Eyes Wide Opened.....

Today started out like all of our other Sundays here in Wilmington.... we went to church and then we all met as a launch team to share together and pray together as a team..except this day we didn't meet in a home..we met at Greenfield Park here in Wilmington.  Paul and Noele had reserved the pavilion for us to meet and eat in while the kids played on the playground beside us. When we arrived we noticed there were people in the pavilion and me (ash) being the imperfect human I am thought to myself, "well, they need to get out because WE have reserved it"...I found the Lord quickly speaking to me about my initial thoughts and so we proceeded to unpack our coolers and "set up camp" so to speak.  I quickly realized that these just weren't people like us picnicking in the park, but they were homeless.  They soon realized we were there with an agenda  so they left and moved to the pavilion right across the sidewalk from us.  As we all sat around talking I sensed in my spirit the Lord nudging me to do something.  I wasn't sure what.  But the thought came to me...here we are a new "church" and we have people observing us from a distance with REAL obvious needs.  So, what were we going to do to meet those needs today.  I wrestled in my thought processes....thinking, how do we do this.  I quickly found my judgmental attitude rising up within me saying, "but they are smoking, one has a cell phone, there is probably alcohol in those cups"..ugh...I hated I was thinking those thoughts.  I found myself thinking well they can afford those things, why not food?  I found the Lord quickly speaking to me and saying, "Ashley, it is not for you to judge them...just be ME to them".... As I was wrestling with what to do, I said to Noele, "I think we need to do something...maybe feed them...it is so obvious they are watching us..what are we going to do?" She then mentioned to Paul that maybe we should cook up all we had and have the 15 or so homeless people come through the line and have what we had leftover.  I agreed.  It was amazing what happened after that as I sat back and watched our launch team slowly make our way out of our comfort zones to minister to these people.  It was like watching a slow motion movie take place.  Paul, being the outgoing talkative one that he is..announced to them all to make their way over and help themselves.  It was interesting to watch these people make there way over and introduce themselves and say thank you.  We had a chance to talk with a few of them and hear a little of their stories and as I sat there I found my judgmental attitude slowly fading away and I was moved to tears for these people.  Our hearts were breaking for them.  God was there today and he taught us something that even as we sit here and write this we are checked in our  spirits once again about something that has bothered us since our time today with the homeless people.  Why did we give them our leftovers?  Looking back on that today, we should have cooked everything and given it to them FIRST and WE should have gone without if we had run out.  It was like giving God our leftovers. It was a learning experience and yes, we know that we did what God was asking us to do, but realizing now that our human selfishness got in the way and we did it all backwards.  God help us as we strive daily to be YOU in the flesh.  We so realize that we will mess up, but thank you that you see past our faults and our sometimes backwards thinking.  

Today our eyes were wide opened to the SO many needs in our community.  Our prayer is that we never become "used to" the needs of those who have less then us.  We were quickly reminded today of the scripture that says, "The King will reply I tell you the truth whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine you did for me" Matthew 25:40

It all goes back to LOVING GOD, LOVING PEOPLE, and IMPACTING THE WORLD..  This is a process and an eye opener for all of us.  

Chris and Ashley