Don't get down on yourself. Guilt should not motivate you. Jesus is asking you to follow him, to trust him that your life will be better if you do. That should be the motivation.
There is something to be said for the spiritual discipline of simplicity. You know about the third soil in Jesus' parable of the seeds, don't you? That is where most of us are at. We would grow and produce fruit if only we didn't have all these other things going on in our lives.
The fact that you have some insight into your situation and what you think you should do is a great start. It would be even better if you spent some time (10 minutes) and drop into the heart to examine it further, ask God, and then listened (not for a voice).
With such a busy schedule, you think you could squeeze out 10 minutes in your day?
I too have been busy. I have caught some time here and there. I feel the need to have a formal time in prayer. I am sensing his presence.
"We are summoned into the presence of God by the fact of our birth, but we become present to God only by our consent. As our faculties and capacities to relate gradually develop and unfold, the capacity to enter into relationship with God increases, and each new depth of presence requires a new consent. Each new awakening to God changes our relationship to ourselves and to everyone and everything else." (Thomas Keating)
We probably don't want to work directly with the homeless, but with those in poverty. The homeless have no place for a bed yet. We can get people who are moving out of shelters and into transitional or permanent housing. Battered women's shelters are one place. See the link below. See if any of them have a website.
What you get online may get you in the ball park, but you/we will probably have to go to where the people we want to help go. Where do poor people go? Where do the homeless go? Where do the working poor go? Where does the single woman with kids who are fleeing an abusive husband and now have no home or means to support themselves go? What part of town do the people in LR live? What institutions do they go to? What types of services do the poor need? Who is providing these services? What are the names and locations of these serivces. Are there any Christian organizations that are already involved with the poor that we might partner with?
You know who would be good to talk with? Maybe to do an interview with in person or videotape? How about Here's Life Inner City? Paul and Shirely Shackleford's ministry. They rub shoulders with many of providers and poor. Want to set up something with them?
7 comments:
Don't get down on yourself. Guilt should not motivate you. Jesus is asking you to follow him, to trust him that your life will be better if you do. That should be the motivation.
There is something to be said for the spiritual discipline of simplicity. You know about the third soil in Jesus' parable of the seeds, don't you? That is where most of us are at. We would grow and produce fruit if only we didn't have all these other things going on in our lives.
The fact that you have some insight into your situation and what you think you should do is a great start. It would be even better if you spent some time (10 minutes) and drop into the heart to examine it further, ask God, and then listened (not for a voice).
With such a busy schedule, you think you could squeeze out 10 minutes in your day?
I too have been busy. I have caught some time here and there. I feel the need to have a formal time in prayer. I am sensing his presence.
"We are summoned into the presence of God by the fact of our birth, but we become present to God only by our consent. As our faculties and capacities to relate gradually develop and unfold, the capacity to enter into relationship with God increases, and each new depth of presence requires a new consent. Each new awakening to God changes our relationship to ourselves and to everyone and everything else." (Thomas Keating)
It won't happen without your consent.
How about today? Think you can invest 10 minutes?
How did it go?
What was good about it?
Those are great verses to meditate on.
How did those verses speak to you? What is God up to with you and them?
We probably don't want to work directly with the homeless, but with those in poverty. The homeless have no place for a bed yet. We can get people who are moving out of shelters and into transitional or permanent housing. Battered women's shelters are one place. See the link below. See if any of them have a website.
Also, check out the email I just sent our group.
http://www.arlegalservices.org/Home/PublicWeb/About/Shelters
I gave you the wrong site.
For information on poverty in AR, you can check out Kids Count data:
http://www.aecf.org/kidscount/sld/profile_results.jsp?r=5&d=1&c=s&p=1&x=138&y=10
or US Census data:
For shelters:
http://www.hud.gov/local/ar/homeless/pulaski.pdf
http://www.census.gov/
What you get online may get you in the ball park, but you/we will probably have to go to where the people we want to help go. Where do poor people go? Where do the homeless go? Where do the working poor go? Where does the single woman with kids who are fleeing an abusive husband and now have no home or means to support themselves go? What part of town do the people in LR live? What institutions do they go to? What types of services do the poor need? Who is providing these services? What are the names and locations of these serivces. Are there any Christian organizations that are already involved with the poor that we might partner with?
You know who would be good to talk with? Maybe to do an interview with in person or videotape? How about Here's Life Inner City? Paul and Shirely Shackleford's ministry. They rub shoulders with many of providers and poor. Want to set up something with them?
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