Behind the viral moment of Baltimore teen praying over homeless man
Watkins says it was the voice of God that urged him to jump off his bus one afternoon last week to pray over a homeless man.
And it was the power of the Internet and University of Maryland, Baltimore police officer Eric Gaines that captured and transmitted that image to tens of thousands of people on Facebook.
Watkins' identity was largely unknown until Friday, when he met with Gaines for the first time and shared his story with a reporter at Lexington Market and at the bus stop where the photo was taken.
"People keep telling me about Facebook, saying 'Oh, you famous,' and I said, 'Yeah, but all glory belongs to God,'" said Watkins, 18, who says he began exploring his faith about two years ago.
The key moment unfolded as the Edmondson Village resident and his twin brother, Stephan, were on their way home from school at Friendship Academy of Engineering and Technology in Northeast Baltimore. Watkins had fallen asleep on the bus listening to gospel music. When he woke at his transfer, at Paca and Saratoga streets, he said he saw a man lying motionless on the sidewalk and heard the voice of God.
He hopped off the bus.
"I immediately went over to him and knelt over and prayed," Watkins said. He said he silently prayed, "Father and Son, Holy Spirit, Lord, I pray for this man today. This man is in need … because he's down and I'm high."
Gaines saw Watkins kneeling before the man and took a picture. Minutes later, the teen darted to his next bus. Gaines posted the photo to Facebook that day.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/baltimore-insider-blog/bs-ae-video-homeless-man-praying-teen-20160311-story.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
this stuff gets under my skin.
News at 11
