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Showing posts from August, 2024

Don’t Walk On By...

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One of the simplest and plainest messages of Jesus for his followers is "When you see someone in need, don't walk on by, help the distressed." Sadly, this message is often ignored, reinterpreted, or ridiculed, despite Jesus making it abundantly clear that those who help others in need find comfort and those who walk on by find discomfort. We see this when Jesus told us about a victim lying on the road after a brutal attack. Two righteous godly leaders approached him, they didn't want to get their hands dirty, and they didn't want to disrupt their journeys, they were possibly scared, so they both passed on by on the other side. Then Jesus, with his unique ability to shock his audience, brings up a Samaritan, someone who would have been an enemy of the dying man, someone whom the listening crowd would have despised. The Samaritan walked down the same road and did the right thing by stopping. He allowed his hands to get dirty. He disrupted his journey. He sacrificed ...

OUTREACH STORY #11: Housing Prevents Jail-Time! Outreach Prevents Jail-Time!

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I remember when I heard Fred had been arrested. I couldn't believe it! I was in shock! This man was still recovering from an almost fatal, brutal baseball bat attack. My journey with him started long before the attack, but in this story, I'm starting there... We'd heard he died, only to find out a month later, he survived and was in the ICU. We visited him. Due to all the damage done, they had to remove part of his skull to reduce the immense swelling. He was hooked up to machines. He looked helpless. He was helpless. We were told that survival would be a miracle, let alone walking, talking or functioning. He faced months of surgeries, hospitalisations and rehabilitation, and in the end, he defied all odds. He walked again, but with limited mobility, very slowly, wobblily, and a walker. He spoke again, but every word took immense effort and his words barely made any sense. He had lost his memory, so remembering what he once knew took its toll. He didn't know who I was w...