Every Friday night, Reed and I, unless we are sick or out of town, head downtown to one of Dallas' homeless shelters, the Bridge. We've come to love and cherish the time that we spend at the Bridge. When I talk to people about this, sometimes it makes them feel uncomfortable or like they could never be around homeless people, but it's really not too hard. Homeless people are people too. They all have different stories and reasons for why they are homeless, but in the end, they are broken humans, just like the rest of us. I'll admit, I was super uncomfortable when we first decided that this was something we were going to be obedient in because Jesus calls us to love and serve the poor. I kept thinking that I would have nothing to relate, nothing to say to encourage, nothing to share.
God showed me just how wrong I was. He's also shown me how His plan for His people in Dallas is far bigger than me. If Reed and I didn't go to the Bridge, God would still be doing amazing things to bring the broken back to Himself for His glory...we are just blessed to be a part of that.
On Friday nights we help teach a life skills class. Usually this is over a certain life topic that Wayne, the Director of OurCalling, picks. The really neat thing is that we teach biblically based life skills classes. There is nothing subtle about how we tie the class into what God says in the bible about that particular subject. Just being able to talk about God's Word is evidence of His sovereignty every week because the Bridge is a city run shelter and we're not technically supposed to have anything religiously affiliated. Yet ever week, we go inside the shelter and teach a class painted with the gospel. God truly is good.
This past Friday was one of those nights that God just took the reigns and captivated everyone. Wayne chose to talk about our purpose this week. What is our purpose on this earth. What will our purpose be this year? What about this summer? What about this week? What about today? We talked about seeking God's purpose for our lives because God loves each and everyone in the room and has a specific purpose for them. I remember as Wayne was emphasizing that point over and over (that God loves us exactly how He created us and that He created us for a purpose), that my eyes went around the room to all the people sitting around me.
I saw one man who had earlier confessed to me that he had taken 11 of his psych meds to give him a nice high. His hands were shaking and he was proud of the high he was feeling. God may not love his choices and actions, BUT GOD LOVES THIS MAN.
Another man was sitting next to me, shaking his leg uncontrollably (could be a health issue, could be drugs, I'm not sure), and he smelled like he had been walking in the Texas heat (it has been over 100 most days in Dallas) for 2 weeks straight without washing himself or his clothes. This man who's story I do not know, GOD LOVES EVERY PART OF HIM.
One of the woman in the room is a lady that God has intertwined in my heart. By all means, she is nasty, rude, racist, manipulative and throws a fit if you don't give her money. But my heart has always ached to see the impossible come true with her because GOD LOVES AND CREATED HER TO BE EXACTLY THE WAY SHE IS. I know she wasn't created to carry the certain evils in her heart and that God does not love the, but there are moments when I see her sweet spirit come out and I praise Jesus for the hope of His salvation.
As we all sat there thinking of our purpose as God's children, whom He loves EXACTLY the way we are, poor or not, the whole room was silent. This may not seem that amazing, but on Friday nights we also hand out coffee and Gatorade during the class. We know that many people come solely for the coffee which usually brings LOT of side conversation. Some nights it is more of a distraction than others, but without fail there is usually some side conversation going.
Not this Friday. Every single person in the room was captivated by the message that Wayne was sharing. To know that God had a specific purpose for them captivated them. Each person in the room, including myself, was challenged to choose the purpose God has in store for us, instead of our own purposes.
I'm not sure how everyone else was affected by the message, but I was so convicted. We talked about how we were to find our purpose in Christ and that it may look different for each person as far as individual actions go but our purpose would be found when we continually run the race set before us, seeking diligently after our prize, Christ Jesus.
I cannot tell you how much that does not reflect my life. Ever since I began working last September, I have chased after nothing but my selfish desires. Work is so hectic that I feel sorry for myself and therefore I feel like I deserve my own free time all the time.
I know, not a good year.
I think the word that might define this last year for me is "purposeless". I just was kind of existing. Trying to get by with the crazy life of a public accountant and wife. Jesus wasn't my reason. He was always there and there were moments when I connected with Him, but He wasn't EVERYTHING.
I don't want to have my purpose this week to be to just get through the work week and then serve at the Bridge during the weekends. I want every second of my life to have a purpose in Jesus. To be pointed towards Christ. I don't want to waste my days just getting by and choosing my own selfish ambitions.
This past Friday night, while I was supposed to be serving coffee, I stayed seated with the homeless and I started praying for the woman I feel so intertwined with, for the man who admitted he was using his medication for the high and for the man who was kind of stinky next to me. In all earnestness, I prayed that they would be impacted with God's Word about their purpose and that they would gaze upon Jesus and know that He alone is sufficient. I prayed for a revolution at the Bridge, that the hatred and cut throat nature that is accepted there would dissolve and that Christ's love and peace would inundate this place. That Jesus would be magnified in this shelter. I prayed that the impossible can be done in the lives of the addicted, faithless, and lonely. I prayed that the homeless would rise up with more faith and resiliency in Christ than this city ever imagined.
The Holy Spirit is moving in the Bridge and although we may not see the fruits of God's work there just yet, I believe He is the Redeemer of all...not just the clean people at my church, but the dirty, smelly, broken people in the shelters, under the bridges and in the woods. He loves them just the way they are. And He has a plan and a purpose for each one of them.
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