Today started as all great mornings should; a 9AM wake-up call, a cup of coffee, and the view I've posted above. Little did I know, that later that afternoon, that same sky would be sending innumerable pieces of hail pelting me and Pastor Andy and we struggled moving a couch donated from a local citizen into the Park Baptist church van. When I asked if this was normal to many people today, everyone replied "No". When I told them I've only seen hail a few times, they seemed shocked. Yet dealing with a hurricane a few times is absolutely ridiculous... Of course unless you have similar stormchaser tendencies as I do, you might not care for hurricanes either.
I met Paul and Pam from St. Luke's church today. Very nice people, and tomorrow I will be spending most of my time helping them. After a spot of tea, I headed to the Gurnos Christian Center about 10 minutes up the hill (mountain to me). Where I got to see Jon Dyer who I had met last year, and his younger cousin Geraint. He too is going to see the Avengers as soon as it is released, so when I have free time hopefully a visit to the cinema will be in order. We went out to lunch to see some of the culture on High Street. I had a hot dog and chips (french fries). Then it was back to business. The Gurnos Christian Center is a place where we can really reach out to the community and share the love of Jesus with others. Every morning we open up a sort of coffee shop where people will come to visit. Live are already being changed through that ministry, former drug dealers with transformed testimonies, people getting plugged in to church ministry, and ministry to children who may not ever have a chance to be in that sort of environment otherwise. Their food bank took precedence of importance today.Over 600 people have already benefited from the food bank project which was only started the end of last year! God gets all the glory! 5.5 tons of food already donated, and then we offer Christian counselling or any other help we can give to those in need.
To try to raise awareness and get funding, a few people (myself included) took the journey to Ponte Pridd (Ponte Preeth) this afternoon to go before a local Welsh council, giving a voice to the efforts being made. (They gave voice, I listened and pretended to be CIA) Most were supportive, some even about how the higher ups in parliament have overlooked this matter. Us having the chance to share today was a great battle in itself... This place wasn't even in the same valley. One of the questions raised after the presentation was about the Christian counselling. The person stated they are a Christian, but "...what if someone doesn't want prayer, or they have a different sexual orientation, have a different religious background?" Sound similar everyone? The answer was, "...they don't have to take the help, but being that Christ is at the center of this operation, we are to love God first, and then love our neighbor as ourselves." Overall, positive feedback. And the decision will be taken to council.
Then to top off a great day, we went to prayer meeting where Udo preached about Jesus coming to visit people after His resurrection in Luke 24. One of the key verses he talked about was "And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" -Luke 24:32
We should have a burning desire to know God, and when we read and hear His Word. The fire is not extinguished, it is only further kindled. (My sort of paraphrase if you will)
Then we sang some hymns. No music, just the people of God raising their voices to heaven. And it kind of shocked me for a moment, and I realized that I had become somewhat comfortable with my own method of worship. Truly, worship comes from our heart not our flesh. Then we prayed, many prayed for me. That I would be a blessing, and receive a blessing. I prayed with them as well, and met some new people from Park Street. I also volunteered to do whatever was needed. Even if it meant, scrubbing floors with a toothbrush... Someone almost took me up on that offer, so I quickly explained that our toothbrushes are much larger, maybe resembling a mop?
It is now almost 2AM, so I must hit the hay. But thank you for reading, hope I was informative... please let me know if you want to know anything else.and I'll try to get another post in tomorrow!
In Christ,
David
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