Wednesday, June 29, 2011

His Mercies Are New EVERY Morning

We just wanted to share some neat insights from our last visit downtown to see our friends We have developed a lot of relationships, which was our first purpose. We want these folks to know we really care about their well being, both here on earth, and for eternity. We strive to be a consistent, dependable source of hope — we hope! In fact, that’s what we talked about today. Pastor David McKinley, from Warren Baptist, joined us this morning, and shared some scripture from Lamentations. We have hope in Jesus Christ EVERY morning. Our souls need hope, and the only source of hope--real, permanent, everlasting hope-- is found in Jesus Christ. The hope he gives all of us, every sinner among us, is readily available. Much like the soles of our shoes help to build a solid foundation for our physical body, hope in Christ gives our human souls the foundation we need spiritually.

We met several new folks, but the highlight for me was sharing the video I took this past Saturday during “Under the Bridge.” Our friend Donnell—Mr. 76 Days himself—followed through on his public commitment and was baptized. It was awesome. I showed him the quick 20 second video clip I took on my phone, and he put his arm around me and just said, “I love you man.” That one success story, even though he had turned things around prior to meeting us, has made all the trips and coordinating over the past 8 months absolutely worth it. As many of you know and experience daily, when you serve others, and put other’s needs ahead of your own, it seems that God rewards you with an unmatchable sense of accomplishment. That is how we feel; we are on fire with His mission for us, and every trip downtown we are more and more encouraged and determined.

On another note, we spent some time talking with our friend, Greg, this morning. He works as a volunteer at the VA and at Mercy Ministries. I have seen Greg on numerous occasions, but this is the first time I have had the chance to talk. He actually came up to a group of us and talked about how some of the guys really DO want to work. Another long term goal of ours is to do everything we can to line up the folks willing to work with people downtown who can hire them. He shared his own struggles with addiction and bad habits, but that he had turned things around—one day at a time, he got his life back on track. Not to paint an unrealistic picture, he mentioned that a lot of folks were in need of some serious adjustments in things like character, humility, discipline, selflessness, patience, etc…but encouraged us to keep sharing devotionals and continue to teach some of these principles going forward.

Thank you for all of your support and hopefully, sooner rather than later, you’ll witness some of these stories firsthand. We meet up every other Wednesday morning at Warren Baptist’s, Fury’s Ferry parking lot…645am and we’re back by 830. You should join us. You have no idea how you'll be blessed.

Graham, for Kingdom Here

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