Today we (as a family - actually, the men in our family) went to the homeless shelter to help with the lunch chapel service. It is about a forty-five minute drive, and we arrived early so that we could setup for some music (we have some traditional "bluegrass" instruments that we use in sharing hymns).
The service is fairly traditional (starts with prayer, then some congregational hymns, followed by the special hymn that we shared, and then the message). I was able to preach today, and had a wonderful time. It was exciting in that the Lord impressed the message on my heart about a month ago. I love preparing messages when the Lord is flooding my heart with His message. Truthfully, there is no such thing as "message preparation" when the Lord isn't speaking to one's heart!
It is always amazing to seek to balance the Lord's love with His justice while sharing with the men. So many hard hearts, and so much pride - and yet there are so many wounded and hurting souls. My prayer is that I will never get in the way of what the Lord would want to accomplish.
After the service I had an opportunity to talk with some of the men (sometimes it is very hard to find men that will open up and share). The first ones I talked with were actually missionaries from foreign countries that were in our town for a missions conference. One man was from Papua New Guinea (and is serving as a missionary to the Solomon Islands), the other was from Colombia. They had a young man with them who was hosting them here in the States, and as he volunteers at the homeless shelter, and their missions conference didn't start until this evening, they came to see what the homeless shelter was like. I had a wonderful time fellowshipping with them.
However, our goal in being there is to share with the lost, so after a wonderful few minutes we brought the conversation to a close and I moved on, looking for those that were open. I talked with one gentleman for a few minutes, but then he got up to join the food line.
As the men were eating I tried to start a conversation with one table, and while doing so a gentleman at the next table over called me over with a question about what we were talking about. I spent the rest of the time talking with this man (Steve) - who turned out to be a believer who was excited about his walk with the Lord, and is learning and growing every day. He spends most of his time reading God's Word - and is at the homeless shelter while he awaits surgery and medical treatment for several conditions that he has. We talked about his testimony (how he met the Lord), the importance of staying in the Word on a daily basis, along with where he was currently reading and what the Lord was showing him. We had a nice time of fellowship and sharing, and then it was time to leave.
I was a bit disappointed that I wasn't able to share one-on-one with a lost person that was seeking the Lord, but I was able to share with the entire group (about 50-60 men) during the service. Praise the Lord for His grace during the message - and may the Spirit be moving in hearts...
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