I spent a long time driving around and running errands this morning… I needed to reconcile all the receipts from my Nashville trip last week and finish scheduling ministry for my PA trip next week plus pick up a few things for my Oakland team. As I finally headed back to the base, I came to a redlight, which is when I noticed Jim:
I pulled over and talked to him for a minute and then promised to run by McDonalds and come back with some lunch for him. When I arrived at McDonalds, I discovered part of my team there. They had finished morning ministry early and stopped by for a snack.
When I asked if anyone would like to go with me to deliver some food to Jim, Alexa burst out of her chair-excited for the opportunity (even though some of her teammates were completely unsure about the idea…).
Alexa and I drove back to Jim and brought him two burgers, some fries and a drink. Then we told him why we were in Oakland and how he should come by the Rescue Mission for meals each day. We even had a chat about Jim’s realationship with the Lord. His joy at receiving his lunch and his gratefulness to God surprised us and encouraged us. We feel blessed to be a part of what the Lord is doing here!
Much later, I accompanied a third of my team to Emery Cove in Emeryville, CA, where we spent the evening prayer walking in the marina. Alexa ended up to be my partner for the night, and we really enjoyed talking to the Lord for an hour while praying for the people there. We even had good conversations with a few!
Late tonight, our whole team met up to debrief the day. My staff and I challenged the students to summarize their day in a “tweet” – 140 typed characters or less… Here are a few of their responses:
- “God showed me that it is good to talk about God and to pray with and hug complete strangers.” – Haley
- “Today God used me to be a friend to some of the kids. We played together and just had fun doing activities.” – Matt
- “Today was Indian food day. It went straight through me. Yeah, prayer-walking was awesome!” – Anonymous
Also, one of the youth leaders summaried his day of chopping veggies in the kitchen (for hours and hours) in a poem:
Onions, carrots
Eggs, oh my!!
Cutting them makes
Me cry!
For my life
He would die
So I wonder why
I don’t try?
