We swing and miss to many times...

I remember growing up playing baseball. I was the kid that would swing at the tee ball and end up hitting the tee. Later on I was the kid that could field but when it came to hitting the ball, I struck out.

As Christians we swing and miss all the time. Today I started to read the book "The Gutter" by Graig Gross. He is the co-founder of XXXChurch.com. In this book He starts out talking about a time, as a youth minister, that he felt like he was going and doing the work that Christ wants of Christians. The only thing was he swung and missed. In this story he tells, he speaks of how him and his youth group decided to make sack lunches for the local homeless group. In the process of handing out the brown bag special he and his youth found out they were not meeting any kind of need. A block or two from where they were was a homeless shelter that gave food everyday. What did giving the bag of food do for the homeless? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!! As you read on you find out something interesting... "Their refusal of our lunch stunned me, leaving me discouraged by rejection. It was pretty worthless offer, after all. My students and I hung our heads and began to retreat, and our defenseless posture must have irked the leader, because he suddenly lashed out, 'How can you think your sandwich would help us? Look at her feet. Do you think your lunch can warm her feet? Can it?'"

They were shown the need... shoes. How many times do we miss our mark? I know I have countless times. It seems it was one of those situations that he felt was a great idea but did not research the real need of the people.

Christ went into the culture knowing what people needed. He would not only offer salvation he would offer healing (physical, spiritual and mental). Recently here at church we had a couple come to us saying they need help. Churches are a huge target for free money. So we had to be careful. But as the couple told us what was going on, our guard has slowly gone down.

Their story consist of this... They came from Michigan. Where they lived in Michigan was becoming pretty rough. Drugs, violence and the works. They want to start a family and establish them in a place that is not falling apart. Well they ended up in a small town here in south-east Missouri. The only thing with this small town is they treat African-Americans like dirt. Not only this She is white and he is African-American. This spells trouble for them in this small town. I couldn't believe it (that such racism still is around).

Well they decided to move to Poplar Bluff Mo. They only had a few bucks and no where to live. They went to a church and ask for help as he looked for work. The church offered to pay for 2 nights stay in a hotel, supper and some gas. Well this lasted only for a bit. They have only been here for 5 days. They stopped by our church and ask if there was any work that needed to be done. Well just so have it we are painting the inside of the youth building. So, we gave them 40 bucks and they painted for 2 and half hours. They even offered to come back today. They have done such amazing work. We paid them again and if the money doesn't hold over for a couple of days, my wife and I are going to have them stay at our house (we have an extra room).

It is wild when you hope to do Gods work. He will have you do it at the most unexpected times. Pray and see what God wants you to do.

until next time...