Making a difference

Making a difference in people's lives is something we should all strive to do. Making that difference an eternal one is what we should all be doing. As a child of God, we can make an eternal difference through the power of God working within us.

How do we do that? It's pretty easy. God has given us all a cause. All we have to do is do it. I like how Jesus puts it in Luke 2:49, "Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” That's it! We must be about our Father's business.

At Love In Action our cause is to reach the homeless and needy with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We do that through acts of compassion. Our newest outreach to show the love of Jesus to people is Adopt-A-Block. This is a powerful weekly outreach and my favorite because we are out in the neighborhood taking Jesus to the people, not waiting for them to come to a building. 


In just two weeks, we are already seeing a change in the community. One woman came to our Thanksgiving Day lunch and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. People are accepting our offers of prayers. Today, a young man asked one of our volunteers to tell him more about Jesus. People's needs are being met.


We have raked three yards, worked on two roofs to stop leaks, repaired a screen door and a back door, repaired a toilet and put light bulbs in a single woman's house and a house of an elderly man.


We met an elderly man who is a disabled veteran on Thanksgiving Day. Some of our volunteers knocked on his door and entered when he said to come in. They saw a man in a wheel chair with his left leg propped up. He doesn't have a left foot. What else they quickly discovered was the horrendous conditions he lived in. His house probably hadn't been cleaned in years. Cluttered, sticky ... you pick the adjective and that's what it looked and smelled like.


We went back on Saturday during Adopt-A-Block and a team of volunteers went to work. Bags were filled with trash and taken to the street. Floors, walls, cabinets, tub and toilet were scrubbed. His yard was raked. He was all smiles at the end of the day. He kept saying, "Thank You Jesus." We aren't finished at his house. There is plenty more to do.

Another part of Adopt-A-Block is picking up trash throughout the neighborhood. We were on a street yesterday where there were two vacant lots filled with trash. I told a woman we were going to clean up that lot. She was so thankful. She said the people who live on that street had contacted the city to clean up those lots. I told her we were doing it, and people on that street thanked us as they saw the cleaned lots.

Making a person's house more livable, cleaning neighborhoods and fixing leaky roofs are all acts of compassion that shows the love of Jesus Christ. We are planting and watering seeds of God's love. We will see a bountiful harvest reaped. This is just the beginning. It's exciting watching God transform lives and entire neighborhoods.


Please keep Adopt-A-Block in your prayers, and please continue to financially support Love In Action to help us help those in need