War zone refugee, Sri Lankan Luke Ranga, and South African clubber, Daryl Coy, had very different beginnings. But now the Holy Spirit has made them into brothers
Luke* had never seen guns before. Now machine-guns were being piled up in the 11-year old's bedroom.
Government soldiers had taken over all but one room of the family dwelling.
Life had been peaceful for Luke and his family before they were caught up in civil war. His father was a fisherman and Luke enjoyed living by the sea in northern Sri Lanka.
But closeness to the sea became a huge problem for the family: their home was at an important strategic location. It became the site of a fierce tug of war between government navy forces and the "Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam" (LTTE) - known around the world as the "Tamil Tigers".
Luke and his family were forced to live in one room while soldiers used the rest of the building as a base. It was a terrifying time. To help him sleep, Luke's mother taught him to pray "Jesus, have mercy on me" - which he did every night.
Luke fled for safety to the UK in 1999.
In England he was no longer afraid for his life. But 9,000 kilometres away from home, he got mixed up with the wrong people.
Demoralised and often drunk, Luke knew that his life was on the wrong track.
"Jesus, have mercy on me" he prayed, after another alcohol-drenched night.
Meeting the Jesus Army, Luke found himself among friends who talked with him and prayed for him.
Soon after, Luke had his first experience of God's Spirit, which came to him in the middle of the night. His whole body shook as what felt like a strong electric current ran through him.
Daryl
15-year-old Daryl's Christian faith was running into trouble. Daryl had got drunker than he'd ever been before - and after that dived headlong into the club scene.
But he still woke up every day thinking "What am I doing?"
In search of fulfilment, Daryl came over to the UK, but still couldn't find satisfaction.
"Hello my friend! Do you know what this means?"
Daryl turned to the stranger on the bus who had spoken to him - and who was pointing to a passage in the Bible he was holding: "I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten."
Daryl was amazed: "Yes! I do know what it means! God will restore to me the years that I have messed up - back to what He originally had planned for me!"
Daryl never saw that man again, but soon after that he went to a Jesus Army meeting. Someone spoke out what they sensed God saying: "It's going to be your way or God's way of brotherhood life." Daryl decided there and then to accept Jesus.
Now he knows that he's been restored by God: "I have experienced God's Spirit burning the old stuff away, cleansing me of what I got into when I was away from Him."
Luke adds: "I could have been a Tamil Tiger, but God wanted me to fight in His army of love with my brothers - like Daryl and others - around me. I'm so happy about that."
Holy Spirit community
Luke and Daryl now live in the same Christian community house as brothers. Though they are from different backgrounds their experiences of the Holy Spirit have united them into one family as God does with all Christians who have discovered the incredible power of God's life.
They aim to be like the first Christian Church written about in the book of Acts in the Bible. After the Holy Spirit filled them they "shared everything they had" (Acts 2:44).
About a quarter of the members of the Jesus Army live together like this in Christian community houses around the UK. For info on this community lifestyle check out the New Creation Christian Community website http://www.newcreation.org.uk/nccc/index.shtml.
*Luke's name has been changed
[Re-printed in Christian Today with the kind permission of Jesus Army's Streetpaper. To find out more about the work of Jesus Army and Streetpaper, visit www.jesus.org.uk/]