Hello friends!
This is me live from Philly PA! This coronavirus thing sure is nuts, huh? My team and I are quarantined, and all our ministry is cancelled to comply with city and state restrictions.
So what a wild week it’s been. I knew this ministry week was going to be hard, for so many reasons before corona even hit. We’re in inner city Philadelphia; the dangerous, crime-ridden, drug-selling, addicted, I-was-literally-given-nasal-Narcan-for-my-pocket-in-case-we-come-across-someone-overdosing part of Philadelphia.
At our outreach Friday night we were handing out coffees and some small snacks and people would come in, get a coffee, chat for a bit, step out in the street, and a little while later walk back in bleeding from their inner elbow because they’d just shot up. And get another coffee.
And it’s hard.
It’s hard to watch people so stuck in an addiction they believe it’s the only way to live. The ministry we’re working with has resources to get these people help or into a program and rehab, and they don’t want it. And you can’t make someone get help.
Before quarantine when we were doing street cleanup, I found a litter I hate to see more than cigarette butts. When addicts go to get clean needles, there is a little orange cap over the top that you pop off to reveal the needle right before you shoot up again. There’s a park we did cleanup at on Tuesday that is known by the locals as “Needle Park” because it’s so bad. People are openly using in the daylight. There’s a playground in one corner, a public library in the middle, and needles and those orange caps everywhere else.
Y’all. Let me be honest for a minute:
I really really hate those stupid orange caps.*
*language edited because this is still a family show
I really really. HATE. Those
Stupid
Orange
Caps.
And we’ve cleaned up thousands of them.
Thousands of them in a 2-hour cleanup on Tuesday alone.
And do you want to know the worst part?
They’ve all be replaced.
Thousands are back again replacing the ones we picked up in less than 24 hours.
We had a team debrief and we all went around and shared how we were feeling and I cracked. I had wept the day before in prayer because of those stupid orange caps and cried again in front of my team because of how much I hate them (the orange caps; not my team. My team is excellent 99.9% of the time. I hate the orange caps).
Those caps stand in defiance of the freedom Jesus died for us to have. They are a testament to the brokenness of mankind and how desperately lost we are. The enemy laughs at me picking them up in my gloved hands and casting them into a black garbage pit that I picture as the mouth of the black pit of hell. Take your addictions back and choke on it, Satan!
And I was so excited to do ministry here. I wanted to evangelize, I wanted to see deliverance, I wanted to see freedom, I wanted to watch my Savior work. I wanted to see the brokenness and addiction and feel my heart shred and cry out to the Father to fix it. I wanted this ministry. I wanted to serve and see miracles and lives changed. There is so much work to be done here, and I can’t do it because corona hit and I am so sad about that.
Last Sunday, my mom messaged me asking how things were going because of coronavirus, telling me that schools were shutting down in my hometown and churches were moving to online services. I responded that schools were shutting down here in
Philly, but we were still moving forward. Then I said:
“I’m also not worried so much about corona; there was a bomb threat at the end of the block we’re staying on and a guy got stabbed like 1000 feet from where we were doing outreach Friday night. And we’re not allowed to wear open-toed shoes because there are heroin needles on the ground.”
I was thinking that I’m young and healthy and can keep doing ministry because if I get sick, my immune system will be able to fight it off. And if it gets bad, I have healthcare. So really, corona as a “crisis” was only a matter of perspective.
And then it hit me how incredibly selfish that was.
You see, I can fight off a virus. And I have a place to go if it turns out I couldn’t. But Joe Shmoe the homeless addict down the street I want to evangelize to who shoots up heroin and other drugs with clean or dirty needles (it’s a gamble) multiple times a day? His immune system is probably shot. And he has no where to go.
Y’all. It’s not just the older folks and the immune-compromised persons we need to be thinking about right now. The homeless are the forgotten in this crisis. Homeless shelters are shutting down and cancelling handouts across the country to try and stop the spread of Covid-19. The homeless have no where to go, and now it’s a toss up if they even get to eat. And healthcare? What healthcare? The homeless are the forgotten population in our country right now.
You might say “Well, there are restrictions, there’s nothing I can do. Besides, I have my people to take care of, and who knows how long this will go on?”
And it’s so easy to give into fear and anxiety and passivity.
But.
Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
(Ephesians 6:11-13, NIV)
God knew this was coming. He knew coronavirus was coming, He knew that we’d get quarantined, He knew it would be scary. And He called His church to be ready.
And the devil saw it arrive and knew he could get a foothold of fear in the children of God if they weren’t paying attention. Fear is the root of passivity, of anxiety, of selfishness.
But.
We are not a fear-ridden, anxiety-riddled, selfishly-passive body of Christ. We may be grounded (please use wisdom and follow your city/state guidelines), but we are not crippled. We do not bow to the schemes of the devil and give in to fear. Our trust in Him who defeated the devil’s schemes on the cross, the Maker of heaven and earth, the King of kings, Great Physician, the Lord of hosts, King Jesus.
So we do not bow to the schemes of the devil.
We stand our ground with the Lion of Judah, the Lamb who was slain, who is ready for our intercession, ready to drown us in revival, and flood our nation with His grace. Our prayers do not cease just because things look bleak.
Rejoice always, pray continuallygive thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, NIV)
What do we have to rejoice and give thanks about? First, because He did not give us a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7) and second, because He will provide for all our needs always (Philippians 4:19).
Please friends, do not give in to passivity and forget the broken and needy people around you. Reach out to your community, make sure your neighbor is doing ok. See what’s acceptable to do and reach out to the homeless in your area. Now is the time for the body of Christ and the church of God to show Jesus in our communities. Show Jesus in your actions and your words during this time when so many are giving in to anxiety. Speak truth; that fear has no place. Use wisdom; follow guidelines set to protect your community from this virus.
It’s time for intense, intentional prayer for revival in our nation (I know for a fact you got nothing else going on; you are quarantined). And please pray for deliverance over the addicted souls in your community. Their lives are significant; they are loved by God with a plan and purpose and calling over their lives just as much as we are.
And give thanks to God and rejoice for how He will use this situation for good.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.
(Romans 8:28, NIV)
Let’s see revival together.
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