What a LIFE!

Saturday we had the opportunity to see Charles and Marcus again, and I was pretty excited to see them! I finally got some pics of them:

left to right (Collin, Ninja, Marcus, Me, Charles, Brandon in front)

This is where they live-

These guys are hardcore man! Charles prayed with us and then he sang a song for us. It was so cool to see their hearts again. They love God so much and are so humbled that they get each day to live for Him. I am so inspired by their testimony.

This week at Velocity I am going to be talking about how HUGE and AWESOME God is. Come out and bring your friends that are far from God, or maybe don't know Him at all! Krayv will be leading worship!

A Bouquet with Different Flowers

Courtney and I had an awesome opportunity to travel down with Dude Share the Food again this past Saturday. At first, it seemed pretty much like other times that we have gone downtown, with the exception that it was a bit colder...

(here we are packing up the bread truck with some clothes, blankets, and food)

(lining up for some food...there was a huge turn out)

After a little while Courtney, Brandon, Collin, Jessica, Ashley, and I went over to this bridge (not pictured, sorry) and saw Charles and Marcus. These are probably the two nicest men I have ever had the privilege to meet. They were so loving and so humble. After catching up on what was new with everyone, Charles asked us if we could pray and then sing a song. So we all gathered around, held hands, and prayed. After the prayer, we sang "Amazing Grace." While we were singing this song, I looked around us and just thought to myself, "here these men are in the freezing cold, having only the clothes on their backs and a few blankets to keep them warm, and only having a bridge to keep them dry. They are singing at the top of their lungs, louder than anyone else- AMAZING GRACE!!???" This was a very eye-opening experience for me. These two men inspire me. I can only pray that I can have that attitude when things do not go quite the way I plan. After another prayer from a woman with us, we said our goodbyes and Charles had to make a point to hug everyone. "I do this to everybody, you'll get used to me," is what he said. Such love he has. He told my wife, "we all in the same family... like a bouquet just with a bunch of different flowers." That has stuck with me for the past few days.

The family of God is not just white people, not just black people, not just Asian, Chinese, or whatever you want to put on it. We are all sinners and fall WAY short of God's true standards for our lives.

I could care less what you have on your church sign, if you are Baptist, Methodist, Church of Christ, Church of God, Assembly of God... that's just a bunch of junk! We all have ONE God, ONE creator, ONE Savior -- JESUS! Love God FIRST, the rest will follow.

Charles and Marcus didn't ask us what church we were from, they just wanted to know our names. They didn't care what denominational ties we had, they just wanted to sing with us. They just wanted us to pray with them. Not just for them, but WITH them- there is a difference. 

So many of us "Christians" like to pray FOR the homeless, but when are we going to sit and talk with them? When are we going to love them where they are? It's so easy to schedule a time to go and share food with them, because we get to go back to our little comfy homes and heat. I am very guilty of this. Let's get real... Jesus had no place to sleep.... interesting huh?

We Are So Blessed

We are so blessed, and I am so guilty for taking that for granted. This afternoon, about 20 of us traveled downtown to give out sack lunches to those less fortunate than us. It was about 48 degrees and raining. As I walked through Hurt Park (interesting name...) I realized that there is absolutely NO way I could live in such cold, wet circumstances. I am such a spoiled brat! Just when I though I was bad, I saw that there were some people that had broken down across the park from us. Brad and I went over and asked the MAN if he needed any help and HE said, "No, we got someone coming to change the tire for us." So he got back in his Lexus to wait. WOW...

What is wrong with us that are blessed in America? There are so many hurting people out there and we could care less. Yeah, I guess you could say they did it to themselves, but how about this one-

Patricia was telling me that her and her husband (Russell) had moved down here after Russell was offered a job. Well, that job fell through, and so they had to sell their truck and now are homeless because they can't find work. Oh yeah, he is a freakin VETERAN! I felt sick after hearing that! It was sad enough that he got screwed out of a job, but how about that he is a veteran? No veteran, in my opinion obviously, should go without being taken care of! We live in a sick, sick world. Praise Christ that He loves me in spite of my selfish ambitions. I have a freakin "limo" as Erik would say compared to what these people had. God help us!

BLinK!

Yesterday a friend of mine, Erik, talked about serving. It was a great little message on how we blink and a year goes by, or five years go by. So many Christians, and non-Christians I am sure, set out to "do good things" for the community around us. The sad fact is scarcely do we actually do anything.

Erik is the face behind "Dude, Share The Food!" He read an excerpt from a book he is currently reading that went a little like this- 

(This is a paraphrase!)

"Today, we got a shipment in from a local church who will remain nameless. On the top of the box it said, 'for the homeless.' I was excited so I opened the box eagerly and the inside was full of microwave popcorn. We hardly have electricity, and sure do not have a microwave. I didn't know if I should laugh or cry. Within a few days we got another shipment in from the Mafia. They sent some bikes for the little girls, a turkey for each family, and donated thousands of dollars to the organization. I guess God can use the Mafia, but I really wish He would use the church..."

This man lives on the street if you didn't catch that. He and some other homeless have obtained a warehouse to live in, and he is there to minister to them as much as possible. It is so sad that the church has better things to do then to spend time with those who are less fortunate than they are. I know I am guilty of that and I was totally convicted yesterday. 

We are just TOO busy these days. At least we like to think we are. "I can't, I just have so much to do." Read or Re-read Matthew 25:31-35...

-cg

Dude, Share The Food!

Yesterday, Courtney and I went down and hung out with the folks from "Dude, Share The Food!" We set up down the street from the Fulton County Jail downtown and started cooking hot dogs. I was not sure what to expect really, but I knew that I would be way out of my comfort zone.

After a couple of hours of hanging out with some homeless men and women, it really made me appreciate all the little things. It is so amazing and sad how we take EVERYTHING we have for granted. It was great to see how gracious these individuals really were. They kept saying "God bless." That was nothing short of amazing! I hope to go down with these guys more often. If you get a chance to share with someone with no strings attached, do it! NO RESERVATIONS! 

BE THE CHURCH!