Yesterday was a good day. I changed my regular “personal ministry” day to Tuesday in order to allow me to celebrate my birthday with Dawn and eat, etc. Monday would have been my Mission Jackson fast day, but I moved it to Tuesday. That concluded my current commitment of prayer and fasting for Mission Jackson. I don’t mention this to be bragging on myself, no not at all. I know of others in our ministry who food fasted longer than I. Anyway, we were fasting from various things during the month of July to focus on the needs of our Mission Jackson Ministry and I believe the Lord will help us to see more clearly now as we move forward.
Ok, back to RIFA. Part of my personal ministry day has been to volunteer at the RIFA soup kitchen and take part in the worship service for that day. Dan has even allowed me to sing a time or two. I have been blessed by watching how Dan Ward shares his heart and love of Jesus with everyone who comes to the soup kitchen. This is not an easy job for many reasons. One reason being the fact that he listens to the difficult stories of desperate people week after week… day after day.. and then does his best to speak the love of Jesus into the situations he is confronted with. This is not easy to do. Think about it. Hearing so much bad news about pain and despair, and then trying to speak Truth into the lives of so many hurting people. I remember not long ago, I tried to compliment Dan on his work and his efforts to bless the lives of the patrons of the soup kitchen. His response was “Oh, I just show up, God does the rest.” He said this with a big smile on his face. My reply to him was “but Dan, somebody has to show up.” He really does an awesome job and I pray that in some small way, my comments are a testimony to his service.
In our “modern” church world, most of us have forgotten what it is like to engage the downtrodden and hurting, the displaced and homeless, those staring faces who need Hope. It is amazing to me that we too often settle for simply begging people to come to a church building, dressed in their Sunday best – one day a week. We feel good if we have a large number to report for the week and maintain the status quo. Don’t bristle too much about those comments. I don’t always “engage” on the street level either, but I am making a conscious effort to do it more. In my view, Jesus is our ultimate role-model and He was very concerned for the poor and downtrodden. Shouldn’t we emulate Him? Think about it as you review these verses: Proverbs 19:17, Isaiah 58:10, Matthew 25:41-46, Acts 20:35, 1 John 3:17
