Pursue Peace

Last Tuesday night we were pleasantly surprised to see Donna. She was a homeless lady that we encountered when we first started our ministry at our present location. When we first met Donna, she was sleeping on a porch at a church in downtown Greenville. Later she lived behind a heating and air cage under the Truine Mercy building. Even though this offered little protection from the weather, it did provide some physical protection. Then in late 2006 she was able to enter a program in Anderson, SC that provided counseling and a roof over her head. One of our faithful volunteers, Sandy, has continued to stay in contact with her and this week picked her up for an overnight stay in Greenville so she could visit with all her friends in the ministry. We were so happy to see her and hear how God was working in her life. We were very thankful that she was no longer on the street and is on the road to recovery. We praise God for his mercy.

Our Bible study continued with Romans 12 in verses 17 and 18 which states; do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. This is another application for Christian living. We should pursue peace. However, it is our natural tendency to pursue anger. We are constantly pointing fingers at others but God is pointing His finger at us. In Hebrew 12:14 it states we should make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. When we pursue evil, it brings forth evil and a misrepresentation of God here on the earth. We can only get past our anger with a spirit of humility which can only come through a personal relationship with Christ. Jesus forgave those who persecuted and spoke evil of Him. We should do the same. Only then can we represent Christ to others on this earth.

We were again blessed to have a group from Word of Life Church who assisted our 14 volunteers to serve 65 hot meals. Thanks always and appreciation to our ministry friends who volunteer to cook, clean, and provide listening ears for our downtown friends. They make it happen each Tuesday night.

Marc

Christian Love

It is amazing to see our volunteers show up every Tuesday night and immediately start to work. Each of them has different talents which they use to accomplish our goal of sharing the Gospel and providing food for the hungry in Greenville. Last Tuesday they prepared pork loin, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, and a large bowl of fresh fruit topped off with brownies and ice cream. It was all yummy. We were fortunate to serve 65 meals with the assistance of 24 volunteers.

Paul continued to teach in Romans 12 focusing on Christian love. True love should be sincere not based on an individual’s position or wealth. James 2:3 instructs us not to show special attention to those only because of their position or the clothes they wear but treat everyone the same. We are all on the same level and only God is above us. Jesus even prayed in John 17:26 that His love would be in us. That is the same love that Jesus had for everyone. He did not prefer himself over others even though he was God. He demonstrated his love by taking on the form of a servant and went to the cross for all of humanity as an ultimate expression of love. But the good news is that He did not only die but three days later he was raised from the dead by the power of God. We all have different backgrounds and everyone has an opinion. But we should consider others over ourselves. We can only do this if we allow ourselves to die by the Holy Spirit and be raised to love everyone regardless of their dress or appearance.

As we were leaving, two homeless individuals showed up in the parking lot asking for food. It was about 9:30pm so the food was long gone. Paul decided to take them to McDonalds for hamburgers and fries. It does not compare to the quality of food we prepare but it is better than nothing. And it does allow Paul ‘love on them’ and live out his sermon.

Wishing everyone a blessed Easter season.

Marc

It's Official

Food for Life Ministries, Inc is a permanent 501(c)(3) public charity. We received the letter from the Internal Revenue Service early this week and decided to celebrate last Tuesday night with our downtown friends and faithful volunteers.

We started this long journey 5 years ago when we decided to dig through mounds of paperwork to apply for Non-Profit status. We elected a Board of Directors, wrote a Constitution and By-Laws which we documented for the application “Recognition of Exemption under Section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code”. All of this paperwork was necessary to establish our purpose and substantiate that we were meeting a community need for our services. In addition, we had to document our expected donations for 5 years indicating that the majority of funds would come from the general public as opposed to the officers and their relatives of Food for Life. Based on the application submitted, we received an advance ruling that allowed us to operate as a Non-profit organization. During the 5 year conditional ruling, all donations were tax deductible until we received a final ruling at the end of the 5 years. During this period, it was necessary to maintain records of donations, files tax returns, and have regular meetings with our Board of Directors. This is to insure that we maintain our status as outlined in our application.

This year was at the end of our advance ruling and we were notified that we had to report our record of donations for 5 years. At this point, there was more paperwork with the possibility of having to substantiate our report by providing detailed documentation. Much to our relief, we were notified this week that we had met all the requirements to establish Food for Life, Inc. as a permanent Non-Profit organization. Praise the Lord.

We did all of this because God had put a vision in Paul’s heart to help the hopeless and poor of downtown Greenville for God’s glory. But we could not have done this without our faithful volunteers that come week after week and donate their time and financial support. We are grateful for them and all who support Food for Life with their donations.

A special thanks to that individual from Florida who made a donation through our blog. Rest assured, that your donation is tax-deductible and you are making impact in Greenville, SC.

Marc

Romans 12 Living

Last Tuesday night the weather forecast was for severe thunder storms with possible hail and tornadoes. Many that showed up dressed appropriately for the weather even though most of the storms did not materialize. Given the potential of bad weather, our turn out was down from previous weeks. We served 75 meals and plenty of hot coffee for all of those that did show up. Fortunately, we did not have any shortage in volunteers. We had 18 cheerful friendly folks volunteering their time. We are grateful for our volunteers who not only prepare and serve food, but also spend time with our downtown friends. They do that by talking and praying with them. Food for Life has always been more than fixing and serving food to the less fortunate. Our focus is about sharing the Gospel and being a Ministry of Encouragement to all.

Preacher Paul began his teaching by giving an over view of Romans chapter 12. This chapter is about being a living sacrifice and how it is reflected in a Christian’s life. The Word calls us to live in harmony with each other. To accomplish this requires humility and to constantly resist our tendency to vindicate ourselves in the face of criticism. When we continue to justify ourselves, we are saying we do not need God. Romans 12:19 instructs us not to avenge ourselves because the Lord says, vengeance is mine, I will repay. We should not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. Preacher Paul gave a personal example in his own life where he had to rely on God to resolve some issues with others. Then Paul had everyone turn to the scriptures and read about Stephen in Acts, and Jesus in the gospel account of Luke. Their resistance to vindicate themselves resulted in glorifying God.

During Paul’s teaching, I observed many different reactions. One individual kept interrupting even though many kept telling him to have some respect. He finally did leave to everyone’s relief. I could see others with their Gideon Bibles staring intently at the words as Paul was teaching. That is so rewarding because you know that God’s Word is changing lives. It can be a very difficult environment with interruptions and people constantly coming in and out of the room, but it can be very rewarding when we see God changing a person’s life for eternity.

~Marc