Matthew 25:40 – We all matter in God’s Kingdom!!

NOT COUPON RELATED

As most of you know I posted that me and the kids were going to look for “Uncle Dennis”, one of our homeless friends that we adore today. He didn’t make it to our last community dinner in October and we didn’t see him at the laundry day so we have been worried about him. Today, as I was sitting in the office working, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and I knew we were suppose to go look for him. So around 11:45 me and the kids headed down to St. Lucas Church (they feed a weekly lunch until 12:30) and see if we could find him. He loves ice cream so we decided on the way there that if we found him and he had already eaten lunch, we would see if he wanted to go for ice cream with us. On the drive there, Jonah prayed for us to be able to find him and for him to be safe. Also, Jonah was very worried that all the others would feel bad if we only took Dennis with us, melted my heart:) As we pulled up we all got out of the car and walked up and noticed a sign on the door that said “St. Lucas Cindy’s Corner Café Closed all Week”. My heart felt so sad because I know many depend on this for lunch and as we were walking to the car a gentleman was walking up and said “Please tell me they aren’t closed” and I told him they were. We asked him if he was hungry and he said “Oh Yay” so I said well, we will treat you to lunch. He said “FOR REAL” in an excited voice. I told him to meet us over at McDonald’s and we would be right there. As we got in the car all the kids said, “Mom that’s why God wanted us to come here huh?” I said “Definitely, all we have to be is obedient when we feel the prompting from the Holy Spirit”. As we were pulling out another man was walking up and looked very disappointed, so we told him to meet us over at McDonald’s also. We pulled up and prayed before we walked in that God would give us the words he wanted us to speak. We got in and Mr. Steve was sitting down waiting for us. He gave us all the biggest hug and thanked us before we even ordered. Then Josh came in and it was so humbling to watch them order. I told Steve to get whatever he wanted, he ordered a small fry and I said “Mr. Steve, I thought you were hungry, get a large fry”. He politely thanked me. Then Josh placed his order and she asked him what he would like and he said “the cheapest value meal you have”. I said “Josh get whatever you want buddy”. He said “SERIOUSLY!!” and then ordered a Big Mac and small fries, but of course we changed that quickly to a large fry. I also noticed another gentleman off to the side and it was Josh’s brother and we got him food too. The expressions on all 3 of their faces were priceless and something I know our kids will never forget. When their order came up, Jonah took it over to them and we sat and talked for a few minutes, but didn’t stay. We didn’t want them to feel like they had to visit us because we had fed them. They all stood up and hugged me and the kids and thanked us profusely. Mr. Steve told us he would pray blessings on our family. As we were walking to the car all 3 of the kids had tears in their eyes and said “God had BIG plans today didn’t he mom?”. We sat in the car for a few minutes and I explained to them, when we pray and ask God for wisdom we have to then listen and be obedient if he speaks to us. It can be as simple as a tugging on the heart, but it is usually so obvious that you know it is from God. We then got in the car and went to track down Uncle Dennis. We turned the corner and THANK YOU JESUS, there he was. We saw him walk into the gas station and followed him across the street. He saw us right away and came right over and said “JONI!!!!” I said Dennis God told me I was to come find you today, we missed you. He got all teary eyed and the kids jumped out and loved on him. I don’t know who was more excited to see who, him or the kids. We sat down and he had 2 small slices of pizza and started to cut them to share with us (honestly humbling) and I said “Dennis do you want to have a picnic with us?” He said “of course”, so we went inside Subway and got subs and cookies (he loves chocolate chip) and sat outside for over an hour and talked to him. He told us how he became homeless, how he stayed in abandoned houses last year in the 40 below weather, and just openly talked about his life. He said he struggles some days w/the importance of his life and how he can make a difference with having nothing. I told him he has impacted our family’s lives in so many ways. I told him he was a masterpiece created in God’s image and nobody had more value than he did in God’s eyes. He got very teary eyed and put his hand in my hand and thanked me. He said besides Pastor Dave nobody else has cared to hear his story. We invited him over for Thanksgiving Dinner and I told him just to pray about it, but he was welcome to our house anytime and to let us know on the 23rd when we had the FREE Thanksgiving Dinner (which he said he was so excited for the mashed potatoes, LOL I cannot even tell you how much I love this man. He means so much to our family. You see I don’t care that he is homeless, because I see the wonderful man that he is; the man that God created ~ A masterpiece. Feeding the homeless is so much more to me than just feeding the homeless. Sure we go there with a wonderful meal and we smile, but the friendships and relationships that are being formed is what it is all about. Homeless/Less fortunate people are people too, rather than judging them, we need to love them. We need to show them grace, the same grace that we receive every day from Jesus, that we don’t deserve either. Dennis (as many of our other friends that we feed) are wonderful people; people full of Love for others and they shouldn’t be treated any differently than any other human. James 2:9 says “2 My brothers and sisters, practice your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ by not favoring one person over another. 2 For example, two men come to your worship service. One man is wearing gold rings and fine clothes; the other man, who is poor, is wearing shabby clothes. 3 Suppose you give special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say to him, “Please have a seat.” But you say to the poor man, “Stand over there,” or “Sit on the floor at my feet.” 4 Aren’t you discriminating against people and using a corrupt standard to make judgments?
5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! Didn’t God choose poor people in the world to become rich in faith and to receive the kingdom that he promised to those who love him? 6 Yet, you show no respect to poor people. Don’t rich people oppress you and drag you into court? 7 Don’t they curse the good name of Jesus, the name that was used to bless you?
8 You are doing right if you obey this law from the highest authority: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” 9 If you favor one person over another, you’re sinning, and this law convicts you of being disobedient. “

Our richness comes from the Lord not by material things or by how much money we have. The next time you see a homeless person, take the time to get to know them and show them grace, love them, and share your JOY with them. Your kindness may change their lives forever. Dennis may be homeless, but he has impacted my life in a wonderful way and I love this man. We all gave Dennis a huge hug and of course I told him that we loved him. As we were pulling away the kids rolled their windows down and said “Bye Uncle Dennis” and Dennis said “I love you guys” and all 3 of the kids responded and said “We love you too Uncle Dennis.” Honestly it was music to my ears. To see our kids loving others unconditionally is the greatest gift. To know they are loving like Jesus loves us, just makes me so proud of them. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love the least of these. On our way home, we prayed for Dennis, Mr. Steve, Josh, and Alan, that God would bless them in a mighty way and that he would continue to send a hedge of protection around them. We are blessed beyond what we could ever dream, not by material stuff, but by the love of Jesus and I praise him daily for all the gifts he has given to us. Our life is a gift and I want others to remember me for loving them, for encouraging them. My prayer continues to be to have eyes and ears like Jesus and be HIS servant, all for HIS glory. It has nothing to do with us, but EVERYTHING to do with him. May you all be blessed today and know you matter not only to Jesus, but you matter to me and I love you guys!!!! Pray and ask God how he wants to use you today – the life that he gave to you 🙂

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