Saying Goodbye to another friend

I have always heard that we are suppose to cry at the birth of a child and rejoice at the life celebration of a friend. The first I can do easily.... crying at witnessing the gift of life.... but the latter is the hardest ever... but with each day it is easier..... Praise the Lord we have  memories  and they are made to be treasured... and treasure these I shall. In less than a month I have lost 2 very close friends......

 I meet S.P. about 2 1/2 years ago on a Saturday morning at the K-mart on Cleveland Ave. He was one of the leaders of the ministry we volunteer with each week under the bridges feeding the least of these.  and every Saturday I would say what's up he would respond JESUS..... it i awesome to know that he is now UP with Jesus.....

Because there was a time when  if you knew S.P. you have wondered if  he  even believed in JESUS....
 Since S.P. lived on the streets himself for many years because he was addicted to drugs and alcohol. Those addictions took away from him the very thing I hold dear to me.... It took him away from his wife and his two young children. We talked many times over  the years about his desire to reunite with his children so that he could  tell them how sorry he was that he was not strong enough to overcome his addictions and ask them for their forgiveness.

He had been with the ministry for the past 3 years in which he had been off the streets. And through prayer, deliverance and  daily bible study he had been delivered of all his addictions and was an instrumental part in leading many to begin a  personal relationship with Jesus as well as bringing many people off the streets and into recovery.

Each week we are on the streets feeding hundreds that are haunted by their demons ... it is our prayer that each be healed and restored to their families. If you are reading this and you are being tormented by your own demons.... STOP and give it all to JESUS..... he can heal you in an instant..... Just as he did for me in one step...

A family in need.......

I just got this message from a friend asking for help for a family......

I would like to ask all my friends and family. We have a family at school that needs all the necessaries of life. If you would like to donate or know of any one who is willing to donate please call me and let me know. She needs, pots & pans, kitchen stuff, couch, beds, table & chairs. I am willing to take anything to help a single mother of 3. The girl is 2 yrs, 4yr old boy, & 8 yr old boy. Bathroom stuff, lamps, hangers anything......

If God lays it on your heart to help ...just messgage me

Pride

Tonight I was blessed  as Amber took me for an early Mother's Day outing. As we were getting our manicures a gentleman walked passed the window and we both looked at one another and knew immediately that he was homeless. Many people often ask us " How is it that we can tell when someone is in need" Well the answer would have to be that God reveals them to us. I began praying for him and when we left we headed to Kroger to get some milk. And guess who we walked passed, we spoke to him and to our amazement he looked shocked that we had.

In our exchange of words he shared that Highway 78 was his home and we ask if he needed a blanket or clean socks. He said no he was good. I may be wrong but all I could see was pride...and being in the ministry that Amber and I are in --- "You gotta know when to walk away". So we did.....  Now do not get me wrong I am not being judgemental but it hurts that we and I mean WE all at one time or another allow our PRIDE to get in the way of us being helped.

Many of us are struggling physically, emotionally, financially and spiritually. I want to encourage you not to let your pride or shame to get in the way of doors being opened for you to pass through and have your life  changed forever.

1 Corinthians 13:4Love is patient, love is kind. .......... Find somebody to share the LOVE of JESUS with today.... You never know your words may save a life.....

Great Ending to a Great Day...

As we journeyed from stop to stop we discover that the wonder D.O.T has come through and is in process of doing a clean-up/clean out  time under the bridges... So a lot of what we came upon was people that were even more hurt because the clothes and blankets they had collected are now all gone...... Amber prayed with our friend Peaches.... who not only is not feeling well physically now has nothing other than a backpack and a blanket. As we prayed with her again we shared that she could leave the streets TODAY.... that being out there is not the plan that Jesus has for her life and he is waiting for her to make the decision.  Amber and I want to say thanks  to all of our friends and family because of  your donations we were able to leave her with a pair of shorts, two shirts and and even some Little Caesar's pizza.

Finally, we arrived at our last stop to see our friend Melvin. The love for Jesus I see as I look into his eyes overwhelms me every time.  You see its been a few weeks since we saw him because he had been locked up for a week. I may be wrong but I think I speak for not only myself but for Amber and Bob when I say his friendship is a gift from God and we are blessed to call him family.  If there is one I would love to bring home with me ..ITS MELVIN.....
We began our visit with him blessing us with a song on his harmonica. In his words...Its row, row, row your boat with a twist...... Then he and Amber did  dancing ........ Before leaving Melvin lead us in prayer and we finished it off.... As I prayed for him I prayed that Jesus would take away the feeling of being inadequate he has. So Melvin jumps back in with a prayer and ask God to allow us to share with him the meaning of that word.

As we shared the meaning .....he looks at me and says how do you know that I feel that....in an instant we all said Jesus ...Its all about Jesus....  He knows what we need to hear and he sends those to us that will say it.... before we left Melvin shared how much our visits mean to him and how thankful he is that God sends us to visit him.  He said always listen to God because there are those of us who need to feel his love and you all share his love and expect nothing in return..... "Unconditional Love"  We get it from Jesus and our team loves to give it away.....


So I encourage each of you to go out and share the love of Jesus with someone.... anyone.... we have a nation full of hurting people who need to know someone loves them JUST BECAUSE....

In death comes life.....

     Those of you that follow my blog on a regular basis red about the death of a friend a few weeks ago. In the months before Mark's death his relationship with his daughter was growing stronger. So strong that when she had not heard from him in three weeks she frantically tried to find out about where he was and how he was. Sadly when Angel found him he had already passed away.
     Through his death she and some of her friends brought life to our friends at Hapeville today in the form of lunch, clothes, shoes, socks. She was excited to see us and to know how much we loved her father.  She thanked us many times as we all stressed to her that her father, Jamie, Bill, Roger, Greg are all members of our exteneded family. It still amazes me that some think that homeless people are unloved. We loved him...He was funny and full of the love of Jesus... but wounded and hurt by so many demons that had a hold of him..... Demons he could not let go in his own strength ...yet  he struggled with his relationship with Christ as so many of us do. Many expect that when we say yes to JESUS that we will have a life filled with ROSES... NOT..Satan goes into overtime.
     Don't let the demons of your past  keep you from the plan that God has of your life. You are not in this battle alone. There are many of us on the war front with you standing in the gap with you . So when you feel that your family no longer cares don't give up fall to your knees and HE will be here with his hand held out waiting to hold you up while you are weak...