PRAYER CONDITIONING

WEDNESDAY 1 SEPTEMBER
As I crawled into bed after my first ‘Night Duty’ praying with one of the ‘New Boys’ (someone who has recently come into the house, usually in the last 10 days) I expected the trumpets to sound (not too loudly at 2.30am) the crowd to rise to their feet, the medal to be placed around my neck, but all I heard were the snores of the rest of the dorm.

I had been praying with TM from 10.00pm – 2.30am, without a coffee, surely someone would notice my sacrifice and give thanks? But of course, this is just part of the normal routine in the Brothers’ House.

When a ‘New Boy’ comes to stay, he is given a room on his own and so begins the period of withdrawing from whatever he was addicted to and had been using. A rota is posted up each day so that a Brother is with him 24 hours a day for however long it takes. Some of the shifts are 2 hours, some 3 and at night 4½ hours. So if a New Boy is here for 10 days, the Brothers and helpers will have been sitting and praying with him for 240 hours! So, when a 10 day New Boy walks out, is that 240 hours of prayer, care and love wasted?

That’s not how anyone here feels. After all, every Brother has been in the same place themselves, they know what it takes, they know that this is the best hope of kicking the habit and finding new life.

So my 4½ hours is just part of the journey. There were moments when my eyes closed – and not because I was praying – but it went quickly and it felt an incredible privilege to be involved in the battle for one life to be transformed.

The New Boy, TM, is 57 years old. A heroin addict for 40 years, he has spent the last few on the streets sleeping rough. He has lost the ends of several fingers and the toes on one foot, his body is ravaged by abuse and who knows what else. But, he is here now. He will be prayed with and sat with constantly for 240 hours, he will be fed, clothed, loved and looked after. He will be given the opportunity to allow the Spirit of God to change him into a new creation with the hope of new life.

It was a challenge for me, but I did it. No medal, just the privilege of being part of what God is doing as brother prays for brother. And the room was air-conditioned!

Well, off for a cold shower now, humbled by the experience and enriched by the challenge. It is certainly changing me.