can come across…

But when I was there, he didn’t die and the devil didn’t win.

That’s confirmation for me.

Confirmation that GOD wants me there at this time, in this place.

From what I know about GOD, having walked with him for a bit more than 7 years now, not as long as many of you may have, but it has been a very intense walk and I know HE often times doesn’t reveal the next steps to us or the entire plan, but THE next step and the plan for NOW.

I know GOD wants me there in this job for now.

And HE will help me help these people.

Just as HE had HIS hand on so many of the clients I worked with in prison.

And that’s all I need to know for now.

As shocked and shaken as I was, I was also very glad I was in this place at this time and that I was able to help keep this man alive.
Regardless if he will be glad he survived – many of them are very suicidal and don’t care about their life much – regardless if he will change or not…. we prevented the devil from getting him and who knows, perhaps we even have a chance to save his soul before he leaves this earth….?

I am praying.

As I have been praying for all my clients, all my colleagues – wherever I work.

Perhaps this man needed me to come and perhaps he needed to be on my prayer list.

Who knows what GOD will do in his life?
Only GOD knows.

GOD loves us all.

Homeless or not, addicted to something or not (and aren’t we all? to some sort of thing or person or habit???), in prison or free (but are we truly, most of us are in some sort of bondage, aren’t we), healthy or not, even religious or not, GOD loves us and wants us to join HIM in eternity…..

And HE is always there when we need HIM, HE is NEVER late, always on time.
On the cross 2000 years ago and today.
HE can use anyone, who will be there and know the right thing to do or to say to help us when we need it – just like HE used me and this woman this week…………..

Hopefully, you already know HIM and have a relationship with HIM. If not, if you are unsure or perhaps don’t even know what it is all about, I hope that this page can clear things up for you, can help you find THE TRUTH. Because only JESUS CHRIST is the true saviour, who can save your soul. JESUS is the way, the truth and the life. HE died on the cross for your sins, yes, that’s right, for yours and mine… it is all such a fascinating and yet true story. JESUS CHRIST came to earth as the SON OF GOD to save us all from the devil. And HIS works are still relevant today, HE is as alive today as he was more than 2000 years ago. And if you are not saved, HE wants to save you today, right here and right now: please don’t stay under the power of the king of darkness, please join us and give your life to THE LORD.

Here is an example of what you can pray in your heart right now, if you want to make JESUS LORD over your life:

“Dear Heavenly Father, I acknowledge and confess that I have not lived my life for YOU to this day, but have been living for myself and in sin and that is wrong. Please forgive me of all of my sins just as I forgive others. I need YOU in my life; I want YOU in my life.
I recognize the completed work of YOUR only begotten Son JESUS CHRIST in giving HIS life for me on the cross, I believe in my heart JESUS is LORD and that HE was raised from the dead and ask for YOUR forgiveness, which YOU have made freely available to me through this sacrifice.
Come into my life now, LORD!
Take up residence in my heart and be my KING, my LORD, and my SAVIOUR!
From this day forward, I will no longer be controlled by sin, or the desire to please myself, but I will follow YOU all the days of my life. Those days are in YOUR hands.
I ask this Jesus name.
Amen.”

If you have just prayed this prayer, you are now part of GOD’s kingdom and family and I heartily welcome you, my dear brother or sister!

The next thing to do is get a bible and find a church where you can receive further instructions, so that your new life in THE LORD may prosper and that you will become who HE made you to be.

GOD bless you and if you have any questions or need any assistance, please get in touch.

I hope and pray that this will inspire, encourage, heal and bless you.
And that THE LORD will bless you abundantly in all areas of your life. That HE will keep you and shine HIS face upon you and bring you PEACE. In JESUS name I pray. AMEN