So, I guess I didn't say enough last time. We started this blog to bring awareness to homelessness. When we went to the shelter on Saturday I was amazed on the blanket of homelessness that covered the entire 2 block radius. When we pulled up we saw a person sleeping against the fence, then we looked a little more, there where people sleeping in the alleys. When you looked in the faces of some of them it was like they lost all hope. Looking at my kids, I cannot imagine that look on their face.
Do you remember the wrestler Dwayne Johnson "The Rock". His catch phrase was "can you smell what the Rock is cooking?" Ok granted kind of goofy. Psalms 89:26 "He will call out to me, 'You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior." I tell you what I want to know what the real Rock is cooking. What does our Rock have in store for some of them sitting on the corner?
Our Lord has a plan for everything, you, me and everyone sitting on the streets of Columbus. So, I ask myself why? Why are they sitting on the street corner on a Sunday morning rather than seeking out the word of Christ? We have the privilege of having in our position a manual that leads us how to live our lives. You know I am talking about the Bible. What if the homeless have no clue about the Bible. What if they are sitting there hopeless when a Church is only a block away. The key to surviving this world and living a life is steps away, but they don't know. Acts 22:15 "You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard." Are we doing this? Sure we go out and feed the homeless and we will say a prayer with them. A prayer is great, but if they have no clue what a prayer means, what good is it? Are we really giving any of them hope? I believe we are putting a band-aid on the problem and only giving them a moment of peace.
I have done horrible things in my life. Things that I was for a very long time under the impression that I could not be forgiven. I never had the one thing I have always wanted. Peace of mind. Then when I was taught that even my sins can be forgiven I started getting that peace of mind. So, no peace of mind and living on the streets. Add that with a serving of hunger and you have a big plate of hopelessness. That's so not right. As a Christian, what right do I have serving that plate when I have the knowledge of what our God can do for us? We are not talking about going to another country, or even another state, we are talking about spreading the knowledge of our God to our neighbors and giving them a chance to know the Christ and the manual. A manual for living starts with knowing the Bible and knowing God. Emmanuel....
I would start off this paragraph with "I had a dream", but that one has already been used. However, I did have a dream after we left the shelter without preaching. It was the kind of dream that you wake up and say WOW that dream was amazing, then you think a minute and then it hits you it might have meaning behind it. It was simple I was in front of people and I was preaching. Not just one time, but I saw myself in front of people preaching to the point of crying. Number one, I was raised where men DON'T cry, number two everyone that knows me knows I hate talking in front of people. You know after that dream and talking with my wife, I know that I need to spread the word. I need to follow the example that Jesus set. It is time to leave the comfort zone and stop walking on the wide path that so many walk and follow that narrow path that a true believer of God should walk. There is a reason they say you need to take the straight and narrow. How are so many of our hopeless neighbors going to find that peace of mind? They need me and they need you as Christians to take that hopelessness out of their lives and show them that God has meaning for them.
You have given me hope. When you come out with us or donate a blanket. You have given me hope when you pray for those on the streets. You have given me hope when I sit next to you at church singing loud and worshiping our Father. You have given me peace of mind and now I say thank you. May God be with you every step of your walk and may you never go without hope.
God Bless,
Michael
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