Last Saturday was a beautiful day of fellowship and food downtown with new and old friends.
We served lunch with a large group of spirit-filled of brothers and sisters from Bridgeway Community Church in Rockford. There's nothing better than stepping out in love together and meeting Jesus in the process :-)
One of the regular brothers that shows up each Saturday - Duke - shared good news that he was going to be moving into an apartment this week after much persistence and patience. Praise God!! Please pray for him in his new environment and for his family who is he trying to help.
Last month, we had another brother we met last January who call us to say hello. He shared that his job is going very well. He has been employed as a cook at the same restaurant for six months now, which has allowed him to move out of the mission and into an apartment with a few roommates.
He told us that he wants to find a better apartment because two of his roommates are doing drugs, and he can't be around this situation. Please pray for 'A' on his journey that He acknowledges God in his life and trusts in Him to direct his steps.
It’s been a year since we began serving lunch to our brothers and sisters in need in downtown Grand Rapids. We praise God for His abundant blessings bestowed upon many through the generosity of fellow parishioners and others friends from area churches, towns, etc… I still stand in awe and wonder who is receiving and who is giving.
Every Saturday from 11:00 -12:00, friends gather in Veteran’s Park for lunch and fellowship. While there are many places to eat for those in need downtown, the park is a relaxed atmosphere that God has given us to use food as a platform. We, then, can extend the hand of Christ and offer hope and acceptance. The hands that clasp come from generous, longing and loving brothers and sisters.
In giving, we have received renewed eyes, ears and hearts of compassion to see how close we all are as children of God. We are all sinners in need of our Savior. Having a home in which to sin doesn't make us any better than one on the street who sins publicly.
Our Lord has shown us many miracles throughout the months of Saturdays. This can only mean there are an infinite number of miracles we have never seen, but trust have occurred.
Jesus is present in each and every individual we meet – whether they are homeless, jobless, elderly and alone, passers-by who wonder what we’re doing, etc…
Our Father has introduced us to more of His children. As members of the body of Christ, we all need each other and have a part in His plan.
“Now the body is not a single part, but many. If a foot should say, "Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body," it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. Or if an ear should say, "Because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body," it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
But as it is, God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as he intended. If they were all one part, where would the body be? But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I do not need you," nor again the head to the feet, "I do not need you."
Indeed, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are all the more necessary, and those parts of the body that we consider less honorable we surround with greater honor, and our less presentable parts are treated with greater propriety, whereas our more presentable parts do not need this. But God has so constructed the body as to give greater honor to a part that is without it, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same concern for one another.
If (one) part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy. Now you are Christ's body, and individually parts of it.” (1 Cor. 12:15-27)
If you are interested in helping serve, make food or make a donation, please call me at 915-2414 or e-mail me.
If you are interested in helping serve, make food or make a donation, please call me at 915-2414 or e-mail me.
Everyone is welcome.
God makes divine appointments each Saturday, and we just open our hearts to the Holy Spirit’s guidance. We serve anywhere from 70-100+ people each Saturday, but numbers are not the important thing. Each smile, each handshake, each personal connection is an annunciation from God.
Mother Theresa once said that, “If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one. Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”
Many in our society want to lump different people into different "categories," - homeless, addicts, pro-choice, pro-life, homosexual, political, etc...but God did not create categories.
He created life - INDIVIDUAL and UNIQUE - and saw that it was good. Each person is made in the image of God. Many may turn away from Him, but He never turns away from us.
All of God's creation is valuable. All have a purpose. Blurring that reality is a tactic of the devil, and we must put on the armor of God and pray to stear clear of the devil's tactics.
In this mission, we entrust all to our Lord. We have consecrated the park to Jesus and pray for His will to be done.
Please continue to pray for all our brothers and sisters whose dignity is compromised because of homelessness, joblessness, loneliness or fear.
Ask the Holy Spirit if He is calling you to be a part of this mission or another one in your own community.
Donations can be made to ‘Instruments of Peace’, which is our non-profit organization.
E-mail me at oatleyj316@charter.net for more information.
Thank you, and thanks be to God for His infinite mercy.
