Some of the patterns that connect us to God are person-to-God. But other disciplines are with people--like worship and small groups. Another person-to-person pattern that we can build into our lives is serving the poor. Rich and Lisa Phillips share us some journal entries about this pattern in their lives. They collect items from Trinity Baptist Church and transport them to a food pantry in called “the Hill” in New Haven. Sometimes they supplement the gifts from people at church with shopping they do. They mention that "we build relationships with people we would probably not otherwise have met! And we love these people! Uniting in spirit and in purpose in Christ has real life benefits that far exceed the outlay of time and energy."
Here are some journal entries:
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....We went to Trader Joe's today to grocery shop for the food pantry. We always enjoy picking out the food and doing our best to make complete meals. We picked up bags of apples, oranges and potatoes so they would have some fresh food for a change....
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....With the food we brought home from shopping and the bags of donations from church (thanks to all who donate! Please keep them coming!!!) we have a full load! Trunk, back seat to ceiling, floor and some in the front seat too! We're thrilled and they will be too. Lots of people to feed so this is excellent.
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....We tried calling Atticus Bakery to see if they had the leftover bread of the day to give away but they were out...so we headed straight to the Hill section of New Haven to do the drop off and to see our friends.
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....We decided to visit the Adkins to congratulate Pastor on the completion of her degree; we hadn't even known she was working on it! I guess she wanted it to be a surprise to everyone when she did. We ended up hanging out at their house for a while and we got to talking about how we'd come to know in a very real way, not just in a superficial, head knowledge kind of way, but a deep down appreciation of the reality of what Jesus did for us and just how great God is (not that we even know the half of it!). This, especially, in light of all of our past experiences! Let's just say we weren't a bunch of goodie-two-shoes before we started paying some attention to the Lord. "God really IS good" is all I can say, to accept a crew like us; He's lavish in His love, and we have Jesus to thank for unlocking it for us. We're just so amazed how our Father can bring people, who might not otherwise have ever met, together, when we decide to take Him up on His offer and take that first baby step on the trail He's shown us....
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....What a great time it is dropping by Everlasting Word's office! Pastor and Overseer have got to be the most enthusiastic people we know; we always feel like we're walking into a long-overdue family reunion! We were told that they hadn't been able to purchase from the Connecticut Food Bank this month so we could be a bit freer to put some tracts in the grocery bags of food. The CT Food Bank, unfortunately, doesn't allow it's clientele to "advertise" (my word, not theirs...you know what I mean though) their church/religion since the state is involved. This time, though, a salvation message will be given directly (instead of indirectly since the bags are coming from a Christian organization).... God's Word never returns to void!!! It's great when there are enough alternate sources of food besides the CT Food Bank since we are freed from its legal obligations.
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How have you connected with God through serving the poor? Encourage us by writing to the blog.
1 comment:
Thanks guys for showing me how important it is to keep a journal. I struggle with that myself and always seem to start but never finish. I believe it is a good way not only to have a recorded history of what you have done, but more importantly of what God has done. Guess I'll try again.
Thanks for all the good you do in His name.
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