Each week GOD pours out His everlasting love on the people of Pacific Beach. The people that make up the team of Loving Thy Neighbor Ministry are blessed to bear witness to that by participating through faith... and it truly is a blessing to watch Him work.
We see all sorts of people from different walks of life: Addictions to either drugs, alcohol, or even both; sober people fallen on hard times; the mentally ill; the heartbroken; run-aways; wounded veterans; tourists; or just some hungry surfers. I love the fact that we are able to get such a diverse gathering of people. No matter who we run into, GOD uses us to share His love unconditionally to each person where they are... and that is the blessing for me.
Tonight we had a few extra helping hands. Of course they came on a perfect night, because we had another astonishingly large crowd amongst us. We were able to distribute a lot of the clothing that has been donated towards the Ministry because of the extra hands. It was even proven wise to bring a fourth table down tonight, which will now be the norm.
Again, I met with a handful of curious passer-byers interested in knowing how they can help us out. It's encouraging to see the sparkle in somebody's eye when they realize you don't need to belong to an organization to 'love your neighbors'.
I had a very interesting conversation with a certain man from our crowd tonight. He believes that he is 'King David' from the Bible. While he was sharing with me, I was quietly asking GOD for wisdom and the proper things to say... or at least an opportunity to direct our conversation back to Jesus. We kept getting distracted by everyone walking by, so we've made plans to have a deeper discussion in the future. (Please pray for GOD to speak!)
It is such a beautiful thing to look at everybody smiling before we leave for the evening. It is no secret why we come... or in who's name we come for that matter. Again GOD showed the people on the streets of Pacific Beach that 'they' are loved.
