A torrential downpour flooded Steinbach streets when she called.
"We're completely out of food. The kids have no supper."
Theirs is not a pretty story. Prison, drugs and poverty dot their history and their present. Sandwiches were offered though not accepted. "My kids won't eat that."
It was almost 9:00 in the evening when the call ended unresolved.
At 9:01 the phone rang again, this time a man with a problem. "My freezer just died - everything in it is going to be lost. Do you know anyone who could use a freezer full of food?"
The woman with hungry children came to mind - and happened to live just blocks away. She was called back and told the news.
"Really? That's amazing! I was just praying that God would help us!"
Fifteen minutes later the food arrived - food her children would eat.
In times like this it's easy for us - as volunteers, as citizens, as readers - to judge. Beggars can't be choosers after all, right? But, as John Piper suggests, as easy as it is to judge "the arrogant poor", "it is from this attitude we must fast."
When we purse our lips and shake our heads at other people's circumstances or choices as though we are somehow better, we are also the arrogant poor.
It is a sin to belittle one’s neighbor; blessed are those who help the poor.
Proverbs 14:21
Thankfully, even in our sin Christ died for us. That we could be saved from our sin and made new. Even when our stories aren't pretty. It's encouraging to see people we work with crying out to God. It's a beautiful thing too, to witness their recognition of his hand. He provides and they know it.
Please pray with us that our guests will continue to seek God - that they would know Him more, trust Him more, and recognize His hand in their lives. Thank you for your prayers! He is responding.
"We're completely out of food. The kids have no supper."
Theirs is not a pretty story. Prison, drugs and poverty dot their history and their present. Sandwiches were offered though not accepted. "My kids won't eat that."
It was almost 9:00 in the evening when the call ended unresolved.
At 9:01 the phone rang again, this time a man with a problem. "My freezer just died - everything in it is going to be lost. Do you know anyone who could use a freezer full of food?"
The woman with hungry children came to mind - and happened to live just blocks away. She was called back and told the news.
"Really? That's amazing! I was just praying that God would help us!"
Fifteen minutes later the food arrived - food her children would eat.
In times like this it's easy for us - as volunteers, as citizens, as readers - to judge. Beggars can't be choosers after all, right? But, as John Piper suggests, as easy as it is to judge "the arrogant poor", "it is from this attitude we must fast."
When we purse our lips and shake our heads at other people's circumstances or choices as though we are somehow better, we are also the arrogant poor.
It is a sin to belittle one’s neighbor; blessed are those who help the poor.
Proverbs 14:21
Thankfully, even in our sin Christ died for us. That we could be saved from our sin and made new. Even when our stories aren't pretty. It's encouraging to see people we work with crying out to God. It's a beautiful thing too, to witness their recognition of his hand. He provides and they know it.
Please pray with us that our guests will continue to seek God - that they would know Him more, trust Him more, and recognize His hand in their lives. Thank you for your prayers! He is responding.
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