Beautiful. He uses us if we let him, He uses crooked sticks to make straight lines. Our pastor was speaking a couple weeks ago about the fact that God calls us to be obediant before fruitful, we listen, we follow, and if we stay out of his way, he will use us to bear great fruit.

Your story reminds me of two song lyrics I love:

Jackie Hill & Eshon Burgundy, The Solution:

Eshon Burgundy:

"In the city of death
Looking for the tree of life in a pair of 23 Nike's
Blessed that I'm looking for it in the first place
Could be a different scenario, the worst case
Take an aerial shot of my block, see the Glock of an officer pop a kid
That's how it is in the ghetto metropolis
Way before the introduction of stop and frisk, it was killer
Hopeless, a dream deferred
Fiend drop a dope dish and a needle by the curb
Heroin is a heroine, a deliverer, a savior, a medicine for some
Cold night, cold pipe full of hot fire
Prayin' to the dope god they don't even know God
How many killings in a night Jackie 4-5?
I took 3 shots that was back in 95'
Nowadays they'll kill for a G-Shock
Trigga, click, boom-bang, soundin' like a beat-box
Thank God for God though
Take a hoodlum and turn him to an apostle
Turn a simple brush stroke into a Picasso
Turn the death of His only Son into the Gospel, that's deep!
That should let you know that true love is not cheap
I oppose what false prophets preach in the street"

In case you want to hear the source, check it out: