so i have spent almost 28 hours straight at church. i'm a little delirious, but i am managing to get some things done before going home. one thing that i did was send out one of our weekly emails. i particularly liked the reflection moment i got into (and the grammar wasn't bad either considering). the reflection stems from our participation with "Room in the Inn" a local hospitality program for nashville's homeless. i started by thanking folks for their contributions and then it went like this.
... Things went smoothly and the fellas seemed to be very appreciative of all that we were able to help them out with. Do keep them and the approximate 2000 other homeless people in your prayers during this cooold coold season.To help keep the need in perspective. One of the fellas told me last night that Room in the Inn only has available 120 beds on Sunday Nights, the Nashville Rescue Mission has only 678 beds. If you do the math, approximately 1202 people had to find alternatives last night. It was the coldest night of the year so far and might stay that way. It is any wonder that 49 homeless people died last year, either due to violent crime or succumbing to the weather. There are many things that lead to homelessness and I won't try to trivialize them with this email, but let us keep these folks close to us in prayer and support however we can find our ways.On my personal note, I have found myself grip a time or two about when Room in the Inn falls. We have traditionally done it on Super Bowl Sundays. When I was at another church we hosted on Friday nights (a popular night for a 25 year old with no girlfriend and a nagging mother). I find comfort though that in this small act of sacrifice we are living out the gospel. Just read Luke 14: 12-14. As much as I'd like to go and hang with some friends and watch the game on some big screen tv without a care in the world, I (we) become more Christ like and "move on to perfection" by living out the gospel in this manner. I hope I (we) never loose site of that.thanks for letting me share that
