Homeless feeding 11/24/2014

[Flyin6]

Well it continues to happen thanks to everyone's generosity.

This time we served a reduced crowd of about 70 folks a spaghetti dinner. I cooked up one of the trays of spaghetti and covered the top with mozzarella cheese and a top layer of garlic bread. Well those folks were going for mine first and gobbling it down. We also handed out coats although last night was a warmer 45 degrees, but windy.

Brother CJ was the pastor in attendance who is shown in the pics preaching the service just before we ate.

[Flyin6]

The red haired guy in the black coat is no longer homeless, but lived under a nearby bridge for 2 years. He has an apartment, but still comes down to share with us and witness to the folks still in desperate situations.

[Dawg25385]

Thanks for sharing! Glad it wasn't so dang cold this week for you guys...

[Flyin6]

Thanks for sharing! Glad it wasn't so dang cold this week for you guys...

Naw, wasn't bad for us, nor them, except that, that world sucks down there!

Gonna share something here
These people hit you up all the time for money. I almost always refuse. I ma there to feed their bodies and my and their spirits. So while the ladies were getting set up, I went through the crowd handing out Hershey Candy Kisses. I get a little distance from the crowd and walk up to a tall skinny black man, thirty something with red squinting eyes, he's high on something, but not completely. He takes a candy and says I can't be a part of you Christians. He continues, "You see, you are fake, I am real, you won't give money...not that I want money, but Jesus tells you to give and you won't." He explains how he gives money when he has it to these people, then challenges me with something I never considered. He says, "Suppose you give me some money and I immediately leave to go buy drugs...but along the way in one of these alleys I live in I come across a woman. Suppose just the fact that I am going to get the drugs with the money you gave me led me there...And as I approach her, the holy spirit comes upon me and tells me to pray for her. And I do, and she comes to know our Lord.
If all that happened would it have been worth it to have given me the money?

WHOA! That hit me like a ton of rocks. Yea what if?

So I invited him to come eat with us, actually I insisted. I said I want to think and pray about what he said. First I go to my wife and another worker and tell them about it and they come out hard against giving any money, and for some good reasons. SO I go to CJ, the pastor next. HE says, you have to follow the holy spirit, do what he tells you, but without clear indication, don't give. Next and after some time, I come across RJ, an ex marine and pose the question to him. He gave me the answer that made sense.

HE said, that it doesn't matter what they do with the money, our job is only to give. It is not our job to judge someone or to try and change them. Our job is just to serve and present the gospel. God does the changing, peoples sin and souls are God's territory, not ours! He continued: The blessing is ours to give and by telling you all this I surrender that blessing for myself, but I do so to share and enlighten and to make the equation easier for you if you struggle with all that as I do.

We just have to be the hands and feet and sometimes mouth pieces of our Jesus. What he does with what we do that is spirit led is his business and not ours. Our bible tells us that God's ways are not our ways...His ways are higher than our ways. Can I get an Ah-men on that one??

So I gave and this man fell to his knees and cried and prayed! Right in the street. A show??? Possibly, but I can tell you I felt joy, and I only feel real joy at the behest of the holy spirit. He rose, this skinny drug addicted black man and hugged me tightly then walked off. He said thank you for showing me Jesus is real.

I take no credit here and please do not see me in this sharing, but the inner workings of a holy spirit. All the glory be to God

In him...

[Dawg25385]

Powerful story. Something i struggle with too... because you work hard, or have worked hard, for whatever amount of wealth you have, big or small, by using the talents and blessings God has given you. It's so tough not to get caught up in wondering if that 5, 20, 50 dollar bill is going to go directly down the burned end of a crack pipe, or will provide that breakfast and a bus ticket to a new beginning. You're also not trying to buy salvation for folks, but show them the grace and love of Jesus Christ through kindness and generosity.

2 Cor 9:6-7
The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

For me, I tend to get a strong feeling one way or another, call it what you want, on whether to give to folks asking. Was driving to church Sunday morning a while back, pulled off the freeway and am at the light. Guy there with a sign, don't even remember what it said. I just remember looking in his eyes, and something told me the money in my wallet I had received the night before as a gift was meant for him. Told him God bless you, he said the same thing. He saw the numbers on the bill and the look of relief on his face was all the confirmation i needed. I dunno, I got real emotional about it, and I'm not normally an emotional dude. I think that was the Holy Spirit talking to me.

On the other hand, I've been darn near assaulted in downtown Seattle by people tweaking on one poison or another, demanding money. No sir/ma'am, no can do. Right or wrong, I don't know...

[Flyin6]

One thing my wife is teaching me is we have to be tuned into the holy spirit to be able to detect those nudges to this or that. One of her techniques is to fast. She did that night, only drinking lemonade from the night before until after we finished feeding them. You'd never know it, she just dutifully sawed on the banana nut bread and passed it out...didn't take a bite...had a monster headache from not eating, but she persisted.
I think I am going to try that this next time...don't know, I eat and will probably forget not to fast and realize I just blew it about half way through a cinnamon doughnut!

[cudakidd53]

Powerful stuff there Don- thanks for sharing it with us!

[Flyin6]

And let me also say thank you to those of you who donate money to do this.

I appreciate you all!