Growing up as a child one of my favourite tv shows was called ‘Jake and the Fatman’ and yesterday in Soho I have a story to tell you all that involves me and a fat man, hence the title ‘Mike and the Fatman’.

So ok, there I was in Soho where I’d been to mass when the Holy Spirit whispered gently to me “go for a walk”!

I never know where I’m going or even how long I’ll be but I’ve learnt to trust and it always ends well.

First thing was first, lunch! The Holy Spirit is like a mother who looks after our every need and not just spiritual things. At a certain pizza place I was suddenly prompted to stop!! Yum yum!

After lunch I was led onto St. Patrick’s in Soho where I sat in front of the Blessed Sacrament for a while and prayed for a whole bunch of people and intentions including myself.

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As I left I was still prompted to go for a walk and have a coffee! Honestly part of me wanted to leave and to avoid spending another £3 on coffee but again I knew that this thought process wasn’t divinely inspired!

So I got my coffee and sat outside looking at the gay men everywhere and thanking God that my gay lifestyle is very different. I messaged Rayne who was working and told him that I was I’m Soho and was feeling a bit lonely.

Thirty seconds later the guy beside me began to chat to me. I was hoping he wasn’t chatting me up because if there is one thing I don’t like, it’s being chatted up by guys that I’d never in a million years be interested in in that way.

Fortunately for the both of us he wasn’t and we had a very nice conversation. He was Irish too and shared with me many difficulties and painful experiences that being irish and gay brought. He asked me not to write about what he said so I’ll say no more only that it was definitely one of those “meant to be” encounters!

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Worth noting as well is that the Holy Spirit led me there not through a direct “talk to that guy” inspiration but through a far more simple and subtle “hey, have a coffee there…”.

At times we can be waiting for a godly inspiration when it’s there all along but we’re not listening or aware! God comes so simply that we miss Him at times.

So anyway the man asked me what I did in life so I went onto tell him about life as a gay missionary. I always find sharing at least some of my testimony very useful as somehow it gives the other permission to share deeper things that they may not otherwise share and by doing so they unburden themselves.

So what about the fat man?

Wait for it! Fatso batso is just coming now….

All of a sudden out of the blue an enormous fat man sat beside us uninvited.

“All the people who sit on these seats are gays, you have to be gay to sit here. I’m not gay. If gays don’t change they will go to hell, the bible says…” as he handed me a piece of paper with a website where I could find help to change!!

Mike and the fat man🤣🤣🤣

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I thought the timing was amazing! No sooner had I spoke to my new friend about Jesus’ love and acceptance of gay people did this fat preacher man arrive.

He was arrogant, rude, pig headed and impolite and when normal social etiquette didn’t work I took the piece of paper that he had placed it on the table, ripped it apart in front of him and called the manager to get rid of him!

Turns out he was italian and left shouting all sorts of nonsense, most of which I understood as some of the words are like french and somehow impoliteness seems to be easily understood through body language.

And yet God turns all things about because this then provided the perfect way to talk even more about the church and the bible and being gay!

Thank you Jesus!!

Anyway after all this I went back to the church, prayed for both the man I was talking to and the fatman and gave thanks to God for yet another interesting day with the Holy Spirit.

Thanks for reading and please pray for my ministry and the wounded gay community!

Michael