We knew in advance that this particular weekend would be packed in PB, due to Memorial Day weekend, so we arrived a few minutes earlier to give us time to park. As we unloaded the truck, my stomach knotted up once I saw the amount of people waiting for us...
I should back up and mention that the reason we were able to get down there earlier enough is because we rushed out of the house... and now I'll take full responsibility... I forgot the 4 loaves of bread that I had cut up & buttered, and the trays necessary to keep the food warm. I immediately started to stress out. With the help of my brothers & sisters in Christ Jesus, we were able to lift that to GOD and my problems seemed to evaporate. I then shared a message based off of Proverbs 3:5,6~ Trusting in the Lord.
The food went quick with such a large crowd and unfortunately we had to turn away 5-10 people because the food had run out. While we were serving, there was a man standing in line waiting for food (who made me a bit uncomfortable) that the SDPD had some questions for, so they removed him from the line to discuss their matters with him. When they were finished, the man returned to the now empty line, only to find the food was now gone. He started to throw a fit. Our brother, Ruben wisely suggested we join together for prayer. By the powerful name of Jesus, we rebuked the enemy from our presence and for peace in the area... I then noticed the man walking away. A lot went on tonight and it felt weird. I can't really describe it, other than to say we can all feel the Spiritual Battle going on down there.
We sincerely appreciate all of the prayers and support from The Body of Christ. Thank you!!
Friday, May 28, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Persistence Pays Off... (Friday)
As Amanda and I walked to our area, we were astonished at the size of the group waiting for us. This by far was the biggest crowd I'd ever experienced in our Ministry... (And of course... we had to use wisdom when it came to portions, so that everyone was able to eat... which worked out perfect, to the very last person.)
The message was about persistence and how to keep moving forward, putting your trust in the Creator, no matter what your circumstances are. I looked into the eyes of everyone as I was sharing what GOD had put on my heart. I saw the pain & loss of hope in their eyes. It's very sad most of the time. As I was looking around, this was the first time I'd really paid any attention to my surroundings behind me. I noticed about 25-30 tourists that had been passing by, stopped and were listening too. (For some reason, that gave me butterflies in my stomach.) More importantly, I noticed some of the neighbors (from the expensive condos) on their balcony, video taping us! I know the time is short before the city will come to try and shut us down. The enemy is doing everything he can to put a stop to this... so please pray for us. At the end of the message, there was another opportunity for the people to accept Jesus as their Savior.
After the meals were served, a 'newcomer' walked up to me and asked if we could talk. As a courtesy for privacy, I shall call him "L". We picked a quick spot down the path to sit and talk. He admitted that he was intimidated by the size of the group and noticed that nobody else raised their hands to accept Jesus, but he wanted to. GOD touched L's life that night! I explained to him that GOD sees all things, including the heart of men. GOD knew whether or not he was raising his hand. I explained that I only asked for a show of hands so that I can remember who to pray for, but it wasn't a necessary thing. We sat and had the most intimate one-on-one conversations I've had in a very long time. It was great to see somebody who was genuinely interested in the things of GOD, asking questions with pure motives. We ended up hanging out together until 10 or 11pm. By the end of the night, we'd made arrangements to pick L up for church on Sunday.
Amanda had her own endearing encounters too. She prayed with Patricia and Bobby (A couple in their late 40's-early 50's). We don't know how long they've lived on the streets. (There are some things with some people, that you just don't ask.) Bobby has lots of health problems and needs a walker most of the time. They are eager to find a place to stay. I can't even begin to imagine what life is like for them. I'm thankful that GOD has strategically set us in PB for these people, to share of His love for them. As prayers were lifted to His thrown room, tears flowed down their cheeks because GOD is real and touching people.
The message was about persistence and how to keep moving forward, putting your trust in the Creator, no matter what your circumstances are. I looked into the eyes of everyone as I was sharing what GOD had put on my heart. I saw the pain & loss of hope in their eyes. It's very sad most of the time. As I was looking around, this was the first time I'd really paid any attention to my surroundings behind me. I noticed about 25-30 tourists that had been passing by, stopped and were listening too. (For some reason, that gave me butterflies in my stomach.) More importantly, I noticed some of the neighbors (from the expensive condos) on their balcony, video taping us! I know the time is short before the city will come to try and shut us down. The enemy is doing everything he can to put a stop to this... so please pray for us. At the end of the message, there was another opportunity for the people to accept Jesus as their Savior.
After the meals were served, a 'newcomer' walked up to me and asked if we could talk. As a courtesy for privacy, I shall call him "L". We picked a quick spot down the path to sit and talk. He admitted that he was intimidated by the size of the group and noticed that nobody else raised their hands to accept Jesus, but he wanted to. GOD touched L's life that night! I explained to him that GOD sees all things, including the heart of men. GOD knew whether or not he was raising his hand. I explained that I only asked for a show of hands so that I can remember who to pray for, but it wasn't a necessary thing. We sat and had the most intimate one-on-one conversations I've had in a very long time. It was great to see somebody who was genuinely interested in the things of GOD, asking questions with pure motives. We ended up hanging out together until 10 or 11pm. By the end of the night, we'd made arrangements to pick L up for church on Sunday.
Amanda had her own endearing encounters too. She prayed with Patricia and Bobby (A couple in their late 40's-early 50's). We don't know how long they've lived on the streets. (There are some things with some people, that you just don't ask.) Bobby has lots of health problems and needs a walker most of the time. They are eager to find a place to stay. I can't even begin to imagine what life is like for them. I'm thankful that GOD has strategically set us in PB for these people, to share of His love for them. As prayers were lifted to His thrown room, tears flowed down their cheeks because GOD is real and touching people.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
The beach clean up
It certainly didn't go as we had hoped for. The objective was to get the homeless involved and make a differance towards something positive.
When we pulled up to park, we notice a large group waiting exactly where we'd planned. Amanda and I both felt excited to see such a great turn out, but once we walked up and asked who wanted rubber gloves... out came the excuses. In short, 2 of the 20 something people ended up helping our small team of volunteers clean up the area.
I like to give credit where credit is due, so thank you to Lisa, Ruben, James, Amanda, Ron, and Chris. I'm also thankful for the generous donation provided by Papa John's Pizza. I'd coordinated to have lunch provided for all volunteers when we finished the clean up, as a special blessing for their good works. I chose to not give advance notice of this, particularly because I wanted those with pure motives to partake. Needless to say, we had an abundance of left overs.
At first, I felt defeated and disappointed... but then I looked at things differantly. I felt good about what I had just done. I've never in my life done a beach clean up, nor have I ever in my life picked up cigarette butts before. When we were finished, we'd collected enough trash from the 3 blocks, to fill 4.5 large garbage bags.
When we pulled up to park, we notice a large group waiting exactly where we'd planned. Amanda and I both felt excited to see such a great turn out, but once we walked up and asked who wanted rubber gloves... out came the excuses. In short, 2 of the 20 something people ended up helping our small team of volunteers clean up the area.
I like to give credit where credit is due, so thank you to Lisa, Ruben, James, Amanda, Ron, and Chris. I'm also thankful for the generous donation provided by Papa John's Pizza. I'd coordinated to have lunch provided for all volunteers when we finished the clean up, as a special blessing for their good works. I chose to not give advance notice of this, particularly because I wanted those with pure motives to partake. Needless to say, we had an abundance of left overs.
At first, I felt defeated and disappointed... but then I looked at things differantly. I felt good about what I had just done. I've never in my life done a beach clean up, nor have I ever in my life picked up cigarette butts before. When we were finished, we'd collected enough trash from the 3 blocks, to fill 4.5 large garbage bags.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Quicker than ever! (Friday)
I'd have to say that tonight was a new record breaker!
I should probably start out by sharing that I've been fighting some infection/virus, I'm calling it a chest cold, for the past 11 days. It's difficult and painful for me to speak, especially loudly. We arrived a bit earlier than usual and found a parking spot immediately. We had help unloading the truck and setting up, which sped things up too.
Tonight was the first night that we didn't have any of the HSE students with us, because they left yesterday for their mission trip for the next month... which also means no worship music for us in PB. (Please pray for the students as they travel across the entire U.S. Country sharing the Gospel.)
Because I'm not feeling well, and also unsure of who we'd have to help us serve, we decided to not bring clothes or any of that stuff... just the food and a small box of hygiene materials. The message shared tonight was a devotional from my Pastor. It was about "Faith" and whether or not an individual has spiritual faith, it's an essential to everyday living and what a great reward it is to put our faith in He that is the 'Rewarder' of our faith. The entire message lasted about 4 minutes, which also made us ahead of our regular start time. It was 4:55pm when we started serving food. I stayed clear from the food and simply handed out waters, as to not risk infecting anyone else or contaminating their food. We had 40+ people pass through the line before some of our help showed up. It was refreshing to see John, Dana, and Reuben show up.
Everything went as well as expected. It went a lot faster then we'd expected too. By 5:35pm we had fed 80+people, with some getting second plates before the food ran out. We ran out before everyone got to eat, although some of them showed up later than 5pm, they'd expected food to still be available.... and I can't help but somehow feel responsible for them not eating tonight. It makes me sad.
I reminded everyone about the plans for the beach clean up tomorrow morning. Some said they'd be there waiting to get started. I pray that all goes well with that. While passing out waters, I was glancing around the beach and didn't really see that much trash laying around, so something tells me it'll be more of a morning of fellowship than anything else. We'll see what GOD has in store tomorrow though.
Good night!
I should probably start out by sharing that I've been fighting some infection/virus, I'm calling it a chest cold, for the past 11 days. It's difficult and painful for me to speak, especially loudly. We arrived a bit earlier than usual and found a parking spot immediately. We had help unloading the truck and setting up, which sped things up too.
Tonight was the first night that we didn't have any of the HSE students with us, because they left yesterday for their mission trip for the next month... which also means no worship music for us in PB. (Please pray for the students as they travel across the entire U.S. Country sharing the Gospel.)
Because I'm not feeling well, and also unsure of who we'd have to help us serve, we decided to not bring clothes or any of that stuff... just the food and a small box of hygiene materials. The message shared tonight was a devotional from my Pastor. It was about "Faith" and whether or not an individual has spiritual faith, it's an essential to everyday living and what a great reward it is to put our faith in He that is the 'Rewarder' of our faith. The entire message lasted about 4 minutes, which also made us ahead of our regular start time. It was 4:55pm when we started serving food. I stayed clear from the food and simply handed out waters, as to not risk infecting anyone else or contaminating their food. We had 40+ people pass through the line before some of our help showed up. It was refreshing to see John, Dana, and Reuben show up.
Everything went as well as expected. It went a lot faster then we'd expected too. By 5:35pm we had fed 80+people, with some getting second plates before the food ran out. We ran out before everyone got to eat, although some of them showed up later than 5pm, they'd expected food to still be available.... and I can't help but somehow feel responsible for them not eating tonight. It makes me sad.
I reminded everyone about the plans for the beach clean up tomorrow morning. Some said they'd be there waiting to get started. I pray that all goes well with that. While passing out waters, I was glancing around the beach and didn't really see that much trash laying around, so something tells me it'll be more of a morning of fellowship than anything else. We'll see what GOD has in store tomorrow though.
Good night!
Friday, May 7, 2010
Encouraging encounters...
The evening went fairly well, with only one small hiccup from a new comer causing a scene between he and another homeless man.
After the message was given, I reminded the group of the plans for the beach clean up next weekend. I printed out a stack of reminder flyer's for everyone that wanted to participate. They went quickly! That was exciting to see such eager people.
We had another large group, which also brings tons of passer-byers curious to see what's going on. One of those men passing by, just so happened to feel moved enough to join behind the makeline and help serve the meals. He seemed to be big help for Amanda. (I never did catch his name) I was able share about the Ministry with others as they stopped by and inquired about the gathering. All of those people shared encouraging words, which I gladly accept as being sent from GOD Himself. (As humbly as I can... I admit there are times where I find it very difficult to deal with trying to speak a clear message because of the distractions from within the crowd.)
Our old buddy, Jeremy surprised us with a guest appearance on his bicycle. That was really neat to see him doing so well. I'd also learned from our friend Lisa, that she was indeed successful with getting Vista into a rehab program. Lisa is such a wonderful woman and has a huge heart to help these guys (that nobody else seems to care for). It is because of her that Chicago was able to make it back home to Chicago, where he now has a job and his own apartment. I am genuinely thankful to have met such an admirable person as she.
Again, with such an abundance of fellow Believers to help witness, there was multiple one-on-ones going on. As the time passes by, I like to reflect on all of the awesomeness that GOD has done and I'm thankful that He is a God who answers prayers and blesses His Children.
I look forward to seeing what GOD does next week!
After the message was given, I reminded the group of the plans for the beach clean up next weekend. I printed out a stack of reminder flyer's for everyone that wanted to participate. They went quickly! That was exciting to see such eager people.
We had another large group, which also brings tons of passer-byers curious to see what's going on. One of those men passing by, just so happened to feel moved enough to join behind the makeline and help serve the meals. He seemed to be big help for Amanda. (I never did catch his name) I was able share about the Ministry with others as they stopped by and inquired about the gathering. All of those people shared encouraging words, which I gladly accept as being sent from GOD Himself. (As humbly as I can... I admit there are times where I find it very difficult to deal with trying to speak a clear message because of the distractions from within the crowd.)
Our old buddy, Jeremy surprised us with a guest appearance on his bicycle. That was really neat to see him doing so well. I'd also learned from our friend Lisa, that she was indeed successful with getting Vista into a rehab program. Lisa is such a wonderful woman and has a huge heart to help these guys (that nobody else seems to care for). It is because of her that Chicago was able to make it back home to Chicago, where he now has a job and his own apartment. I am genuinely thankful to have met such an admirable person as she.
Again, with such an abundance of fellow Believers to help witness, there was multiple one-on-ones going on. As the time passes by, I like to reflect on all of the awesomeness that GOD has done and I'm thankful that He is a God who answers prayers and blesses His Children.
I look forward to seeing what GOD does next week!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Update reminder for those that follow along....
Please take note of the flyer at the top/right corner of the page.
If it's on your heart to join us in the 1st annual LTN Beach Clean Up, please feel free to come along and meet us in PB. My prayer is that we'll have anough Believing volunteers to break off into smaller groups and continue ministering with 1 or 2 of the "guys from the beach".
Special treat afterwards!
If it's on your heart to join us in the 1st annual LTN Beach Clean Up, please feel free to come along and meet us in PB. My prayer is that we'll have anough Believing volunteers to break off into smaller groups and continue ministering with 1 or 2 of the "guys from the beach".
Special treat afterwards!
Friday, April 30, 2010
Love your neighbors...
Tonight went well!!
We found a really good parking spot as soon as we pulled up (which is harder to do as it gets closer to summer). I had a group of men to help me unload the truck and others to help Amanda set up for dinner. There was a decent amount of people already waiting against the seawall when we got there. The size of the group probably grew to somewhere in the ballpark of 70-80.
I was pretty nervous to share tonight. Not because of the message or the size of the audience though.... after some prayer this past week, I accepted Reggie's gift as an encouragement and decided to use the megaphone. It felt strange as I stood on the boardwalk, holding the giant megaphone in my hand. Honestly I wasn't sure how it would be received, and feared it could possibly be stumbling to some people. I eventually over came my fears, and jokingly explained why I brought it down, and the crowd seemed to appreciate it. I mean the reason behind it is for them anyways. I can hear myself just fine.
The message was about loving GOD and doing things out of love for Him. I also shared what Jesus tells us about 'loving our neighbors' and 'turning your cheek when others strike you'. The message was well received, which then led into me sharing something that's been on the heart of Amanda and myself for a few months. A community beach clean up! We decided to do this in 2 weeks, on Saturday (May 15, 2010) at 9am (Please feel free to join us!) We'll be meeting in front of the big Life Guard tower at the end of Grand. Nearly 10 men showed interest in participating. I foresee some neat things happening from this.
We were blessed with the presence of our friends, who've become regulars in helping with this Ministry. Delicious cookies seem to go fast down there! As the people stood in line for their meal, the beautiful sound of Worship music poured onto the boardwalk and down to the sand. I'm so thankful to see how GOD has anointed this Ministry.
I had opportunities to sit down and pray with a few people, listen to what they're going through, and give encouraging words according to the Holy Scriptures.
One of the guys that I've mentioned on numerous occasions.... Vista, was actually sober and looked 'fairly good' considering what he's been going through lately. He had a glow about him tonight. He was smiling! With the help of our dear friend Lisa, who's a gem to us and the people of PB, he's getting admitted into the Salvation Army. That truly is an answered prayer!
The food seems to go so fast now, yet GOD continues to provide and meet our needs each week. It's good to be a follower of Jesus Christ and be on the winning team, where we will never hunger or thirst again.
We found a really good parking spot as soon as we pulled up (which is harder to do as it gets closer to summer). I had a group of men to help me unload the truck and others to help Amanda set up for dinner. There was a decent amount of people already waiting against the seawall when we got there. The size of the group probably grew to somewhere in the ballpark of 70-80.
I was pretty nervous to share tonight. Not because of the message or the size of the audience though.... after some prayer this past week, I accepted Reggie's gift as an encouragement and decided to use the megaphone. It felt strange as I stood on the boardwalk, holding the giant megaphone in my hand. Honestly I wasn't sure how it would be received, and feared it could possibly be stumbling to some people. I eventually over came my fears, and jokingly explained why I brought it down, and the crowd seemed to appreciate it. I mean the reason behind it is for them anyways. I can hear myself just fine.
The message was about loving GOD and doing things out of love for Him. I also shared what Jesus tells us about 'loving our neighbors' and 'turning your cheek when others strike you'. The message was well received, which then led into me sharing something that's been on the heart of Amanda and myself for a few months. A community beach clean up! We decided to do this in 2 weeks, on Saturday (May 15, 2010) at 9am (Please feel free to join us!) We'll be meeting in front of the big Life Guard tower at the end of Grand. Nearly 10 men showed interest in participating. I foresee some neat things happening from this.
We were blessed with the presence of our friends, who've become regulars in helping with this Ministry. Delicious cookies seem to go fast down there! As the people stood in line for their meal, the beautiful sound of Worship music poured onto the boardwalk and down to the sand. I'm so thankful to see how GOD has anointed this Ministry.
I had opportunities to sit down and pray with a few people, listen to what they're going through, and give encouraging words according to the Holy Scriptures.
One of the guys that I've mentioned on numerous occasions.... Vista, was actually sober and looked 'fairly good' considering what he's been going through lately. He had a glow about him tonight. He was smiling! With the help of our dear friend Lisa, who's a gem to us and the people of PB, he's getting admitted into the Salvation Army. That truly is an answered prayer!
The food seems to go so fast now, yet GOD continues to provide and meet our needs each week. It's good to be a follower of Jesus Christ and be on the winning team, where we will never hunger or thirst again.
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