So today was another spectacular day to be downtown in the park. Hanging out with our friends. Weather was great. Food was great. A couple hundred services or more of enchiladas, Spanish rice, and all the fixings that go along with a meal like that. And the Youth Group from St. Vincent DePaul Church came down and brought enough deserts to choke a stable of horses! Amazing how that works. They were great to have down there too. Something about young kids and a desire to help and their desire to be on fire for His causes. I talked to one young lady who expressed her amazement at what was going on down there. She mentioned that her youth group was going to try to do something monthly. I’m not sure if she meant they were going to come and serve with us monthly or not. But she was so convinced that she needed to come down more often. It’s so cool to see younger folks who get it. There is a huge problem in our city and I don’t k now how to address the issue as it relates to solving the problem. But I know that we can all do a little something to show we care. If everyone did a little something…
There was another couple who came down today and I believe they were with the youth group. I believe the lady works at Creighton University here in Omaha. Her words, and I have to paraphrase, were that she simply could not believe something like this could be happening in our own city. That there was a homelessness problem of this proportion right here in our city. Creighton is in the middle of spending millions of dollars purchasing buildings in the area north of downtown and east of their campus. She said she couldn’t believe that they were spending all that money and what are we doing for the people of our city? Now this conversation was relayed to me, but I have to believe that’s not an uncommon perception. I just don’t think people realize the extent of the problem in this city as it relates to homelessness and poverty. Again, if everyone just did a little something…
Last Thursday, Robin and I had a change to share the story of what God is doing in His ministry work, through us, in the downtown community. We had the opportunity to share with a group called Metro Marketplace Ministry. It’s a group who works to connect others in the business community to share Christ in the workplace. So we were able to share what God is doing in our lives and in the downtown community as we see it. One of the more interesting things that came of this meeting, at least to me, was the following story that was shared with us. After we spoke, a younger fellow shared a story with us. He mentioned that he knew one of the fellows that was in our video. Has known him for a few years now. And I wrote of this guy, unknowingly, a few weeks ago. Seems this guy comes over into Omaha from Council Bluffs every Sunday morning and gives our friend John a small donation. 5 bucks. 10 bucks. 20 bucks. Whatever he can spare I suppose. A few weeks ago, he had to navigate a field to find John. Seems John had overslept. I wrote about this already, so I’ll spare the details. The point of it all? Well, first of all, John is agnostic. So he doesn’t quite share our views on Christianity. Yet his friend that comes over every week is Christian. As are we. And John knows that. Not because we beat him up with the Gospel every week. Not because we hold our friends captive each week as we preach a message. That just doesn’t happen. We pray together. And even our agnostic friends respect that. At least outwardly. Now I like John a lot and we’ve had a couple of conversations around this whole thing. But even though our views are different when it comes to what we believe, John definitely knows what we believe. And he respects it. So at our meeting last week, this fellow speaks of John and we now know who John’s Sunday friend is. This is the guy that John has told us about. The guy that shows up each week with a bit of help for John. And John has told him about us. And said that we needed to hook up. This just struck me because Robin and I both knew who he was talking about without a name being mentioned. So in all of it, some things become a little clearer to me. The simple fact that His Word never goes out void. I know that might be the pat answer from a Christian perspective, but I believe it with all I know. And when our actions are His actions, that speaks pretty loudly also. So even though we preach no message to our friends on Sundays, they know where it all comes from, and it certainly ain’t from us. So it was interesting to say the least, that this guy would relate this story to us and confirm what God is always impressing upon us. If we will simply go out and attempt to be a bit of His light in a dark spot, He will indeed shine through us to the point that people will maybe see a glimpse of Him. Now don’t get me wrong. I could screw up a one man funeral if given the right opportunity. But that’s the great thing about working for the Big Guy Himself. We don’t have to worry about the small stuff. He takes care of it. And give us confirmation if we are only willing to listen. We just have to do something. It doesn’t have to be this huge "outreach" project. It simply has to be something from the heart and something that is done to glorify and honor God. We know if our hearts are right, He’ll lead it and in a way that will constantly and consistently blow our doors in. That’s just how He works. Just gotta do a little something…
Finally, I met a couple fellows from the University of Nebraska at Omaha today. They are from Campus Crusade for Christ. I think they just happened upon us today. But they were amazed at what they saw. They were talking to a few of our friends and they told them to come over and introduce themselves to me. We had a great conversation and of course I asked them to do a coat drive for us. Or a sock drive. Or a whatever drive. Just do something. I think they will. Because this isn’t our thing. It’s His thing. And everyone can get involved and help out in someway. It’s not about the socks or the coats or the meal. I know I’ve mentioned that on several occasions, but I mean it. It’s not about that stuff. It’s about His stuff. And it’s about us taking ownership of a problem in our city that isn’t going away anytime soon if we don’t all chip in a do a little something. For instance we learned this week that the city is considering removing all the trees from the park to alleviate a growing problem. I know I’m going off on a tangent here, but hang with me. So they are trying to rid this park of a growing problem. You want to know what the problem is? Bird poop. Yep, bird poop. That’s the official explanation. But you know what those trees provide? Cover from the heat in the summer for our friends. But they are also a nesting place for starlings. Lots of them. So instead of addressing that problem, let’s just remove the trees from the park. Wouldn’t want "trees" in a "park" now would we? Or maybe they don’t want our friends to have a place to go to get out of the summer heat. Look, I know it’s a problem. But how about addressing the real problem here? So we remove the trees and the homeless guys are just going to disappear? Probably not. So I’m talking to the guys from Campus Crusade and they are in. They want to help in some tangible way. They say they’ll contact us at some point. I wonder if they know any tree huggers? :) We might need to enlist a group to help. I don’t think Robin is going to go down without a fight on this one. We both kind of laughed at the description in the paper the other day. Seems with all the bird poop, the local business community can’t enjoy a "lunch alfresco" in the park because of the stench. I don’t know. We enjoy a "lunch alfresco" (whatever that is) every Sunday at noon. Along with 150 or so of our friends. Doesn’t seem to bother any of us...
Peace and have a great and blessed week.
Go out and make a difference.
…it matters to that one… :)
There was another couple who came down today and I believe they were with the youth group. I believe the lady works at Creighton University here in Omaha. Her words, and I have to paraphrase, were that she simply could not believe something like this could be happening in our own city. That there was a homelessness problem of this proportion right here in our city. Creighton is in the middle of spending millions of dollars purchasing buildings in the area north of downtown and east of their campus. She said she couldn’t believe that they were spending all that money and what are we doing for the people of our city? Now this conversation was relayed to me, but I have to believe that’s not an uncommon perception. I just don’t think people realize the extent of the problem in this city as it relates to homelessness and poverty. Again, if everyone just did a little something…
Last Thursday, Robin and I had a change to share the story of what God is doing in His ministry work, through us, in the downtown community. We had the opportunity to share with a group called Metro Marketplace Ministry. It’s a group who works to connect others in the business community to share Christ in the workplace. So we were able to share what God is doing in our lives and in the downtown community as we see it. One of the more interesting things that came of this meeting, at least to me, was the following story that was shared with us. After we spoke, a younger fellow shared a story with us. He mentioned that he knew one of the fellows that was in our video. Has known him for a few years now. And I wrote of this guy, unknowingly, a few weeks ago. Seems this guy comes over into Omaha from Council Bluffs every Sunday morning and gives our friend John a small donation. 5 bucks. 10 bucks. 20 bucks. Whatever he can spare I suppose. A few weeks ago, he had to navigate a field to find John. Seems John had overslept. I wrote about this already, so I’ll spare the details. The point of it all? Well, first of all, John is agnostic. So he doesn’t quite share our views on Christianity. Yet his friend that comes over every week is Christian. As are we. And John knows that. Not because we beat him up with the Gospel every week. Not because we hold our friends captive each week as we preach a message. That just doesn’t happen. We pray together. And even our agnostic friends respect that. At least outwardly. Now I like John a lot and we’ve had a couple of conversations around this whole thing. But even though our views are different when it comes to what we believe, John definitely knows what we believe. And he respects it. So at our meeting last week, this fellow speaks of John and we now know who John’s Sunday friend is. This is the guy that John has told us about. The guy that shows up each week with a bit of help for John. And John has told him about us. And said that we needed to hook up. This just struck me because Robin and I both knew who he was talking about without a name being mentioned. So in all of it, some things become a little clearer to me. The simple fact that His Word never goes out void. I know that might be the pat answer from a Christian perspective, but I believe it with all I know. And when our actions are His actions, that speaks pretty loudly also. So even though we preach no message to our friends on Sundays, they know where it all comes from, and it certainly ain’t from us. So it was interesting to say the least, that this guy would relate this story to us and confirm what God is always impressing upon us. If we will simply go out and attempt to be a bit of His light in a dark spot, He will indeed shine through us to the point that people will maybe see a glimpse of Him. Now don’t get me wrong. I could screw up a one man funeral if given the right opportunity. But that’s the great thing about working for the Big Guy Himself. We don’t have to worry about the small stuff. He takes care of it. And give us confirmation if we are only willing to listen. We just have to do something. It doesn’t have to be this huge "outreach" project. It simply has to be something from the heart and something that is done to glorify and honor God. We know if our hearts are right, He’ll lead it and in a way that will constantly and consistently blow our doors in. That’s just how He works. Just gotta do a little something…
Finally, I met a couple fellows from the University of Nebraska at Omaha today. They are from Campus Crusade for Christ. I think they just happened upon us today. But they were amazed at what they saw. They were talking to a few of our friends and they told them to come over and introduce themselves to me. We had a great conversation and of course I asked them to do a coat drive for us. Or a sock drive. Or a whatever drive. Just do something. I think they will. Because this isn’t our thing. It’s His thing. And everyone can get involved and help out in someway. It’s not about the socks or the coats or the meal. I know I’ve mentioned that on several occasions, but I mean it. It’s not about that stuff. It’s about His stuff. And it’s about us taking ownership of a problem in our city that isn’t going away anytime soon if we don’t all chip in a do a little something. For instance we learned this week that the city is considering removing all the trees from the park to alleviate a growing problem. I know I’m going off on a tangent here, but hang with me. So they are trying to rid this park of a growing problem. You want to know what the problem is? Bird poop. Yep, bird poop. That’s the official explanation. But you know what those trees provide? Cover from the heat in the summer for our friends. But they are also a nesting place for starlings. Lots of them. So instead of addressing that problem, let’s just remove the trees from the park. Wouldn’t want "trees" in a "park" now would we? Or maybe they don’t want our friends to have a place to go to get out of the summer heat. Look, I know it’s a problem. But how about addressing the real problem here? So we remove the trees and the homeless guys are just going to disappear? Probably not. So I’m talking to the guys from Campus Crusade and they are in. They want to help in some tangible way. They say they’ll contact us at some point. I wonder if they know any tree huggers? :) We might need to enlist a group to help. I don’t think Robin is going to go down without a fight on this one. We both kind of laughed at the description in the paper the other day. Seems with all the bird poop, the local business community can’t enjoy a "lunch alfresco" in the park because of the stench. I don’t know. We enjoy a "lunch alfresco" (whatever that is) every Sunday at noon. Along with 150 or so of our friends. Doesn’t seem to bother any of us...
Peace and have a great and blessed week.
Go out and make a difference.
…it matters to that one… :)
No comments:
Post a Comment