FAITH IN ACTION

Dawn with Baby William

At FIA we learned awhile back that its about His kingdom, not ours.  One of the ways we live that out is by serving other ministries besides FIA and looking for ways to create strategic partnerships to serve our community.

For some time we have been serving the Daily Bread Ministry of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, led by Leila Myers, which goes out on Tuesdays to feed the homeless in Douglasville and show them the love of Jesus Christ.  One area of partnership has resulted in the Pantry and FIA providing Daily Bread literally with daily bread along with pastries and desserts from Publix.  Each Tuesday morning we visit the Lutheran Church to deliver the blessings and pray up their work before they go out into the woods and other places where our homeless live.

We met Dawn, a young mother of four, with her newest child William, who is either crawling amongst the volunteers putting together the meals or strapped on her in his carrier.  Over time we also get to see his smiles, laughs, and delight in every new expression on his beautiful face as he grows in the midst of the Daily Bread servants who come from many different churches in our community.  We asked Dawn why she volunteers, having to take care of a new baby and three other children.  Her simple, quiet answer, “I enjoy it.”

It would be so easy for Dawn to say that she has a baby and can’t help, yet, she finds a way to serve Daily Bread.  And William’s family will share with him a wonderful legacy of what his mother did for Christ, with him there every step of the way.

The Brown and Davis Families Go To Church

In the Old Testament book of Kings we read about the prophet Elisha telling Naaman, captain of the Syrian host, to dunk himself seven times in the Jordan River to be healed of leprosy.  “But Naaman was wroth and went away,” proclaiming that the rivers of Damascus are better than those of Israel. II Kings 5:10-12

Often in our Christian walk we are unable to get out of our “comfort zone” to do the things that God would have us do.  We have great excuses, from “I am too busy, or I need to spend more time with my family, or I’m already doing a lot for the church.”  Sometimes we can even quote Scripture to justify our actions—or inactions, and we claim that “I am not gifted in that area so I don’t do it.”

At FIA we believe that operating “out of our comfort zone” is where God shows up to do what we can’t do.  That He will give us the means to do what He wants done.  That through His Holy Spirit, “we can do greater things than these.”   It starts with faith, and obedience.

Randy, Kathy and William Brown of Crossroads Church served Latasha, single mom of a household of eight recently and learned in a two hour visit filled with prayer that there is much spiritual warfare going on in her home. The Browns stepped out of their comfort zone by taking the family to church and lunch the following Sunday.  Kathy tells us that “God has put it on my heart to help this family so I will be keeping in touch with them . . .He is working on the mother’s heart and she went down to the front and prayed.  She said she loved Pastor Greg and couldn’t believe that he was the Pastor because he wasn’t wearing a suit.  I’m so thankful to FIA for enabling us to meet people like this so we can help them meet Jesus.”

Kathy works in a school lunchroom, and  Randy works in a factory building air conditioners.  They are filled with joy at the opportunity to serve Christ by serving others.  If they can get out of their comfort zone, why cant we?

Tracy Gilmore and his daughter Gracie, with their mower

Our newest FIA team members from Church at Chapel Hill include Tracy Gilmore, and his daughters Chelsea and Gracie.  The Gilmore family came out with us a couple of Sundays ago along with Tracy’s friend also named Tracy picking up and delivering.  The girls were delighted by one of our donors who happens to be an amateur magician.

Tracy’s work schedule also gives him the time to mow grass for Jesus.  We received a referral to mow the yard of an elderly lady who is no longer able to do this herself.  Here is Tracy’s reflection on his work:

I had a great blessing cutting the lawn for Mrs. Rita Williams. It’s true that we are more like Christ when we serve others. .. when I arrived at her residence I prayed god thank you for allowing me and my small service to this family to be used as a blessing to this family and myself. God answered my prayers for a dependable mower and a trailer to carry everything I need and he will supply the yards or as I call them blessings for me to do. I am so thankful to be a part of the faith in action team…its amazing how cutting grass can teach us about following Jesus.  I remember as a child learning to cut grass, how Dad would say watch where you are going, follow the path laid out for you.  If you look back you will get off track, if your mind wanders, you will get off track.  I think God is teaching me to keep my eyes on Him. He is the path and has forgiven my past, my blades are sharp with his Word, my tank is full of His blessings, the path has been laid out…our God is so wonderful!

Until Jesus returns to the earth in glory to establish His kingdom, he has no hands and feet but yours.  And so sometimes, yes, the hands hold a lawn mower and the feet walk behind it to serve an elderly woman in need.

Faith in Action was participated in Ministry Link at the Church at Chapel Hill on the weekend of April 21st and 22nd. This event, which took place before and after our church services, allowed us to meet people, tell them what we do for the needy in our community, and tell potential volunteers about our work. If you, a loved one, or a friend is interested in being a part of our growing team, please feel free to contact us.

It was clear last night with a howling wind of bitter cold, with temperatures dipping into the twenties and wind chill of single digits. Far colder still in the various tent communities in Douglasville served by our ministry partners at Daily Bread, Making a Change, Project One, and others. Yesterday one of our FIA team leaders Mark encountered Cynthia and Sam again. She drinks and he is partially crippled by a stroke, hobbling about with a walker in the dark woods. Mark just wanted to get them into a hotel for a few days to clean up and escape the weather and willing to pay for their stay; but, no room at the inn because the hotel folks were scared their bedding would be ruined by Sam’s incontinence. It was hard and sad for Mark to watch them retreat back into the woods as darkness fell.

A few weeks ago the United Way Homeless Task Force came out, visited the encampments and offered help in the form of shelter and program resources to anyone willing to come out. No one did. So last night, Leila, Mark, Alma and I resolved to pray together than Cynthia and Sam would agree to come out in the morning; Mark agreed to drive them to Atlanta. Morning came and there was no relief from the cold. We started a new partnership between The Pantry, FIA, and Daily Bread that involved me making the bread and pastry pickup from Publix on Highway 5 and giving all the blessings to Daily Bread. For the first time Leila tells me, “everyone received, and they even got to pick what they wanted. What a blessing; thank you Jesus.” But Cynthia and Sam refused to come out of the cold.

Fast Eddie said he would; in and out of jail, three weeks homeless, sick, hospitalized last night, ready to leave it all behind this morning. One came out; not the one we prayed for to be sure, but one nonetheless.

It’s a start.

Sandra (not her real name) broke down and told Debbie at the Pantry (our local food ministry) there would be no Christmas presents this year for her three grandchildren.  She was a custodian at one of our schools but a work related injury put her out on workman’s comp and the benefits would expire in January.  Her husband had sustained multiple heart attacks and was out of work also.  Her children had lost their jobs and suddenly 9 adults and kids were crammed into her tiny household in western Douglas County.  Debbie approached us the week before the big day and asked if we could help.  Sometime ago, my next door neighbors Jon and Donna asked us to provide them with a family they could bless at Christmas.  This was the one, I thought.

We were four short days out and I had not heard from my neighbors and got a little nervous.  Then they came over and showered us with abundance—remote control cars, some 15-20 wrapped gifts, everything Sandra had asked for.  Both families added a grocery gift cards.  The next day Paul and I were making our traditional FIA Christmas rounds delivering presents, a truckload of children’s clothes for the Loving Hands ministry—that’s another awesome story, then the rain came down and the traffic struck.  We made it to Sandra’s house late and she was gone with her mother to the doctor.

The next day I came alone, to find the empty tree, one of the children sick and Sandra exhausted from being up all night.  She was not expecting what God had provided for her family and told me how anxious the children had been about the empty tree. We thanked and praised God together in her front yard.

There are many stories like this one of God moving amongst our churches and ministries in Douglas County to fill the empty Christmas trees.  At FIA it is our blessing to serve with you, and we pray that God’s peace be with you and yours always.

Pastor Dave Divine of the Church at Chapel Hill led almost 60 men and women of his congregation to serve with us at FIA last Saturday

For the past three weeks the message at Douglasville’s Church at Chapel Hill has been “Be The Church,” by assembling in the house of God for worship; serving our community by acts of mercy and kindness; and representing Christ to all we meet. The sermon series culminated with Pastor Dave’s call to worship God by serving His people, and almost 60 men and women answered with a “here I am, Lord.”

We completed 40 projects, from clearing brush, cutting grass and weed whacking, to building a bunk bed, delivering washers, dryers, refrigerators, sofas, TV sets, beds. Families in need received everything from vacuum cleaners to coffee tables; dinette sets to bicycles. We served the Pantry by delivering food and information cards; we served Shepherd of the Hills UMC by picking up and delivering computers for their computer ministry to the church; we served Pastor Emeritus Hattie Dennis of Believers Harvest Church by building her a new deck.

There are plenty of people available to criticize the church. At FIA we believe our calling is to encourage and support the local church to be salt and light within the community, so that lost and hurting people can find hope and salvation in Jesus Christ. In the coming weeks we will share with those who care to read stories of the miracles in our midst—proof that the Spirit is rising in Douglasville, Georgia and calling us not to just go to church, but to be the church…..

“It’s not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow.  Planting and watering are menial servant jobs at minimum wages.  What makes them worth doing is the God we are serving.  You happen to be God’s field in which we are working. – 1Corinthians 3:7-9

Andrea at Douglas Senior Services told us that Mrs. White, age 80, lives alone here in Douglasville and is showing signs of early Dementia and other medical issues.  Her daughter who lives a good distance away but visits weekly is greatly concerned and DSS has put Mrs. White on the home delivered meals list.  Could FIA help with her yard?  It sounded like a job for the Rangers and Rick Cali visited Mrs. White, who happened to be receiving a visit from her sister, who was “not buying our selfless service hokum,” as Rick puts it.  When Rick proudly told the sister he was a member of the Church at Chapel Hill, she responded, “you church people, you’re always working an angle.  I suppose you’ll invite me to come, and if I don’t like it, what then?” Mrs. White told Rick later how the church had broken her sister’s heart.  It’s a story we have heard too many times.  Mrs. White was grateful for the Rangers’ help but directed them at her neighbor, and when the team came out after Rick’s reconnaissance, in addition to serving Mrs. White they cut the neighbor’s grass, trimmed, and cut down a small tree.  The neighbor came outside, hands on hips and couldn’t believe that a group of boys had come to take care of the yard she could not maintain having just gotten home from the hospital.  The boys and men prayed for the neighbor, who praised God for the strength she received.

On the return trip it just happened that Mrs. White’s sister was there to see the men and boys take care of the two yards and watch as prayer changed the neighbor’s return home from the hospital.  Rick knelt down beside her and said, “Do you think our lives would have been different if we had started serving people as children?” Mrs. White’s sister, for once, could not speak.  Then she said, “I’ve never known men like you.”

Rick and the boys understood that she was not seeing men, or boys; she was seeing God in them, making things grow.

This past weekend’s Super Bowl was the most watched U.S. telecast in history, with over 111 million viewers.  That record audience included 32 men who live in the woods of Douglasville and the Men’s Assessment Center along with over 40 volunteers who served them appetizers, beverages, and barbecue, watching the game on the big screen at First United Methodist Church.  To our knowledge this is a first for our community—a Super Bowl Party for the homeless.

As followers of Christ we hope you are encouraged by the ways the Holy Spirit is moving in Douglas County to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, visit the prisoner, and comfort the broken.  We hope you are blessed by our unity, as volunteers from the Daily Bread Ministry, First United Methodist Church, Crossroads Church, Faith in Action, Project One, MAC, and many others who came together to serve our people in need.  Finally, surely we are all blessed to think of a church with open hearts, open minds, and doors that open to the homeless as well as the fortunate.

The good news needs to be shared, and the faithful recognized and encouraged.  We would like to thank Leila Meyers and her team at Daily Bread; Angie and Chris Jeffers of Project One and most especially Pastor Max Caylor of First United Methodist Church, for showing us that we are most like Christ when we serve others.

Two weeks ago Grady, Paul, and I stood in Michelle’s foyer feeling pretty helpless as she started crying, in fear about her home being sold on the courthouse steps the first week of February.  With no child support, no job, and no car to find one or get to one Michelle and her family were running out of options.  I have to confess that I felt very inadequate maybe even pathetic that all Faith in Action had to bring in the face of what she was facing was a twin bed.  I will also confess that I am in shock as I write this, that the Lord has moved so quickly in response to our prayers and obedience.  Forgive me if I am inadequate to tell this story.

You see, God was working a plan with Michelle, her family, and FIA that I didn’t know about and didn’t really expect to happen.  He was doing the impossible, moving the mountains of foreclosure, job, and car—all at once.  Grady was moved by the Spirit to speak on Michelle’s behalf and she suddenly has two very promising job leads.  Tina’s neighbors decided that their Mazda 626 with only 83k miles had found a home; and the foreclosure was stopped with a loan modification.

Michelle joined us at First United Methodist Church this past Sunday to share her testimony of God moving in her family’s life out of nowhere and in great power.  She told us that not long ago she had a dream of being given a silver car, very much like the one you see her standing in front of in this picture.  Her story teaches us much, most of all that if we are obedient and do what God has called us to do in serving others, He will show up and move the mountains.  He will cause the haves, to share with the have nots.  He will turn the have nots—into haves.

This past weekend Paul, Grady and I were at Michelle’s house delivering a twin bed to her son Chase, who has been sleeping on the couch in his tiny room  no bigger than a large walk in closet.  He plays football for one of the local high school teams, and his room is populated with typical teenager stuff, from a stereo, guitar, and picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger in his youthful muscular heyday.  The home includes Chase’s brother who works 20-30 hours a week at Kroger stocking shelves, his older sister who is afflicted with Crohn’s Disease, and her four year old daughter.

Chase’s smile and easy manner is infectious as he cheerfully helped us manipulate the couch out of his room and move the bed into his room.  His mother, on the other hand, is deeply afraid.  Her family may be homeless the first week of February when their home is sold on the steps of the Douglas County Courthouse.

Michelle’s unemployment has run out, she can’t find a job, and the kids’ father does not pay child support.  She’s more than willing to pull herself up by the bootstraps, but she can’t find them.  She visits the Pantry faithfully to gather food for her kids. She went through the Hope Project to become more employable, but there are simply no jobs out there to be had.  She looked to us for answers, and all we could promise was a week or two at an efficiency lodge while we place her family in a shelter, if it comes to that.  Meanwhile, we pray and look into the child support while Michelle feverishly pursues a mortgage modification even though its doubtful with zero income.

Hemingway’s book “To Have and Have Not” talks about how the Depression forced depravity and hunger upon the poor residents of Key West, some of whom end up doing the wrong thing just to survive.  Jesus Christ told us who have, to share our blessings with the have nots.  Compared to Michelle and her family, Paul, Grady, and I have many things.  We are not worried about being homeless in less than a month.  In America people tend to look at their material possessions and decide it was achieved by their own hard work.  But what if you get sick, or your company shuts down? What if the big pile of money you are sitting on that you think will keep you safe becomes worthless due to inflation and economic upheaval? The reality is that everything we have, including our lives, is a gift from God.  So let us who currently have, share our lives, and our things, with the have nots in Jesus name.

Picture a young woman at the curb of a local hotel in the cold calling churches begging for help because she is homeless. I never asked if she got Crossroads on the phone because the A’s and B’s said they couldn’t help.

Alma of our FiA team asked Randy Stauffer to go with her and he kindly said yes.  Tina had spent the last hundred days or so in our jail, then with her boyfriend in south Georgia but her probation officer said she couldn’t live there because he was on probation as well.  She somehow wore out her welcome in Buchanan with friends.

She has children being raised by her mother.  Drugs, jail and other things that upset Alma to even think about. We convinced her mother long distance to fund a week at In Town Suites while we prayerfully searched for a shelter placement in Atlanta, since Douglas County offered nothing, other than jail. This is something we hope to fix someday, God willing.

So one day we are sitting in the nice leather easy chairs at Crossroads’ beautiful new cafe and Tina shares her story. Her demeanor is child like while she talks about being a consistent drug user over a course of years, being estranged from her family, jail, separated from her children.  She looks at me, face hidden in the afternoon sun silhouette beaming through the church front door and says, “you’re so serious! Why are you so serious? Skittles and rainbows, skittles and rainbows! You know, the candy! I like skittles, and rainbows are so pretty. I always say that over and over again when I am sad, it makes me feel better….”

I remember well the first time I met William over a year ago. He was “the one” of Project One led by Angie and Chris Jeffers of Church at Chapel Hill. He regarded me politely but suspiciously, as if any kindness I showed him was subject to withdrawal at a moment.  William always wore a trademark beret and was accomplished at making them.  Project One sought to relationally find and nurture that one man in a homeless encampment that could look after the others, and perhaps, God willing come out some day. Some homeless men choose to live in the woods. Others have no choices due to bad luck, hard times, mental illness, or addiction. Its ironic in a way; society cares little for these men, but God gives them a home in the woods, as Leila says.

Our sister Leila and the Daily Bread Ministry team simply love and care for the men. She doesn’t like the word homeless, “they have a home, its just in the woods.”

The more time Project One spent with William, the more helpful and reliable he became. This is miraculous considering how hard it is just to get the men to show up sober to wash their clothes free at a kind man’s laundromat. Leila has a blessing from God to love these men no matter how they behave.

We have gotten the men to visit with us at our Wednesday Bible Study and lunch at First UMC just down the street from where some of them live. They are visited several times a week and provided food, tents, sleeping bags, tarps, and other necessaries.

The men come and go. They move on to death, illness, jail, many things. Angie called me just a few days ago and said that one came out. William had decided to reconcile with his family and was on a bus headed home. One came out. I am praying for Angie, Chris, Leila, Troy and the so many others to find another William to encourage and strengthen them in this precious work.

A few weeks ago FIA partners Keith and Jessica Davis arranged a donation of 98,000 bags of tortilla chips to FIA.  Yes, 98,000 bags.  It didn’t take long for the Lord to show us how a bag of tortilla chips could be used to share the Gospel.  The Pantry received over 1,000 bags.  Some went to Dude Share The Food and The Daily Bread Ministry of Good Shepherd Lutheran who serve our Douglasville homeless.  The GO ministry received several hundred bags.  We also delivered to the Good Samaritan Center and Loving Hands. Many were shared on our normal FIA rounds; sometimes we went from apartment complex to mobile home park, duplex to duplex, handing out bags and praise of Jesus to clustering children.  We also shared with Crossroads Church, Shepherd of the Hills and other church youth groups.  Mark Trow and I spent half a day going to all the elementary schools on the east side of Douglasville delivering tortilla chips and prayer. No one stopped us from praying at the schools.

Mark Denyse shared this story yesterday:

Just a bag of chips… It was just a couple boxes of chips I thought to myself. How would I come up with something to write about donating chips to a ministry. Little did I know that waiting for me to deliver was 2000 bags of chips!!! These chips were donated to Seven Bridges by Faith In Action. Seven Bridges goes out to feed the homeless and share the good word of Jesus! Their goal is to entice them with a meal and hopefully get them off the streets and into a rehab facility if they are willing and desire to change. As you can see in the picture the chips also fed the women and children in the shelter. It felt good to bring them a little food and smile really I think these kids put the smile on my face…

The shelter is called the Garden and is ran by Pastor 7. What God has done in and thru this ministry is nothing short of a miracle. For more information donations, information or to volunteer, please contact: 7 Bridges To Recovery (404) 361-2250, Pastor 7 (404) 644-6976

Or e-mail us @ 7bridgestorecovery@gmail.com www.7bridgestorecovery.org Mailing Address: 7 Bridges To Recovery 2875 Brownsmill Rd SE Atlanta, GA 30354

GO JESUS, GO JESUS, GO!!!

Ms. Bettie is in her 70’s and lives alone in the Alpha Fowler Senior Community, which is a government housing project.  She has had 7 cancer surgeries and severe back problems that limit her mobility.  Recently she was approved for a motorized wheelchair, but the government has no means to build the two wheelchair ramps she needs to enter and exit her duplex.

We were asked to help by the Douglas Senior Center and the project was accepted by FIA affiliate ministry The Work of Our Hands.

Charles’s work was blessed by our Lord as he quickly completed two small ramps at Ms. Bettie’s home.  Dean, Kameron, and I visited Ms. Bettie while Charles worked, and she told us that during her latest round of chemo to treat lung, liver, and abdominal cancer she was in so much pain that she got down on her knees and prayed for God to heal her, or “bring her home.”  She felt a tingling all over her body and decided He had removed all the cancer.  At her next MRI she told the technician he would find nothing.  He smiled and said, “Ms. Bettie you know I can’t tell you anything but I think you are going to be happy.”

Her doctor was astonished when it was confirmed she was cancer free.  When Ms. Bettie told her that God had healed her, the young female doctor then said, “If that is true, then why do I have no child and I have prayed for 10 years?”  Ms. Bettie replied, “If you will pray to MY God, you will have a baby.”

A few weeks later, Ms. Bettie’s doctor fainted and fell at the hospital while working.  Tests revealed she was pregnant.  She named her beautiful daughter… Bettie.

Now, I have a bed.

“If we could only remember that God loves me, and I have an opportunity to love others as he loves me, not in big things, but in small things with great love . . .”

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, 1979 Nobel Peace Prize Lecture

Karla has found room at the inn and provision has been made, so far for her, baby Hennessy and her other two children.  Praise God!  She contacted us about a need—a stroller for the baby, and Karla’s FIA caseworker Alma George was blessed to receive one from Sandra Price and our ministry partners at Loving Hands.  After Alma delivered the stroller, she wrote this: “God has been so present . . .I am overwhelmed….love FIA..”  So I wrote her back and asked for “the details.”  She said “Details?  Man, God is BIG….you should see Hennessy.  Got the stroller from Sandra and the kids were so happy.”

It is a gift from God that Alma can take such joy in serving Him and His people in the small things, with great love.  The little boy in this picture recently received a bed from one of our FIA teams.  He became overjoyed—he has a bed!  He started jumping up and down and hopping around his little room.  A stroller, and a twin bed are small things, perhaps insignificant to us as we go through our busy lives consumed with this, or that.  But can you ask yourself, do I really want to keep living like that?  Tethered to a ringing telephone, deadline driven, tired, and often numb?

Wouldn’t you like to love others in small things, with great love?

Karla is from El Salvador, speaks no English, is about to deliver a baby at any moment and also has two small children.  The fathers of these children are nowhere to be seen, but one intermittently provides $180.00 monthly child support, and she lives at a local extended stay lodge but is behind in her rent because out of the country relatives are no longer able to help her.  She came to the Pantry weekend before last and met with FIA Caseworker Alma George, who is bilingual.  Karla was unsure if she could go to hospital because she has no money.  We convinced her to go to Wellstar Douglas for her safety and that of her baby.  Then, little Hennessy was born, and FIA has provided diapers, wipes, and payment of $150.00 on her rent.  Alma also transported the family to our mission partner Sandra Price at Loving Hands to receive baby necessaries including clothes, an infant carrier, and other items.  The government is, of course, useless.  We’ve called SHARE House, MUST Ministries, City of Refuge, Travelers Aid . . .and so far there is no room at the inn for Karla and her children.

Will you pray with us?  Resources for homeless families in Douglas County are virtually non-existent.  But our God does the impossible and we are convinced that very soon, He will provide for this family.

Over the weekend while FIA was out sharing the Gospel and delivering furniture, Pastor Adam Roberts of our FIA member church Shepherd of the Hills UMC called with an emergency: a couple stranded in Douglasville with no money to repair their vehicle.  Joel and Lisa Kilthau of SOTH could not turn away from this pregnant woman and her husband, who had a broken drive belt on their truck.  SOTH and the Kilthau family got the belt replaced and blessed the couple with prayer.

Then on Monday at 412 p.m.  we received a message on our FIA phone line: “Yes my name is Les and we are broke down in Douglasville and my wife is pregnant . . .”  We then heard from Lisa as well the sad news that the vehicle was disabled due to a radiator issue. FIA members Alma George from Crossroads Church and Mark Trow of Church at Chapel Hill then put their faith in action.  Alma contacted the couple while Mark made arrangements through Jeff Hyatt to diagnose the repair and get the vehicle towed to Kell Radiator.  We raised $160.00 in repair funds.  Midge Ortiz and her friend Audrey of Church at Chapel Hill visited with the couple at Wal Mart, providing prayer, lunch, a full tank of gas and Jeff contributed traveling money.  Within a few hours the couple was on their way to Tennessee.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.”

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”  Matthew 25:32-36.

The word “stranger” as used by our Lord can also be translated as “traveler.”  Perhaps the Lord orchestrated this situation so that FIA and the good sheep of Shepherd of the Hills could only help the traveler in our midst if we did it together in a kingdom way, not separated by walls of denominational division.  What a blessed welcome this couple received in our community at the command of our Saviour Jesus Christ!

It was a typical Sunday delivery in Douglasville for the FIA (Faith in Action) group until we came across this man carrying a cross made from 4” pressure treated wood that had been bolted together.  We decided if we saw him again, we would stop and lift him up in prayer.

We saw him again and jumped out to greet him.  Beau lent a hand by bearing the cross for him for a short time.  His name is Rob, and he is from Augusta.   He said that he was headed to San Diego, almost like a movie that I saw (Book of Eli) where the main character’s goal was to head west.  He was very excited to be lifted up in prayer.  We decided to get a picture with him, and he immediately drew attention to the back of my phone as it had a motocross sticker on it.  He said that he used to race with his son.   He also mentioned that he was the guy that landed on his son accidentally and it killed him.   I heard this story in the past and thought of how bad of a feeling that must be…

We prayed for his heart, for safe travels and gave him a little money for the road for which he was very appreciative.  One thing I will never forget is when we were about to take off, I asked “Hey, do you have a place to sleep tonight?”  “Where are you going to stay?”

He said, “That’s something I pray about everyday, and God provides every time, even if it is just sleeping outside behind a church or a building he provides.”

His faith and willingness to answer that calling are amazing! While I don’t understand it completely, I accept it just as if I did because we all have our own crosses to bear.  If you tried to explain it to someone they may would not feel that same way about it that you do.

Have you ever had nothing? Have you ever had to sleep on floor crawling with bugs in an apartment without furniture, trying desperately to sleep in a neighborhood  with sounds of screams and gunshots, in fear so strong that sleep is a matter of exhaustion and not rest? Most of us have never faced this, but Faith in Action recently served a young mother and her children who have this as their reality.

A few days ago we visited Lakeisha, a single mother of a 6 year old son and  2 year old daughter. Lakeisha was living in an Atlanta homeless shelter that suddenly closed,  and she was able to move to a townhouse in a crime-ridden part of the city. Her possessions consisted of a few blue plastic totes of clothing – no bedding, no furniture, pretty much none of the things we all take for granted.

Lakeisha and her children were sleeping on cheap, inflatable rafts and covered themselves with a discarded little girl’s bed “princess” netting to keep the bugs off them as they slept. By God’s plan and to His glory, she had a FIA business card in hand from when a member of our team visited the shelter. She called, and Jesus told us to go.

With the help of many of our  Facebook friends and others whom we deeply thank, an “extreme home makeover” was done and Lakeisha’s small townhome was transformed.  We delivered and installed numerous decorations and furnishings,   including a toddler bed for the little girl, a twin bed for her son, and a queen bed for Lakeisha. We brought dressers and a couch and chair too. She was overwhelmed by God’s provision and wandered back and forth, saying over and over again, “this is so beautiful”

Once we had everything set up I found her son standing in his room with his hand resting on his bed. He looked kind of sad and when I asked him if he liked his new room he smiled and said “YES” but I could sense an apprehension in him. Perhaps he felt that at any moment his situation could change for the worse again, and his bed could be taken from him. Lord help this little “man” be able to enjoy being a child and feel safe in his home.

What is the value of some used furniture and beds? Very little. What is the value of the Christ-like love Faith in Action was able to show Lakeisha and her children on this hot Sunday afternoon? I wish I had the words to describe it to you.  I can’t, but I can ask that you come with us next time and feel what I felt, and see what I saw.