On our journey so far we have met some wonderful people. And most of the time we met them in times of trouble were I was forced to stop and look around. One such instance happened when I needed to light the water heater for the first time, unlike those at home an RV water heater has an open flame and looked completely foreign to me. So just to make sure I wasn't going to blow up our home I asked a couple of ladies that were staying a crossed from us if they knew anything about it. They did, and the RV was safe. This started what ended up being an ongoing friendship. Over the next few days we talked several times and learned lots about Florida cotton and life on the road in general. When we were getting ready to leave they came over and gave us there contact info and said to stop by if we are ever in there neck of the woods. Now we never quoted scripture or called them to make a choice for God right there, but we did spend allot of time talking with them about lots of things including God and his church. They had been hurt by people that called themselves Christians in the past and that wound was still festering in them; hopefully God used us to heal that wound and to start calling them back to him.
There was also a ministry that we came across that is doing some amazing things for the people of Florida. When we left we had less time to organize than we had hoped because of dealing with the vandalism on our house. As a result we had more in our RV than we had hoped for. (Not quite as bad as an episode of hoarders, but pretty close!) As a result we have been purging things that we don't need along the way. One set of purging led us to a thrift store named "Well of Hope thrift store" we walked in to make a donation and were blown away by the servants we found there. This store is run by a couple who are both pastors of a local church. They have the thrift store there to help fund the food pantry that they run. In talking with the pastor he said that the only reason he has a thrift store is so he can meet people to pray with and keep the food pantry well funded. While I was there I saw them pray for three or four different people and bless others with free stuff not to mention offering us a free turkey to take with us (it was a couple of days before thanksgiving.)
Now there were other people on the way that we met and talked with and that we are still talking to, the point of these to stories is to make me remember and maybe help some of you to stop and talk to people. If you make yourself available to people you will learn about them and hopefully minister to them as well. I know this is the journey God has me on, when we started out God had me read a story in Genesis where he told Abraham to go to the place He would show him and that through him God would bless the nations. Now I don't mean by this that I believe that we will be a big name or known to really anyone but our friends and family but rather that God can use us to bless people everywhere we go. I believe that is what God wants from all of us everyday, as the saying goes, stop and smell the roses. Don't be so focused on your schedule that you miss that person who is hurting and really needs someone to talk to. Until next time, may God give you a fresh perspective of those around you everyday.
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