We Gave Each Other Something That Day

Many years ago on a bus, I sat down beside a 40-ish, clean-cut, well-spoken man who offered me his neatly folded newspaper. 

I brightly replied, “Thank you. I need this today!” I am a woman of color and he was white. This is only significant in that I am always grateful for cross-cultural friendliness where ever I find it because there is so much hatred and prejudice still being practiced and promoted.

After I accepted the paper with a smile, he replied, “I picked it up at TCC.”

“Do you want some change for it,” I offered.

“No,” he replied. “They set them out for free.” After a pause, he humorously said, “I can always use a little change. No just kidding.”

I laughed and said, “We can all use a little change, sometimes. You take classes at TCC,” I inquired, assuming that he was enrolled in some MBA-type program or something.

“No, I stay at the Union Mission,” he quietly replied.

“Oh,” I said, thinking how sad but restful his spirit seemed.

“I work two part-time jobs,” I confessed. “They are both minimum wage and it’s difficult to get on my feet.”

“It’s hard for everyone isn’t it?” he empathized.

I began to dig in my purse for change, because not only have I had a desire to help others from my teenaged years but also because I’ve been in various types of financial and employment struggles. I have empathy for others who are struggling.

He said quickly and quietly, “Oh, you don’t have to do that,” as he waved his hand from side to side.

“But will you accept it anyway,” I quietly pleaded.

“Yes,” he said with purpose.

I grabbed as much change as my hand could hold.

The bus was slowing for my stop and I grasped as much change as my fingers could touch. It felt like a lot of quarters and I was glad. 

As I warmly placed them in his open hand, I felt his spirit soar as he looked down at his palm. He seemed so happy about that handful of change and I felt the angels singing.

When he said “God bless you,” I really felt the blessings of God being bestowed upon me. I just felt it, and spoke the same blessing to him.

I really needed the newspaper that morning.

 As I got up, I said, “See you around.”

“Certainly,” he said, or something like that.

As I walked to the McDonald’s to get my cup of coffee, I was happy to have the paper to read. I reflected on how much I seemed to have in the eyes of that man. I actually had not just one job but two compared to his none. They were both retail and didn’t even make up 35 hours a week but how blessed I must have seemed to him.

Suddenly, I thought I probably don't have enough for the cup of coffee I was so looking forward to. I had given him a lot of my change and was not thinking about my coffee. When I got inside, I found that I still had enough change for the coffee and then some. I had not even considered the amount that I was giving him when I dug into my purse. I just wanted him to have it. In doing so, I was provided for.

Amazingly, I still had enough change to buy my coffee.

My situation must really have seemed almost like paradise to him. To be finished with the job search process. To be done with standing in line with five-hundred and fifty other people for a handful of positions. To have the interviews behind me. To actually have some funds coming in. To have already received a paycheck. He had a bed for an extended but limited period of time in a residential shelter. There are so many others who don't even have that.

Just think about all of the others who don't have a bed in a shelter. Think about those who want a better life but can't get into the right position at the right time to make it work. Think about the mentally-challenged who would not hurt anyone but who are wandering the streets without anyone to assist them because not enough people are helping. Think about all of those who fall through the cracks, because not enough people are helping. Think about the elderly on the streets.

Think about those who are hungry and want something to eat but no one gives them a dollar because they decide that the person just wants a drink of wine. Think about those who were cheated and mistreated and are now living homeless as a result of it. Think about the veterans who are homeless and the mothers with children who don't have anywhere to sleep at night. Think about the children who are absolutely alone on the streets everywhere in the world...

Remember those who are struggling and who are less fortunate than you. The numbers are exploding and most of them don't want to be homeless and jobless. Reach out today. Help someone. If you can help one person one time in your life, you have done a lot.

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All Images From: Pixabay.com . You can thank the volunteer image authors for any of these free images that you use by donating to them any amount that you want. All image are free for your use, without attribution.

For Email and Feed Subscribers: Video of Phil Collins performing Just Another Day included with this post. To see it please click the Draw Nigh To Hope link in your message to visit the blog.

How ChurchCom Enables Impoverished Communities

Though the ChurchCom ministry is based in northern UK, its purpose and procedures can inspire ministries in other countries.

Joseph Bevan, founder of ChurchCom, has an extensive background in community development and engagement. Previously, he achieved success in a number of inner city areas of deprivation within the area of Birmingham, England.

 

One important position in which he served was as a youth and community worker and lecturer.

 

 

 

The initial vision of ChurchCom came from a government-funded role of community liaison within one of the United Kingdom's most challenged urban neighborhoods.

ChurchCom Website

Churchcom is a northern UK, non-profit organization managed by a group of community enablers. These committed ministry workers have broad backgrounds in spurring communities to engender success.

Their focus is to alleviate social poverty within specific areas of the United Kingdom. The vision of Churchcom is all about community, establishing socioeconomic hubs to bridge church with community, cutting red tape and empowering local volunteers.

They work with all community members, regardless of a faith-based or no-faith personal focus. The goal is to develop opportunities for individuals from all backgrounds to advance and succeed. 

ChurchCom Youtube Channel

A range of evangelistic preaching, teaching, worship, praise and charity-related missions, along with sharing practical evangelism skills.

Please Support & Partner with Us

Prayer is one of the most important ways you can do this.

If you would like to donate to our ministry, use the info below:

Sort Code: 30-62-61
Account No: 69068568
Name: ChurchCom munity

Feel free to get in touch:

josephbevan@live.co.uk
07852238244

All donations are used for evangelism and outreach.

 

ChurchCom Facebook Page

A vehicle of community change to tackle a variety of social evils. Includes daily devotions.

Christian Products & Services: Buy & Sell Facebook Group

A group for buying and selling Christian-themed products & services, such as books, crafts, music, etc. Come and promote your Christian creativity!

 

ChurchCom is a model of good practice for establishing socioeconomic hubs aiming to bridge church with community. 

Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:18-20

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Christian Products: Matthew Mouse Bible Stories For Children

 

Cindy Rowe Dicks uses her skills as a writer and illustrator to create Matthew Mouse Bible Stories For Children. The full color, illustrated stories are delivered as 2 x A4 letters that are written by a little mouse named Matthew. He hops through the Bible meeting the people we know and love. He acts as a reporter, writing back to your children with a fresh perspective that's easy to read and understand.

Matthew Mouse Shares Bible Stories

Matthew Mouse Printable Bible Stories by Cindy Rowe Dicks

Cindy illustrates her stories in beautiful, full-color artwork that easily gets the attention of children and adults alike.

Her stories have intriguing titles that spark interest in learning. She even offers a free download so that you can learn more about Matthew Mouse and see how the letters are designed. 

Cindy also sends monthly letters and gifts to the Children's Home of Safety (Bethesda) in Sierra Leone. She uses 10% of her sales to help fund this giving program. She plans to expand her reach and give in more places, so your support will help her to continue.

Cindy is based in the UK and sells through Payhip.

 

My name is Cindy and I am the illustrator and creator of Matthew Mouse Bible stories. I decided in lockdown 2020 to use my love for children's illustrations and create physical letters, sent by a cute little mouse to children through the post.

My aim was to bring much loved Bible stories back to life, while little ones were not able to attend Sunday school or church.
I have now decided to share these letters digitally, making it easier for children across the world to have access to the same stories.

Thank you for your support and I hope you enjoy hearing all about what Matthew Mouse gets up to.

Blessings

Helping The Poor With Clean Water

Charity: Water A Good Way To Help Others

I know that our drinking water is not perfect and probably has pollutants in it despite municipal filtering. The purity of even bottled water has been called into question. Though the water that we have may still be contaminated in some ways, I can't imagine drinking cloudy water every day in desperation. I can't imagine scooping water out of dirty creeks and streams and from polluted waterways because of burning thirst. 

Clean Water Is The Right Of Every Human

I started my week by giving to Charity:Water, who provides clean, safe drinking water in 29 countries. They don't just send bottled water, they implement long-range projects for good health. 

They partner with experienced local organizations who build sustainable, community-owned water projects around the world. Their local partners select water point locations based on a variety of factors like:

• geography,
• assessment of need,
• community participation,
• and long-term sustainability.

Give To Charity:Water For The Good  Health Of Others

In addition to the construction process, local partners spend months establishing community buy-in, promoting safe hygiene practices and building water committee capacity to manage projects.

To ensure that water continues to flow for years to come, the local partners empower local leaders, use strong operations and maintenance structures, collect data on specific WASH indicators, and implement innovative sensor technology.

Help Others To Have Clean Water Through Charity:Water

Existing water sources, terrain, and population are taken into account when choosing a water solution. From household BioSand filters to piped systems that stretch for miles, Charity:Water and their local partners and leaders work to make sure they’re funding the most appropriate solution for each community.

A person can survive only about 3 days without water. It's wonderful to be a part of bringing safe drinking water to others. The Lord wants us to reach out and help those who are poor and less fortunate than we are. There are many ways to give but for some reason the need for clean water in many places seems to pull at my heart.

I give regularly by selecting an amount when I purchase through Paypal and by making my Amazon purchases through Amazon's Smile program, which costs me nothing extra. I'm thankful to be a part of providing clean drinking water to those who are dying of thirst.

Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done. Proverbs 19:17

Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses. Proverbs 28:27

 

Charity From The Heart & Soul

Today I decided to read my old favorite scripture passage, I Corin 13. I think it is one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible. It opens like a great play or an outstanding opera, a magnificent pronouncement that swiftly reprimands and then immediately elevates. I can't read it without feeling lofty and so uplifted and inspired, with a new desire to feel and exude God's type of love towards self and others.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I give all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profits me nothing.

Charity suffers long, and is kind; charity envies not; charity vaunts not itself, is not puffed up, does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil; rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes in all things, endures all things. Charity never fails: but where there are prophecies, they shall fail; where there are tongues, they shall cease; where there is knowledge, it shall vanish away.

We think of charity as the cutesy little song "Have faith, hope and charity. That's the way you live successfully. How do I know the Bible tells me so, the Bible tells me so!" Then we learn that charity means love. Maybe that is why organizations that help those in need are called charities. How can you reach out and give to others of yourself, your time and your money without having love for the recipients?


The Merriam-Webster online dictionary  shows the well-known meanings of charity:

• generosity and helpfulness especially toward the needy or suffering,
• aid given to those in need,
• benevolent goodwill toward or love of humanity.

The definition shown there that I think is most significant, and upon which the others are able to operate, is this:

• lenient judgment of others.

In order to reach out and give to others we begin by choosing to think favorably upon their situations, their behaviors and their lives. We develop a considerate and forgiving spirit towards any offenses from them. We choose to believe that no matter who they are, what they are or how they arrived at where they are, they are worthy of our ministrations. They may not have taken our routes in life or think and believe like us, but they are worthy of our charity.

We should do better at remembering ourselves, as well. Often we strive to learn to love others unconditionally, but forget about ourselves. We should remember that true, pure, God-centered love is an outpouring of what is inside and a reflection of how we feel about ourselves. That other well-known saying that most of us have grown up on is charity begins at home.

Our first home is our heart and soul, that inner dwelling from which all thoughts and actions originate. We are worthy of our own charity, first of all. When we work with God to turn charity inwards, what we give will be untainted by unreliable, fleshly origins. It will be pure, true and long-lasting, and overflow and spill over to all in our paths, like rivers of living waters.

If you would like to give to yourself the greatest charity that exists, which is to be sure that you are Saved, say this simple prayer:

Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God, and the only Savior. Come into my heart, and save me. I was born in sin and you died for me so that I can know God and not be blamed anymore. Thank you for my new life. Show me the way to understand and turn away from bad things. I don't have to fear death anymore, and thank you for Eternal Life. Amen 

Sources:
Bible scriptures: KJV paraphrased (old English endings on words have been dropped)
Word definitions:  Merriam-Webster online dictionary

God Wants Us To Have Friends

Remember someone today who may be without a friend. Pray that he or she may open up to help and loving care from someone whom God sends.

Friends as so important and like love, hard to come by. 

Many times we feel that we just don't have time to cultivate friendships, but it is not God's will that we be alone.

God can provide friendships that adapt to our lives, and that compliment each other. God can move us to a place where we can be a blessing to someone, and vice versa. 

Pray always for those who are lonely, suffering and who need friends. 

1st Pic: ChristianWomenOnline.Net

2nd/3rd/4th Pic: Pixabay.com

Remember To Pray For Those In Prison

Was watching a program on the Justice Network, and thinking so many prisons, so many people in prisons everywhere, always a chance for work related to prisons. It is unfortunate, but he truth is that jobs in the prison industry have a bright future. Bright future jobs are industries where job stability and growth are guaranteed, because of the increasing need of the products and services.

Behind that thought, I began to think about the brutality of prison life, and how depending on where the prisoner is sent, he/she will be treated like a human being, or like an animal. Then I thought of the many prisoners who are incarcerated for crimes that they did not commit. I can only imagine how it must feel to live in such a horrible, unjust situation.

I am asking you to remember prisoners when you pray. Pray for those who have committed crimes, and especially those who did not. Don't forget about the incarcerated, when you petition God.

 

Sister Betty Jo On Receiving & Giving Blessings

"So the blessings that you receive, let me tell you they are all from God, and with no strings attached."

 Receive Your Blessings, And Give Them As Well

Praise the Lord everyone!! You are a blessing whether you know it are not. There are many who do not know that they are blessings to people. They didn’t even think they could be. This title came to me in a positive way, Receive Your Blessings, And Give Them As Well. I don’t know about you, but I’m thankful and grateful for (all) my blessings; and knowing that the blessings that I have received during my journey, have been a teaching given from Jesus Christ Himself.

When I sit and think about John 3:16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life, I realize that I have read that scripture just as I have read many others, over and over again. This time, I went so deep into it that I said to myself, This God has done something that no other would have done for me.

He gave me a blessing, and I didn’t even know that was what it was. I asked myself why would He do such? Did He not know that I didn’t love Him, or how I was living, and how I cared only to please others? The answers to these questions that I was asking were a mystery. He came back with the answer in John 3:17, For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.

He wanted me to know that I was blessed by a gift called Salvation. And He wanted me to take this Word of blessing, and give it to others. Whether they accepted the blessing or rejected it was not to concern me. You still keep sharing it, is what He said.

So the blessings that you receive, let me tell you they are all from God, and with no strings attached.

He does what he does because He Loves us (all). You may hate Him…He still Loves you…You may use His name in vain…He still Loves you…You may be ashamed to speak of Him to your friends…He still Loves you. You may try to stop Him, but you can’t…He still Loves You.

His blessings are still spreading, and spreading. And those who are receiving them, are spreading and spreading them to people who do not know that they are to become blessings also. That man, that woman, that boy and girl do not yet know that they are to become blessings in return. Praise the LORD!!

So, receive your blessings, and give them as well. Those of you who have testimonies of what Jesus Christ has done in your life, tell It! Keep it real! Don’t allow the devil to stop you…his a liar, deceitful, and a hater. There is no love in him.

Jesus Christ Is Agape, A Blessing!

Sister Betty Jo is a strong woman of God who loves sharing her relationship with The Father, and what Christ has done for her. She lives in TX, and enjoys spending time with her daughter and granddaughters. She is a crafter and folk art painter, and likes cooking, especially trying new recipes.

This is what she has to say about her relationship with the Lord,

" My Life Has Not Been The Same since I Was Diagnosed With Lupus Some Years Ago. My Life Has Changed Quite A Bit, But Lupus Does Not Define Who I Am. I'm Blessed To Have Jesus Christ as my Savior. Also Loved One's & Friends Are My Blessings.

I Am A Bible Believing Christian. I don't like religion. I'm in love with Jesus Christ, whom I have a relationship with. I will Follow Jesus Christ, and not man. He will direct my feet into the right path. It isn't about how good I think I am, or what I think I can do for Him. I cannot work my way to Heaven, nor pay Him to take me. I'm blessed through SURRENDERING my all to Him. He has forgiven me of my nasty Sins.  

I am in a Intimate Relationship with a man who gave His life for me. He loved me that much that He laid His life on a cross that was put together by man. My life has not been the same after I gave Him my heart, and my life. That is True and Honest Love.

No matter what I looked like, or the life-style that I was living that wasn't pleasing to Him, He still accepted me with open arms. He said to me at that moment..."your sins have been forgiven." That was a Promise that He has kept ever since. Halleujah!! My first and Only Love!! His name by the way is Jesus Christ. Amen!! Don't Give Up! Push On! Amen!! "

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Draw Nigh To  Hope