Loving Memories....

When I met Ron I was a bit taken back. He was so real and said what was on his mind and yet gentle. He would greet everyone personally. When he said God bless you it wasn’t just words to greet you with but it came from his heart. Ron was all heart! I really don’t remember how I started going with him to the shelters...he probably just asked me to go and I said yes. It was in going with Ron to different shelters and working with Raven truck every week that God really birthed in me a heart for the homeless. I was always cold to them with the wrong perception of who they were and how they got be where they are. In serving them and praying for them I was able to hear their stories and my heart softened to them...all a part of God's plan. Shortly after this I met my father after 9 years at the altar on Christmas Day. This was a real shock and at the time he was homeless and drug addicted for over 25 years. He was at church praying that God would reconcile him with his family. I was the first one God brought to him to be reconciled with. I had no idea how to help him but I wanted him to be in good hands…so I approached Ron that evening and asked him to help me. Ron spoke to him very firmly and told him about God being able to help him if he really wanted the help. Ron made some phone calls and brought him down to the Bowery mission. Ron would visit and check up on him. Although my father ended up leaving the mission Ron did everything he could to encourage not just my father but me as well in the process of having him back in my life again. Ron was someone I could depend on. I watched him with people and saw a love that was committed and willing to help anyone who wanted help. In continuing to go to the shelters with Ron I developed some good relationships with some of the women that he knew. He would just bring someone up to me and say pray for her.  I remember Angel being one of them. She was one of the worst cases I had ever seen. I thought many times talking to her what is the point Lord she has been around for a while is she really going to change? One Christmas evening Angel walked into the mission and when she saw Ron she just started weeping. He gave her such a warm and loving embrace while she wept in his arms for a long time…then Ron looked at me and said take her to the next room and pray for her. I was sad that Christmas myself …I thought how am I going to encourage her? I spoke to her about the love of God and I prayed for her...oddly enough I felt better after praying and we had dinner together afterwards. 2 months later Ron called me at the school I was attending, now called Summit International School of Ministry, and told me that Angel was finally ready and agreed to be put in a program and that she was in Teen Challenge getting better. I cried and praised God for the great news and was so thankful that Ron never gave up on God for her. He believed for everyone…he believed there was no one Jesus couldn’t touch, heal, make new and give new life to. This made such an impact in my own faith for God to not just help people but help me. It was in visiting the shelters that I became hungry to have my own sanctuary with God. To know him and his word…to have an intimate walk with him that would change me. Ron supported me every step of the way. He sent me care packages, birthday cards (always more than one…one wasn’t enough to tell me how much he loved me), phone calls and NEVER failed to tell me how special I was and encourage me to follow God all the way. Ron would have done anything for me and was always asking me if I needed money and if I was okay. Afterwards I went to visit Times Square Church and ran into Angel whom I did not recognize at all!!! She walked down the stairs and my mouth dropped! I said Angel is that you? She gave me a big hug and with the biggest smile said “I got filled with the Holy Ghost!!”  We were jumping up and down and praising God together. God bless Angel and watch over her. There is nothing God can’t do when we believe him. The word of God says if you only believe you shall see the glory of God. God I thank you for the faith that Ron had in you and the many people that know you because of how you used his life. I pray that I would give you the same devotion in your purposes for my life and never fail to tell the people around me that they are loved not just by you but by me too. I love you Ron!

A letter from Laurie… (Laurie was a friend of Ron’s that hung out at the mission. He always picked her up and brought her to church….she was too sad to go to the funeral so I asked her to write a letter that I would post….. We miss you Ron!!)

Dear Ron,

I have known Ron for 4 years. Ron helped me a whole lot. When I was on drugs Ron prayed for me and took me to Bible study (Times Square Church New Believers Class). He was my teacher. He helped a lot of homeless people come to church to get with the Lord and stop their mess and get there self together. He also would bring them to the altar and let them cry out to God.  He would pick me up and say “C’mon Miss lady let’s go to church, we got to go, got to go, got to go!!” I will always miss Ron because he was my best friend, the man! God bless him, he is in a better place, in God’s hands. PS. He never failed to take me home and make sure I was safe.

Love,
Laurie