One thing that is amazing about homeless ministry, is that it never fails to always run into that one person who somehow alters our way of thinking. This fella defintely didn't disappoint! A couple guys from Venue Church and I were makin' the rounds one day down around the French Market, just passing out backpacks and water, tryin' to love on some folks! After a couple blocks, we stumbled upon this fella sittin on the sidewalk. He seemed to be fairly intoxicated, but very open to conversation. We exchanged names, brief histories, and a few random things about each other, all while he was petting his pet cat and takin swigs of a bottle. He eventually asked us if we were Christians, and went on to explain to us his jouren to Christ! As a child he grew up in church, but throughout his teenage years ended up running away from his faith. After a couple years of running, he was invited to a bible study.. which he attended, while "trippin" on some pretty crazy drugs. He said the guys at the Bible study didn't care about the drugs he was on, only about showing him some love. He talked about how he knew at that point God was good, because he had been treated so poorly by christians before, yet these guys loved him reguardless of his apperance or his drug problem. We started finishin' things up, and he looked up at us and said "Guys just remember, what yall are doing, yall are being the church... it's all about love, all about getting out and doing just what yall are doing... ... man, the church isn't a building... the building... man the buildint ain't shit... WE are the church."... simple as that... it is what it is... we went down there to minister to "the least of these"... and they end up ministering to us... Blows my mind how Christ can use ANYBODY, to reach ANYBODY... Never really imagined the most profound theological quote I would ever hear, would come from a drunk gutterpunk, who just wanted to love!! God bless, GOd love!!
Keep em coming. Good stuff.
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