Fire in the market

Hi my name is Kevin Prada and I'm serving on NET's French team this year. As our NET training has now come to an end, I was reminiscing on some of my highlights. One thing that stands out for me is a night called "Fire in the Market". When this was announced by the staff my first thoughts were, "Is this some sort of arson or Fire Fighter intervention?" no, that wasn't it at all! We were going to be lighting fire in people's hearts. We were sent on a spontaneous mission of evangelization for the night, by going up to strangers, randomly in the market or on the street. We evangelized by simply giving a smile or striking up a conversation with someone we bumped into and sharing our personal testimony.

To be quite honest, this seemed quite intimidating at first. On NET, we evangelize in a very structured environment, on a retreat (now called Encounter Day), where youth are expecting us to share our faith. But here, where people were just continuing with their day-to-day activities, we had to get out of ourselves, and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us to the right people, and to inspire our actions.

I had the privilege of meeting a man named Paul who now lives on the streets. Through a series of unfortunate events he had lost a successful career and was now left to a life on the streets of Ottawa. To be honest, when I first saw this man my first reaction was to think he was just too lazy to get a job. But as he started sharing his life with me, I was stunned at the true dignity he had in himself, and I was reminded of this true and inherent dignity that we all have as sons and daughters of God.

Each and every person around us was created in the image and likeness of God Himself. Wow! I think it's easy to often dismiss the homeless, or put a blind eye to those commercials on TV of orphaned child in far away lands. I know my own reaction when I see them is to flip the channel. But this experience has really pushed me to see God in everyone I meet. Jesus did say that whatever we do to these little children of His, we also do unto Him. He is in them. He loves them just as he loves us and in return we should love others as well.

This experience challenged me, and so I challenge you, when you see one of God's children, smile at them, pray for them, show them love, and the inherent dignity that is in them. For when you do this to them, it is to Jesus that you are doing it.

God Bless,

Kevin Prada
Team 3 Les Équipe NET