Father's Heart

Vision Church has a pretty good relationship with Father's Heart Ministry Soup Kitchen/Food Pantry. There are a bunch of ways that people can serve:

• cooking
• plating or serving food
• cleaning tables
• distributing grocery bags
• traffic control (of people)
• ministry/prayer team

They're all great ways to serve people and share Christ's love. This morning I went with Vision for the first time and helped out with the prayer team. Basically, it's a lot of walking around, greeting people, talking with them, potentially sharing the Gospel, and praying for/with them if they want it. It wasn't easy but it was good. Very hard to get into any meaningful conversations when they're concerned with having their hunger satisfied first (which I don't blame them for. That's just how it is. It was the same for Jesus, i suspect.) And plus sometimes there just isn't enough time. There's a constant movement of people. They sit down, and after the food is eaten, they're up and out. So it wasn't until after the morning rush (~11am) when I got to talk with someone for more than a minute.

There was this african-american guy, Elliot. A believer in Jehovah... he did mention His Son, Jesus Christ, so.. that's good.. haha. Very nice guy. We talked for awhile and he asked for prayer. Some things he wanted me to be praying for:

• Elliot is turning 50 this year, and he has a 3-month old baby, Elijah. He really does care about his baby boy. But his relationship with Elijah's mother has been going bad. Sometimes she won't let him see Elijah. Elliot has been leaning on God to find patience and compassion as he tries to get on her good side.
• I think it's been 10 years since he quit smoking cigarettes and pot. And he credits God for that kind of strength. And for awhile now (5 yrs?) he's been struggling with cutting down on alcohol. The weird thing is, his new temp job involves distribution for some beer/liquor company. So he's trying to get through this job while waiting for a new one.
  

I can't imagine being in Elliot's shoes, but it was crazy encouraging to see how his hope is so much in God. And I hope writing all this down will help me to better remember & pray for him.

Glory to God alone.