Nike has a saying, Just Do It. As Christians, when it comes to living out our Faith, we should use this way of thinking. The following is my story of taking a week to Just Do It.
Chuck, James, and Doug, seemingly uninteresting names. What makes these people special is, they are now people that live in my heart and memory, because God compelled me to meet with them. Chuck, James, and Doug are all homeless people. All of them have homelessness in common, but have very different stories.
My wife, child, and I were attending church a little over two weeks ago, and the message at Freshwater has been about Living Out Your Faith. Do not just give God your lip service, get out and LIVE your faith. When listening to this message, I had a unique experience with the Holy Spirit. God spoke a message to my heart that morning, telling me it is time to live out my faith in a different way.
I work in downtown Minneapolis. Everyday I walk past the homeless people holding up their signs, and everyday I walk past them just like everybody else. But, God told me it was time to reach out, it was time to move beyond lip service. God spoke to my heart saying, take My children out for lunch. God was speaking in my heart, "These people are not distractions I set out on the side of the road, these are My children just as you are.
Now, I may have a little bit of courage and outgoing personality, but this message from God was taking me out of my comfort zone. "God, you seriously want me to take these people out to lunch?" I set out Monday at noon with a little apprehension and fear, but after I closed my eyes and prayed to God to give me comfort, to open up my heart and give me strength, I was able to walk right up to Chuck and ask him,
"Have you had lunch yet?"
"No", said Chuck
"Do you want to have some lunch"
"...OK!"
"Let's go..."
And my Just Do It journey began...
The rest of the week was a whirlwind of God filling my heart with compassion and I brought one homeless person out to lunch everyday of the week. Besides Chuck, I also had the privilege to meet James and Doug. I will not get into the lives of these men, their stories and our relationship is now a bond between us.
My story is about living out your faith and seeing where it may take you. It has taken me into the lives of three very different homeless men.
When we were at the tail end of our lunch, Doug, who was a paraplegic and a heroin addict for 30 years, jerkily rolled his wheel chair backwards and looked at me. With a voice plagued with the shakes of years of doing drugs, Doug asked me, "Why the hell did you talk to me today?" I looked into his eyes and told him that God led me to him that day. The sad part for me is, Doug asked a question that speaks volumes about what is missing in our "American Christian" lives. He was genuinely surprised that I showed interest in him as a person. I, who was suppost to have been living out my faith by showing love, grace and forgiveness to all of God's children, had finally reached out to Doug after actually living out my faith. Until I spent time to sit down with a few people downtown, I didn't realize how much, as Christians, we are not doing a great job as a whole doing what we speak. We talk the talk of showing love, grace and forgiveness, but we rarely walk the walk, or contradict ourselves based on personal comfort and wealth.
Dear Heavenly Father,
I ask that you speak through my heart daily. I ask that Your Spirit helps me to live out my Christian faith and values. Help me to live out my lip services. I no longer want to just talk the talk, but walk the walk of a deciple of Jesus Christ. Help mt to love, forgive, and show grace to ALL of Your children.
Through thought word and deed, I will be You Lord God and Your Son Jesus Christ...AMEN!
