So today started with me being late to devotional. Only 10 minutes, but still... sorry Lord!
Today’s devotional was led by my old friend Mackenzie Mumey, the man who ask me to come up to Church Hill and get involved in CHAT. He has been a great mentor to have while here and it is nice to have a familiar face when you are in an unfamiliar land.
Well, the devotional was devoted to Mackenzie's testimony and how God has moved in his life. There was so much that I already knew about Mackenzie that I thought this time would be a SNOOSER! Little to my knowledge, I found out a lot about him and how God has transformed him throughout the years. He is a great man and servant of the Lord and has been a visual representation of a person that I look up to in his focus and humble heart for the Lord. My favorite thing about Mackenzie is he is one of the absolute, most genuine people you will find! What a trait that I love and hope people will see in me. I think most people would view us as very different people in our personality, but in reality I think we have more in common than we would actually admit. He said something that stuck with me, he said, "When the Lord puts love on your heart for an individual, even through our SELFISH AND WICKED ways, it is God's intention of calling us to that person and giving us the opportunity to speak into their life." What a great honor God gives us and we should relish in every moment we can to reach people God has laid on our hearts. I have some people that the Lord has directed me to and sometimes I look at my failures and say that this person won't respect me or even listen and I could do more harm then good, but God has placed people on my heart for a divine purpose to reach and share the Gospel with them. His devotional created a great start for the day and focused my eyes on the Lord for the rest of the day.
After devotions, we took a quick bus tour (in the CHAT bus with Mackenzie pointing our landmarks in Church Hill, just to clarify it wasn't as official as it sounds) around Church Hill and I got a great sense of the neighborhood and how many difficulties people face when living on the east end of Church Hill. Broad Street is a dividing factor in Church Hill and basically divides the rich from the poor. Everything that CHAT is involved with is on the east end (poor) side. Understanding the history of why things are the way they are is a great tool for figuring out how to address the needs in the town now. This bus tour gave me a little more depth into what it means to live in Church Hill and what CHAT is doing to address the issues they are facing.
We later had lunch at the Church Hill Academy, which is a unique school that CHAT works with to create relationships with students, and played a quick game of knock-out (basketball) with some of the students, interns and teachers there, which I won! Great time meeting new students and hopefully creating bonds that will be influential in the future.
We had much of the day to ourselves, but most of the interns, including myself, attended a prayer session with the pastor of EEF (East End Fellowship), the church that I will be attending every Sunday. Pastor Don had some encouraging words for us and really wanted us to focus on prayer while we are here and developing a personal relationship with the Lord. I really enjoyed this time and hope that I can take something valuable from it.
Finished the day with a community group with my host family and Mackenzie. This gave me a glimpse into my family’s faith and how they shared community time in there home. It really was a special experience to be apart of a new family and really learn from them and grow closer with them. Both Matt and Catherine are great servants of the Lord and I know, will teach me many great life lessons along the way. I cannot wait to spend more time with them.
Matthew 6:9-13
“This, then, is how you should pray:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.”
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