A Church Without Walls – 6/2/12
Saturday was a hot day, and I thought, ‘why not bring ice cream to the homeless tonight?’ When Jon called and let me know that he and Aaron would be coming out to 19th street tonight I was encouraged. They brought pizza and water, and I brought three large containers of Neapolitan ice cream on ice, along with 50 cones. As you can imagine, every bite and every lick was gone by the time we left.
“Pizza and ice cream…. Pizza and ice cream, who could have ever thought that I’d be having pizza and ice cream tonight,” one man repeated in amazement.
“You know it’s been years since I’ve had an ice cream cone,” said another.
The time out on the streets tonight reminded me of when my dad took us to the Dairy Queen, and we’d all sit on the back of his station wagon, look at the stars and eat our 15-cent cones. It was pleasant; it was fun; it was family.
That’s how it was on the streets tonight. Some of the rougher crowd came by, but ice cream can’t help but melt a hardened heart. There was no trouble, only good conversation and thankful hearts all the way around. ‘X’ was there and I asked Him how he was and if he might want prayer. He was satisfied with pizza tonight and that was good. Bones was there too, with his pregnant girlfriend. I asked if she was getting prenatal care and she assured me that she had.
My friend Terry came to ask for ‘the word’ tonight. “I need that,” he said pointing to my Bible. “I really need the word tonight.”
He asked me some questions and I said, ‘well let’s ask everyone.’ So I took my Bible and asked the group why they thought Jesus healed people? I told them it wasn’t so much for those who were healed as it was for us, right there on the street. He wanted to show us that what he was saying was true…. I read the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount… blessed are… blessed are…. Blessed are…. And I told them that it is true that in heaven there is no pain, there is no suffering, there is no hunger, there is no sin, and that Jesus has a place for every one of His sheep. It’s true, He proved it by His miracles.
I exhorted them to love God and to seek Him.
Aaron, John and I spoke with everyone privately or in smaller groups too. Sam talked to me about being drawn to the Word. It was encouraging because I know that this is a real evidence of faith. We had many prayer requests too.
I am hoping to have a ‘sock night’ in the near future. Could you spare some new socks for those who don’t have any? God will provide I know… but perhaps He will use you to serve ‘the least of these.’
I so enjoy being with our friends on the streets, it is a true joy to serve them.
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