Along time ago I made a promise to serve God full time for at least a year.
This is the reason I went on the Worldrace and went to 11 countries in 11 months,
It wasn’t to travel the world, my route went solely to Latin America.
I’m finishing up month 12 back home in Southern California.
This month I visited/helped at local ministries/outreaches in the Upland, Ontario, Pomona,
San Bernardino and Downtown Los Angeles. The focus was to visit/spotlight ministries that help the homeless.
When most people think of missions, visions of 3rd world countries and exotic animals may come to mind.
I know when I first heard of missions I thought of far away countries and these adventure junkies on safari evangelizing at some hut.
Most of my trip was doing routine things, like manual labor and encouraging the long term missionaries/local churches.
(Life was just life in a different place)
I recently saw a sign at the edge of a church parking lot it said “you are now entering the mission field”
Its not some glamorous Job or distant location…no rather just the simple act of showing Gods Love to the people around you wherever you are.
I believe this simple act of showing Gods love to others near you will also translate to helping others in distant places.
Everyone needs to know Gods love and see that Jesus offers Salvation to the whole world. (John 3:16)
It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, how much money you earn, if your married, single, divorced, or if you have a home…
God offers salvation from our sin to know Him eternally (Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23, Romans 5:6-8, Romans 10:9-10, John 17:3)
I’m not sure exactly why God placed the homeless on my heart:
-maybe its because they know they have a need and can’t fix it themselves
-maybe its because they are invisible in public places
-maybe its because they understand life in basic survival terms that few in the 1st world experience
-maybe its because they are open to hear the Gospel
-maybe its because Gods teaching me to listen
There are days where I want to close my eyes and shut it all out, to not feel, to not smell, to not see needs in people,
Some days sadly I do just that…the issue seems so big and i’m so small.
I heard a story:
Of a kid on a beach where thousands of star fish had washed up.
He would pick one up at a time and throw it back into the sea thereby saving it.
A man said to the kid there are to many star fish to save, it won’t make a difference.
The kid picked one star fish up and threw it into the sea and said it made a difference to that one.
Someone once said:
“I am only one, but I am one, I cannot do everything but I can do something…”
I’m not sure what doing something looks like to you, its different for each person.
It can be as simple as caring a 5 dollar gift card to a fast food place on you to give away the next time a homeless person asks for money.
I could be helping at a local church, food bank, clothing outreach, or serving a meal.
To be honest I’m still searching for what doing something looks like for me…Its okay to not have it all figured out, don’t be afraid of failure,
you only fail if you don’t try.
Thats why I’m writing this and the following blogs to spot light ministries and provide ideas as to what doing something may look like.
