Praying for the City of Tyler

"And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ..." Colossians 4:3

Today I took my car to have the AC repaired. I found this shop a week ago. The owner is Leon, an African American man who hums Christian songs all day long. He impressed me the first time I met him after he bid me goodbye with "I appreciate you." I dropped it off in the morning and began to run in the direction of our home which is about 11 miles away. My wife picked me about 3 miles into my run. As I ran I could see so many discrepancies. The place I dropped the car is an area where many of the poor live, many of them minorities. A man sweeping the the sidewalk said hi to me. I thanked God for him. Many buildings and homes I passed were run down. Some showed evidence of being a business in the past. My mind wondered what kind of life people live in that area. I prayed that God would make his name known in Tyler. He sees all of Tyler, everyone in every corner. Those we tend to ignore. He sees them and cares for them. Not too far in my running I reached downtown after waiting for the train to pass by. The business of life was evident and I thought how odd I must appear to others. There were churches and the theater announcing a classic movie. A man spraying bug control chemicals just looked at me as I passed by. I thought, prayed and thanked God for bringing us to the city of Tyler. We are here to serve Him. But I am finding out how blessed we are to be here. I am grateful for Leon, who I found out is also a pastor. He drives 80 miles to preach every Sunday and has been doing it for many years. I shook his hand as I left his shop for a third time. He wished me a good weekend and gave me his blessing. But it wasn't just Leon who blessed me. The lady who cut my son's hair also said "God bless you," as we left. It caught me by surprise. But we are blessed and wish to bless Tyler as well. My prayer is that Tyler may be filled with God's knowledge and presence that comes through faith in Christ. There is no greater blessing than this!

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