Hello readers... Where do I even start tonight?
This Ministry has been such a blessing for me and has given me tremendous growth in my own walk. I love sharing the heart of Jesus with anybody that will listen (or watch).
So this afternoon, Sid and I sat down and chopped up chapter 3 in the book of Mark. He shared with me what the Lord is doing in his life and for his own personal walk with Him. There is fruit! Being totally transparent about this, at first I was discouraged that only one person showed up for the study, but while Sid and I sat there reading together.... GOD's gentle spirit spoke to me. He softly whispered to me that this is the very thing that I wanted from the beginning! GOD has given me the opportunity to disciple/mentor somebody without the distractions of multi-tasking. Not to mention GOD has given Sid the undivided attention, with the freedom to ask what 'that' means. It's been really cool. Before I left to come back home to prepare for tonight, Sid made a decision to join us in the baptism this Sunday.
Onto what happened when I returned @ 5pm.
We had plenty of volunteers again this week... which is a huge blessing in more ways than one. The message was about trusting GOD. My prayer is that more and more of the neighbors whom we serve, would realize that is trustworthy. I've noticed that more and more people have been responsive to the messages. GOD is stirring the hearts of the men & women of Pacific Beach... maybe not at a speed that I would like to see just yet, but His ways are certainly not my ways. I'm cool with slowing things down and waiting for GOD. There are times that I must remind myself to slow down and to not move too fast, or else I'd be in my own will.
So going back to the watching part that I'd earlier mentioned. Our team does not do what we do to be seen by anybody, but given the location where we do what we do, it's kinda difficult to not be seen. Summer has officially arrived, and the crowd flooding the boardwalk reminds us of that. We have no clue how many people have their hearts touched by the things they see as they pass by, that's between them and GOD. Tonight our Heavenly Father introduced us to a generous man who is also involved in Ministry. His contribution is paying for the entire dinner next week! Now keep in mind, our average attendance for dinner is 100 people. Through this one man, GOD showed some of our team members (including myself) just how faithful He is to those who follow Him. I only mention this because had this man not seen the work GOD is doing through our Ministry, none of that would have happened.
Another person I've mentioned in the past blogs is Ron, those who follow us on here know him. The Lord called him to the baptism this Sunday as well. We shall see how that goes. Again... fruit!
Now finally to the part that I would call the highlight of the evening... Jeremy. Jeremy has been part of our life for nearly 2 years now. He has grown so much in his walk with Jesus! We met Jeremy while he found himself in our line for some hot food. He's had his ups & downs (like all of us) but he's learned to call on the saving grace of Jesus Christ. He eventually surrendered to the rules of the SDRM, where he's spent 22 months of his life abiding and growing in GOD's word. Tonight he finally graduated the SDRM program! It was a great honor to be there and see the fruits of our labor!!!! I am so very proud of Jeremy. This is just the beginning of a whole new life for him... a sober, truly happy life... a life that will not cease after his body deteriorates and returns to the dust from which we are formed. He know has a life with Jesus and is spreading the Good News through his new life. During the graduation ceremony, Amanda and I were introduced to a man, who is the fruit of another man's obedience in sharing the Good News. We were blown away at the love that pours from the walls of the SDRM. This was actually our first time inside the building. I encourage those who are reading this, to open another tab or page and take a moment to look up the San Diego Rescue Mission.
