The Life Group topic this week is centered on serving one another. I thought I had a decent handle on this and thought I did a fairly good job until I went to Life Group @ Oak Street. If you ever need a good dose of humility I would suggest you go spend an hour or two talking with some of the folks God has brought to this house.
For those that might read this and not have a clue what I'm talking about I'll give you a high level picture. Oak Street Outreach is basically a 6000 square foot metal building with a kitchen, 1 bathroom and several rooms that have been sectioned off around the building and a sanctuary in the middle. A man named Dee and his family sold their new house and moved in to this building to be able to house people in need of temporary shelter. Currently their are 25 people living there and that number can rise or fall each day. Did I mention Dee is on disability and unable to work for extended periods of time?
Tuesday night while facilitating the Life Group I met a man there. I went and shook the mans hand and looked in in his very tired looking eyes. His skin is leathery and his hair wild and a gauze bandage covers one of his ankles from recent surgery. He told me name is Mack and that he had just come from Dallas the night before.
As I talked with Mack I found out that he didn't live in any of the apartments that Sean and Lisa minister at on MLK in Dallas but he lived under the I45 bridge in downtown Dallas, some call this box city. Mack told me how glad he was to be off the streets and wasn't sure he would ever be able to get out of there. He said he kept Sean's number at hand and would see him every once in a while and Sean would ask him if he still had the number and to call if he ever wanted out. Finally Mack called him and told him he had to get off the streets. Sean told him he would be there to get to him and Mack figured it would be sometime that evening but ventured up on the hill where he would meet Sean and much to his surprise Sean showed up in less than an hour. Mack was then taken to Trace another friend who lives in this area and Trace took him to Oak Street.
Can you even fathom what must have been going through Mack's mind as they were driving an hour away from anything he knew? What made this man trust the people that were suddenly paying him all this attention? Mack said he would never have thought he would be brought to a place as nice as Oak Street and that he would have a bed to sleep in and three meals a day. Mack came to Oak Street without anything. He had no clothes other than a ragged pair of pants and a t-shirt. When I asked him if he needed anything he said he would really like to have a Bible to start reading, at first being the most selfish thing I know, I ignored the Holy Spirit's prompting to give him my Bible but after a bit I did give it up. WHY would I even think twice??
Folks, I'm a man that has close to 10 Bibles, although this was my favorite I had it broken in just right and the pages were dirty, tear stains, tape holding some pages together, sweat stains from when I preach. I couldn't believe I hesitated. Maybe that is why God prompted me to give it up, man I need prayer.
He also asked for some size 9 shoes and a change of clothes. I have a line on clothes and all their sizes to hopefully get all 25 at least 2-3 changes of clothes this weekend from another ministry we support. Mack also told me he is a vet with an honorable discharge, a vet living under a bridge with 10's of thousands of people passing overhead all to busy to lend a hand.
Serve one another.........Awfully big words to live by. Sure we can go through the motions of serving others especially those we have a lot in common with and those who really aren't in desperate need. What about the Macks of the world? What if Sean wasn't willing to go under that bridge? What if Trace wasn't willing to pick him up and bring him to Oak Street? What if Dee hadn't been obedient to God and move his family to a metal building in the country to open the doors to complete strangers and feed them and house them by FAITH in God's provision???
I thank God he has given me the opportunity to minister to the folks at Oak Street. Maybe I should thank Him for those at Oak Street ministering to me. I feel I have a lot to learn about humility and serving others and I pray Oak Street will continue to teach me.
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7 comments:
Mike
Thanks for this post. Mack's story I guess is all of our story in one sense. I never lived under a bridge, but spritually speaking I was indescribably depraved and destitute.
Your post makes me remember the people who have been the "Seans" "Traces" and"Mikes" of my life. These are those who were willing to move out of their comfort zones when I was lost and without Christ and to share the Gospel and Christ's love with me.
I still find myself continually in need of such people, because while I have been redeemed, like you, I am so far from where I need to be. May God help us!
As I sit here and read this with tears streaming down my face, I think that we are all sharing this very humbling experience together. All I can write is that I don't know how we are where God has us all right now, or exactly why we are where God has us right now, or where we will be going a week, a day or even an hour from right now. I feel weak, fragile, out of my element, broken, burdened, unworthy, grateful,and in complete awe and wonder at a God who could possibly love any of us and that He actually wants to use us!
"Lord here am I ....send me, thought it seems there's not that much I can do. Lord my heart hears your call and I want to give it all to You." -Steve Green (echoed by C.Holt)
I met Mack this week! He was very nice. I knew, though, that he had a story...a testimony. You can just see it in his eyes.
Praise the Lord - what a great post!
Julie
I have to agree with you Cherie. I was talking John N the other day and mentioned to him that only about 7 weeks ago he was encouraging me to keep from closing the doors of the church.
Now I look around on Sunday and mid week Life Groups and am in complete awe of God working in and through us. And through all the changes here and Oak Street and new faces all around us, God requires two things from us, obedience and availability.
Thanks for the great response.
Amen Buddy!!
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