Bright, Loud, and Colorful, an Answered Prayer- Guest Blog by Michael Wilson
It is always a blessing when one of our members reaches out to share a message God placed on their hearts. I can’t wait for you to read this uplifting reminder of how God will use the most mundane moments to point us all to our son. Michael Wilson is a long time HCC member and is a key volunteer with the Bad Boyz Jail Ministry.
Bright, Loud, and Colorful, an Answered Prayer
It all started with a simple invite—come check out a bus dedication up in Milwaukee for a ministry called Misfits for Jesus. Back in the day, this group was just a few folks driving a bus into downtown St. Louis to hand out meals and share the Gospel with people living on the streets along the Mississippi River. Little by little, that bus ministry grew into a church in Wright City, then spread to Warrenton and beyond. Now they were kicking off another new chapter with this bus, and Pastor Randy asked if my son Taylor and I wanted to ride along and be part of the celebration.
So we hit the road. I was driving, Randy rode shotgun, and Taylor stretched out in the backseat. Somewhere along Highway 61—fittingly nicknamed the “Avenue of the Saints”—Randy asked Taylor to pray for the trip. Taylor prayed for safety, of course, but then he added something unexpected: “Lord, may you make this opportunity bright, loud, and colorful.” We all smiled, not really knowing what that would mean.
That night, we checked into a no-frills hotel—you know, the kind where the doors open right to the outside. The next morning was beautiful, sunny, and full of expectation. I stepped out of my room and saw Pastor Randy with his hand covered in what looked like soot. Turns out, he’d been plugging in a lamp when a frayed cord sparked—a loud pop, a bright purple flash of light, and suddenly his hand was smudged black. It was startling, but he was okay. He just laughed and said he needed to let the front desk know about it.
On the way back from talking to the hotel staff, we bumped into another couple outside their room. The man’s name? Also Randy. He and his wife told us they liked to “get up in the morning and just follow the sun.” We thought that was interesting, and since we were headed to breakfast anyway, we invited them to join us. They accepted, and by the end of the meal, they agreed to come along to the bus dedication too.
The dedication itself was held in the parking lot of a local soup kitchen. People had gathered for food, encouragement, and the message of Christ. Pastor Randy shared a word, missionaries prayed over the bus, and then he turned to our new friend Randy—the one from the hotel—and asked if he’d ever considered following Jesus. To our amazement, that simple conversation led hotel-Randy to accept Christ right then and there. The phrase he’d shared earlier about “following the sun” took on a whole new meaning—he had chosen to follow the Son.
Later, as we looked back, we realized Taylor’s unusual prayer had been answered—but not at all the way we expected. The “bright, loud, and colorful” moment wasn’t the bus dedication itself, but that little hotel mishap with the lamp. It set off a chain of events that led us to meet Randy and his wife, which in turn led to Randy’s salvation. God took a simple prayer on a highway drive and turned it into a powerful testimony of His glory.
Just as Jesus said in John 14:13, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified, the Son.”