Last night after an event at the Chattanooga Community of Christ, I took one of our homeless members back to the abandoned house where he is currently staying (with permission from the property owner). I had purchased him some bug spray, rat poison, and gave him a chair from the church along with a pillow and a blanket. Earlier in the night I offered him a few dollars to go buy food and he refused the offer. He explained his belly was full, he had a roof over his head, a small paying job to do in the morning and expressed how the church have given him a family, a mission, and support to help him kicked a 9 year drug habit and that his life was improving so rapidly because of the confidence he had found from God and his church family. It was almost 11 p.m. and raining when I dropped him off at his place. Before getting out of the car, he asked to offer a prayer. His prayer was full of gratitude. We get out of the car so I can carry the chair to the door as he lights a candle in his temporary shelter. Then a car pulls up shining head lights at us. We both thought it was probably the police so I went to talk with them. But it was not police. It was 3 men I never seen before with bibles in their hands. Using a cell phone light, they begin to read bible verses to us and shouting that the Holy Spirit send them to us to convict us of our sins! To which my homeless brother responds by picking up a brick and the church chair expressing how we are going to kick their ass if they didnt leave. (Thoughts was flashing thru my head that butt kicking experiences for me usually resulted in my butt being kicked). But things quickly calmed down after they learned I was a minister. They left as quickly as they came and I was smiling because my butt escaped a kicking. LOL! Why am I sharing this? To use this for another soap box opportunity to share my personal reflection on the Holy Spirit and sin conviction. I PERSONALLY dont believe the Holy Spirit ever convicts of your sins. It does not take a revelation from the Holy Spirit to see that you have failed, your life is a living hell, or your poor choices have led to pain. You already know that better than anyone else. However, when you know that you’ve failed what you do need is for the Holy Spirit to convict you of your ability to overcome your past, to convict you that you are so priceless that your efforts to rise above is very worthwhile, and that thru Christ you can accomplish so much good that you can really help change and improve the world. So if you looking for a church community to point out your faults, failures, and make you feel worse, DO NOT waste your time coming to the Chattanooga Community of Christ. However, if you looking for a church community to point out how awesome you really are and how much God loves you and help you discover how much of a positive world changer you really can be, come check us out. Christ lifts us up not beat us down. Got to love the adventure of following Jesus Christ further down the road. Rain or shine, here comes Jesus showing us that God is good all the time and all the time, God is good. Yo Buddy.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 15:18:58 +0000
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