Its Friday. I am thankful for Fridays, especially the ones before a long weekend. We are headed to the mountains for an extended stay and excited to have the Lymans and Beavers with us. Should make for a great friend and family weekend away - all of us are needing some downtime. I am sad we will be missing church but thankful we can catch the message online. Still will be missing the worship time and meeting new faces.
Last night Carol, Kyle, Brody, Morgan and Taylor got to share some time with our volunteer team, just one of them at Jeff and Ambers house - Great time getting to know some new people especially when over the coming months we are going to be serving side by side with each other. I love that Elevation church, our church home, works hard to make connections and put people together. 10,000 in attendance last weekend and though some may say that is huge for a church...is it really? There are 980,000 people in the Charlotte county alone - I think we have a lot of work to do. We are not even scratching the surface of touching lives in the Charlotte city and even the areas around it.
As yesterday unfolded with the Center of Hope being a place that is so dear to my heart and an avenue to serve and connect with hurting people was almost taken from me and the folks that share this responsibility with me ... it has me thinking on a few things.

For one - Every heart has a story. Do we bother to take the time in our busy and personal lives to really listen for the ones nobody wants to hear?

We have people all around us that are struggling and hurting. Do we take the time to really listen to the hearts of those who find themselves in those places? We got to experience a whole another level by going to Jamaica last June but there are people right in your life, as you are walking this every day life, right there for you. It may be that gal struggling with an addiction that is on the street corner. It may be that scary man holding a sign at the stop light. It may be your neighbor who is at the bar each night avoiding his family due to his Miller Light consumption. It may be that student who is hiding the fact they are cutting themselves trying to release the pain.
So for this long weekend, I want to challenge you with something before the weekend gets started in a few hours because its 5:00 somewhere so here it is, are you with me?
Give your best portion to God today by doing something for the least of his brothers. Maybe you can take a homeless man for coffee and listen to his story. Maybe you can buy a coke for the alcoholic at the local watering hole waiting for his or her first beer to arrive at the counter - take the moment to ask them about Jesus. Maybe that means you put a total stranger in a hotel room for the night who has no place to sleep. Maybe its that icecream with that student who is really needing someone to talk to.
At the Center of Hope - there are stories there. People have a heart full to share and though it may not come out right away, sometimes all you need to do is ask and they shine because their story is personal and they dont want to be left out, forgotten, shunned and looked down on because of their situation. Jesus gave everything for us and how can we possibly stand by and do any less?
2 Corinthians 2:8 - An now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. (this is you, this is our city, this is our community) IN the midst of very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleased with us for the privilege of sharing in these service to the Lord people. And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us. So we urged Titus (you) just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But since you excel in everything - in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you - see that you also excel in this grace of giving. I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

Jesus left his heavenly throne to walk amongst us. To become one of us. To touch the hearts and restore the hurting, the lonely, that teenager with a heart full of struggles and that marriage that fell apart because of a bad decision. Jesus didnt have to leave heaven but he did out of obedience to the Father and the love he has for you and me. He implores us to leave our comfort zones by caring for others, loving orphans and widows, to reach the lost and hurting.
Dont close you eyes to the hurting - Instead, enter their world so you can help them experience yours because yours has Jesus.
Take the challenge this weekend - it might be a life changing conversation.

Have a blessed weekend and would love to hear a story or 2 :) -
Lonnie