February 12, 2011: Desperate Measures, Extreme Faith

Please note before you read further that this is a compilation of two days: February 8th and 12th. I didn't divide them up because I found it fitting to put them together. It is amazing how God used two different groups from various places to share the gospel. Enjoy the testimonies and the stories...

Northwood Pre-teens group had Extreme Faith this weekend. We were blessed to partner with them on a trip to visit the homeless. Our trip was a little later than usual. We made it out there at 2p. Armed with socks, oranges, and water we were able to meet around 5 people at our first stop. Juan was there and we prayed for him and his family. His mom, Anna, in particular, is still struggling with dementia. We also served many others I recognized by face, but not name. One that stuck to my mind was Art. He had a white Under Armor shirt and preached a brief sermon about avoiding the streets. He taught this to the Pre-Teens. I prayed that the advice does not fall on deaf ears.

I have to give Bryce Allen a honorable mention for chasing down Pablon who I missed. He gave him socks, oranges, and water. What a blessing it is to see a pre-teen take iniative. Actually, many took initiative to help, give, and overwhelm these guys with love!

At the second stop we visited the Shamrock station. Unfortunately, the day laborers were not out. There was a lower income family where we dropped some socks and food to. There we met our first homeless family! Their names were Steven and Venida, and two boys; Steven David (3 years old) and Ruben (baby). They were such a blessing. Ruben was crammed up in Venida's arms fast asleep. We spent time praying for her. She did not want to be in the house she's staying at. It was a lower income house that probably doesn't provide much for her and her kids. She's looking for a church to plug her children into. She cried after we prayed for her. Being a blessing to her opened my eyes. One of the gentlemen told us to go around the corner and there we met three other men. Domingo and his two friends. We passed out socks to them and lifted them up in prayer.

Then we headed to Susan's house. We dropped off some canned foods and water to Susan and cleared up to 20 bags of garbage around the house. She teared up as she saw all the love. She's committed herself to Southside Church of Christ and getting treatment. We found out that the house next door had two more homeless brothers who were bathed with prayer by Lydia. Lydia and I bought two chickens, potatoes, eggs, and bananas for Susan. She cooks for her neighbors and her family. What a gal! I pray that her fiance, father, and brother would wake up. Instead of being destructive, my prayer is that they take leadership and start being a contribution to society rather than a drain.


February 8, 2011

I have to admit this might be a stepping stone to something greather. You may ask, what is this? Today, was the day I met with Benjamin Hawkins. He will be the first writer (hopefully not last) that has gotten our story. It will be appearing in Southwestern News next month (hopefully). I was grateful to share our story as well as our heart for this ministry. I look forward to taking a snapshot and posting up the story once it airs.

That evening we were also venturing to Susan and Anthony's house to drop of blankets. Praise be to the Lord that we receive blankets the day before from an unexpected friend. William Woo from Los Angeles, California sent blankets from his youth group to us. Not to mention Sarah Lanier also dropped of blankets. After my evening class with Dr. Kiker (Foundations of Ministry Class) I called Jonathan Coleman and we headed out to drop off a heater, vienna sausages, oranges, apples, and 8 blankets.

Upon stepping into Susan's house, she hand signaled us to enter her room. We were surrounded by the smell of weed and a container, which looked like a bong, stared right at us. She was falling apart. She was asking for prayer to save her from abuse, addiction, pain, and suffering. Jonathan and I stopped to pray and give her clothes and food. We prayed for what seemed like a long time and after we were done her fiance stepped in. He didn't seem so happy. Her brother, Jesse, and her father didn't seem to care we were there, but her fiance was rather irritated. We felt uncomfortable at what was going on so we took off. It hurt to see her pain.

Our second stop led us to Anthony's house close to Mount Hebron Baptist Church. He wasn't there, but his roommate was. We left the rest of the blankets there.

I was reminded from reading Scripture (Matthew 8:20; Luke 9:58) that Jesus rarely had any place to lay His head. In my opinion I dare say that He probably lived His life, homeless. Where do we place our worth, lives, soul, and identity? Hopefully we live like Jesus lived. And if that's the case, then we should look to our King for our return home.