Escaping winter's frigid temps

Winter weather has set in here in Dothan, Ala. The day time temperatures are reaching just above freezing and at night the windchill is down  to 10-15 degrees.

Imagine spending these terribly bone-chilling nights in your car. The exterior of the car breaks the wind, but the cold seeps into the car like flood waters into a basement. You can't run the the car for long because you need to conserve gas due to no money to refuel. Soon the cold overwhelms you and there's no sleeping. Just trying to put more layers of clothes on your shivering body.

I met a young couple Monday who were in that situation. They were in their early 20s, but they looked like kids. No jobs, and therefore a lack of money, forced them out of their home into their car. Thankfully, we were able to get them off the streets. It's way too frigid for anyone to be outdoors at night, much less trying to sleep. With temps down to 20 and windchills 10, that's hypothermia weather.

Unfortunately, struggling to live in the cold is reality for many people throughout this nation. The homeless are seeking shelter, and when shelters are filled where do they turn? Cars, abandoned houses and buildings, tents ... any place they can get out of the wind.

Thankfully we were able to help this couple, and this winter we have been able to help the homeless and poor in Dothan with blankets, gloves, scarves, warm hats and coats. Anything to help people make it through another bitter cold winter.

Usually our winters are milder than this, but the past two winters have been among the coldest on record.

Thank you for supporting this ministry. Without you, we couldn't help people like that young couple escape this winter's deadly freezing temps. Your support makes an eternal difference too, for when we meet people's physical needs it opens the door to sharing Jesus Christ with them. And when they see we care enough to be out in the cold helping them, they are more than interested in what we have to say.

Thank you, and please keep praying for the homeless here in Dothan and throughout the U.S.