Seventeen weeks ago, I started a college class called, "Perspectives". Basically it is a class on how Jesus called us the salt of the earth and how we can be used to to fulfill the purpose He has for us. It really focused on how God is a God of missions. The homework was INTENSIVE, to say the least. It was a great class! However, my feet did a happy dance in my kitchen when I finished the final! This now frees up many, many hours in my week!
My Sundays in the park are still amazing! I simply adore the people that I serve The Lord with each week. God continues to grow His faithful servants to donate their time and money to prepare food each week. I love each and everyone of you (-:
Three weeks ago, a man in the park told me that he would not be coming to the park anymore and that he was sad to tell me goodbye. He went on to tell me that he had found a place to live and now had a job, so he did not need for us to feed him anymore. The most amazing part of this story is that he was smiling! When I met David at the beginning of the summer, the streets had beat him down, bad. He was the most negative person I think I have ever met. Probably the most stoic person I have ever talked to. He was like that all summer. We prayed each week for God to provide a way for him to get off the streets, and He did! After David told me about not coming down to the park anymore, I suggested he continue to come down and help. His eyes lit up! He could not believe that we would let him help us. What? We are all in this together! So the next Sunday, David showed up and before the message was given he stepped up and gave his testimony to all the people standing in line to be fed. It was a tear jerker to listen to him share what God has done in his life and to encourage others to put their trust in The Lord! Very cool stuff!
Bill Wilson, who I blogged about previously is still continuing to give me his tithe each week!
His story would be a great sermon from the pulpit.
Wednesday, Pam and I headed downtown to spend the day with M. Since she now has her birth certificate we went to the Social Security Office and got that situation staightened out and then we went to the D.M.V. to get her I.D. She was ecstatic! Imagine not having anything with your name on it for years. Something we all take for granted.
Later on in the afternoon in one of the parks, I saw a man named Mike. I used to drink coffee with him at Starbucks a couple of years ago. I have been in search of him for quite sometime since he quit going to our coffee shop. He was a homeless man who lived in his truck that was modified for him since both of his legs were amputated. Mike always has cotton stuck in his ears to help drown out the voices that he hears. Very sad not to have a sound mind. I always enjoyed our conversations. One time his truck broke down in the K-Mart shopping center, so he got under the truck to work on it and I sat on the ground in the parking lot drinking coffee and chatting with him! Yea, I bet you wish you could have seen me! Good times! Mike now has an apartment...Praise Jesus!
Today I got invited to have lunch at a women's shelter that is having their grand opening in a few weeks. It is very sad that in a big city there is not one women's shelter that will take you in no matter what. The Salvations Army will take you in, only after you pass a drug screen. So if you are using and you are a woman, you get to freeze on the streets, under the overpasses or in the bushes while the men have their choice of shelters to sleep in. It was an honor to eat lunch with some of the women that will be welcome to come in out of the weather, have a place to shower and have a bed to sleep in. I don't think today's visit will be my last! I am definintly feeling a pull to that mission!
Ok, so if by some chance you are still reading this and have not fallen asleep, let me wish you a blessed Thanksgiving. We have more things to be thankful for that what we deserve.
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