If you’d crossed paths with Dave, you’d never forget him. He was big, brash and he had a ginger horseshoe ‘tache.
Dave got caught up in chaos when he was a criminal. One way of making money was by running the doors of night clubs. Once, Dave was on the door of a local club. And then this little bloke, wearing specs, carrying flyers comes and starts giving them out to those in the queue. So, he goes and grabs one from a clubber and it said, ‘Give the guy in the sky a try.’
‘Are you having a laugh, do one!’
Later in the week, Dave saw him again in town, so he swerved him!
Two days after, there’s a knock on his door. And it was him! ‘Hi, my name’s Mike, can I give you one of these to read please?’
‘No, you ****, I don’t wanna know!’
Dave thought, ‘This bloke’s doing my head in, I can’t get away from him. And now that he knows where I live, he’s bound to come back. I’d better do something about it; I’m going to set him up!’
Do you know what he did? He put up pictures from top-shelf magazines all over on his living-room walls!
The next morning, the door went again. You’ve guessed it! ‘Hi, you said your name’s Mike, didn’t you? My name’s Dave, Come in.’
He takes Mike into his living room. ‘Sit down Mike. What do you think of them up there, hey? They’re beautiful, aren’t they?’
‘Yes, they are Dave, they’re absolutely gorgeous them.’
‘Ah, so you and me, we’re just the same, aren’t we?’
‘I’m sure we are in some ways, Dave, yeah, but we’re not in the way we look at those women, cos I don’t see them like you do, I see them the same way God does. He sees their hearts! And he places massive value on them; despite the industry they’re in!
Dave thought, ‘So, that means God places massive value on me then! Despite the chaos, I’m involved in!’
This truth hit him so hard! Do you know what Dave did next? He gave the guy in the sky a try!
Listen: even in chaos you are valued!
There’s a cracking line in the first part of the Bible that goes like this, ‘God doesn’t see the same way people see. People look at the outside of a person, but God looks at the heart.’ (1 Samuel 16:7 | ICB)
In 2000, I took a team to Ibiza to reach out to clubbers. I was DJing. I had a record with Martin Luther King speeches on it that I played a lot in Seargent Peppers night club! I’d repeat this line over the music. ‘I’ve come back to tell you, that you are a somebody!
Do you know God thinks so much about you that ‘His thoughts can’t be counted’?
And do you know that he sees you as precious? Well, he does!
And do you know that you’re ‘the apple of his eye’? Well, you are!
So, this means you’re a somebody too!! You see, God places massive value on you. No matter what kinda chaos you might be in! Like he valued Dave!
Oh, I never mentioned that he was at Sergeant Peppers, did I? This time round though, he wasn’t on the door, he was on our team, giving out flyers to those outside in the queue!
Listen: even in chaos you are valued!
Barry