Christian musician Carlos Whittaker was in Atlanta shooting a music video for his new record "God of Second Chances," and as he was singing the song, a homeless man walked up, knelt down, and started crying and putting his hands in the air.
To everyone's surprise, the homeless man started singing praises in Reggae without missing a beat to Whittaker's singing and guitar rhythm and melody.
The spontaneous moment was captured entirely on video, where the homeless man unleashes his passion for his soul's anchor, God of the universe. His lyrics included "Holy Ghost is moving here, its moving there, it's moving all over the atomsphere" as he gestured to his heart and Whittaker's.
"Hallelujah in the highest praise," the homeless man sang in reggae while Whittaker sang the chorus. Their duet of praise created a moving melody, offered in a broken and contrite spirit to the God of mercy and grace. This happened in one of the roughest neighborhoods of Atlanta, Georgia.
"Lord, have mercy, have mercy...," the homeless man sang, and his genuine cry seemed to have stemmed from his rough experiences from living on the streets.
"Jehovah Jah, remember me..." he continued. "One Jah, there is one father, one creator..."
It was definitely the gospel that has kept this man persevering through the trials. In the end, Whittaker told the homeless man whose name is Danny, "Keep trying to make it man."
And Danny looked at Whittaker in the eye, cocked his head sideways with a confused look on his face and said, "Trying to make it? No man. I'm making it. Jah puts His soldiers everywhere. He says, Yea though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death so He places some of us in that valley."
After the moment, they had about a 30 minute conversation. Whittaker asked Danny how he could get back in touch with him, and he gave a cell phone number and said that he is at that park often.
Since the meeting four years ago, Whittaker has tried to connect with Danny, but failed because his cell phone didn't work. Whittaker tried going back to the same park in the last four years, hoping that Danny would show up. Whittaker wrote on his blog that this encounter has forever changed his life and perspective on homelessness.
"I had dreams of taking Danny on the road, recording another version with him, and getting him off the streets," he said.
Since then, Whittaker has received messages from Facebook users that they've met Danny, but still has not been able to reconnect.
"It would be a dream to reunite with Danny and tell him how much his voice has changed so many lives," he wrote on his blog. "Thank you guys from the bottom of my heart for sharing this video and the truths Danny shared with me. Love you!"
Whittaker's encounter with Danny revealed that God is with the broken hearted and those who are contrite in spirit. The video offers a vivid testimony that those living in the bottom-tiers of the society have something to offer. While it is hard to see the beauty in everyone sometimes, we should make it a point to slow down enough to at least try to see hope and kindle it where we can.
