Sunday, July 31, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
Update from the Streets: Encounters I will Never Forget
"You can help me find some work? It says here you can" pointing to the side of our Step Van where we advertise the services we provide. One aspect of our street ministry is to connect people with their needs which include employment, housing, churches, detox and rehabilitation etc. By interviewing and presenting them with a list of social service agencies, we direct people in where to go. Typically after we've done all that, we ask if we can pray for the person, believing that ultimately God is able to meet their needs. This day was no different... except God gripped my heart for the struggles of the poor and unemployed.
On two separate encounters, I found myself listening to stories of families in financial struggle and how they've been laid off and how hard it is to make ends meet. Upon giving them the resource sheet, I asked if I get their contact info to follow up. Their reply... they had to cut off their phones in order to save money.
Now you might be thinking, what's the big deal? No phone? So what? But it struck me deep realizing how much I have and take for granted. In this day, having a cell phone means a lot and something that is a needed resource. That day, I was faced with the reality that the people who are doing everything to make ends meet are without an important means of communication. How then can they effectively job search? Granted you don't NEED a phone, but the reality of what the poor go through really hit me in a deeper way.
I am believing that God is able to provide for them. Please pray for a man name Jesus and a lady name Melanie and the many more that we meet on the streets who are in similar dispositions. I know God is able because we've seen how on several occasions ministry teams pray for someone and they come back to let us know that God answered! He is still a God who hears when we cry out!
Proverbs 21:13 "He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor Will also cry himself and not be answered."
(view from side of our Step Van)
(me sharing and talking to Jesus)