It's so nice to be able to write today. It's been 10 whole days since my last installment and life has been moving at the speed of light. God has been really taking over in my life, here's a recap: After I got back from snow trip, I promised myself to buckle down and get going on the ministry God put in my heart. So far, things have been running smoothly. Of course, the enemy tried to distract me and discourage me but I give him absolutely no credit whatsoever. I emerged from each one of his "attacks" better and stronger than ever. My hours at work changed all of a sudden, which is why I haven't been writing as often as before. I work from 10-6 Monday-Friday now instead of 4pm Thursday-midnight Saturday. At first I complained but then the Lord reminded me that I had been asking Him for regular hours so I had to just shut my mouth at that point. Another new development was the creation of P.O.W. which stands for Perfect'n Our Worship. Every 4th Saturday, POW ministers a hip hop piece at my church's (also new) Saturday night "Worship Experience" service (2622 San Pablo Ave Berkeley Ca 6:30 pm). Last Saturday was the debut and it was received so well! Needless to say, I'm very excited about all the new changes going on.
Now that you're all caught up on where I've been the last week and a half, I'm going to change gears and get down to what I really wanted to write about. Last Friday I was driving on the freeway to the DMV in El Cerrito and when I exited on Central Ave, I saw a homeless man on the side of the road. The fact that he was there was nothing new since there are always homeless men over there but when I saw this particular one, something moved in me. The Lord spoke and told me go and feed him. The flesh in me was like "excuse me?!" and kept driving. When I got to the DMV, fully prepared to spend the next 2 hours of my life waiting in line, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was practically empty. My number was called within in 2 minutes of my sitting down! Not only that, everything I needed to do (transfer title, registration, driving record printout, insurance) was much cheaper than I thought it was going to be! It the middle of my praising and lifting up the name of Jesus on my way back to my car, I thought again of that homeless man. I stopped mid-praise and left like a phony. Here I was celebrating God for His favor after having totally blown off my assignment. Deflated and rebuked, I made my way back towards where I had seen him (armed with a smile and a whopper meal from Burger King). I prayed the whole way that I would be able to find him again. I spotted him laying down and ran towards him, overjoyed that I'd been given a second chance to heed the Lord's calling. I found out that his name was Travis and that he'd made some mistakes in life and lost his way. Although Travis knew God , he had given up hope that anyone cared enough about him to help him. Right when Travis said that, I was flooded with things to share with him about God and how God had not forgotten him. Admittedly, I was scared at first, being a female standing in a secluded alley talking to a strange homeless man about God but I found that talking to him felt natural and safe.
Fast forward to last night when I was at church. Bishop Veron Ashe was talking about being "in Jesus", not in the sense that we ask for things in His name but that we embody Him so much so that we become Him and then are able to ask for things "as Him". The phrase "in Jesus' name" then become translated as literally "in(as) Jesus". The Bishop went on to share a story about how he was walking past a homeless man that asked for his help. The Bishop said he walked past the man in his church to get to the physical church building but had to stop mid-stride and go back to help the man. "Church" he explained is more than where you go on Sunday, it's who you are everyday. Jesus said in the Word to feed His sheep if you loved Him and that whatsoever things you have done for the least of them, you have done for Him (Mt 25:31-46). Well, if that's true then the homeless man the Bishop almost passed up was "Jesus". Listening to him speak got me thinking about Travis again. In giving him what little I had, I had fed Jesus. Who is "Jesus" in your life? Have you been sent out on a assignment to feed, clothe, serve, care for Him and passed it up in your hurry to get on with your day? How many times have you prayed the Jabez prayer, asking God to enlarge a coast that's already the size of a 3rd world country? Had God been good to you? Has He provided you with more than enough? How did you thank Him? Hopefully, not by shirking your responsibility to give back. Part 7 of this movement is this: If you're the kind of person that always has your hand out, make sure it's to give someone something. Our time for getting has come and gone and it's high we grew up and started thinking about how we can be a blessing to someone else. More often than not, take the time to go out and find a "Jesus" to feed, clothe, and care for, giving all honor and glory to God.
Further reading: Gen 4:3-5; Ex 35:21; 1 Chr 26:27; Dt 16:16,17; Mt 10:8; 2 Cor 9:6-8;Jn 6:8,9;Mk 12:41-44; 2 Cor 8:10-15
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