Lessons From Louisiana

I just returned from a Spring Break Service Project to Louisiana this Saturday. Some students and one working person sacrificed their spring breaks to go on a trip to visit the Dream Center and Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge. All in all, it was an incredible experience for all of us. We were impressed with the big vision that the Healing Place Church has to bring the door of the church to the people of their neighborhoods. We were able to participate in a lot of the ministries that the Dream Center runs - whether it was passing out gum to college students on the LSU campus, whether it was going door to door in some of the poorer neighborhoods handing out candy and taco dinners, whether it was serving breakfast to the homeless population or whether it was mopping and cleaning up the Dream Center, we had a great time getting out of our comfort zones to participate in Kingdom Work.

One particular story I’d like to share is the story of one woman who’s life was turned around during our visit to the Dream Center. We had gone out one particular day to hand out some goodies to people in the community. We were also handing out some fliers with a hotline number on it for at risk youth who were homeless or struggling through a difficult situation. This woman (young, single mother of three) had just lost her job and was struggling through a violent relationship. She was about ready to give up and commit suicide that week had help not arrived. The previous week she had received a flier that another team had handed out and put it aside thinking it was some “church” thing. When her son arrived with another exact same flier, she decided that God was speaking to her and decided to attend the Woman’s Thrive that the Dream Center hosts every Friday. It was during the Woman’s Thrive that she heard the Gospel message presented and was also able to have her physical needs met. As a result of the active ministry of people from the Dream Center, this woman’s decision to destruct her own life was redirected to receiving the unconditional love of Christ in her life.

Her experience and the consistent service of staff and volunteers from the Dream Center really reinforced the principle that when we show up and are available to do whatever it is that God wants us to do that day, that people’s lives can be transformed. That second flier that this young woman received was the only thing standing between death and life.

There are so many others out there who have no access to the same kind of resources that we tend to take for granted. Three meals a day, a car, enough money for entertainment, and even our mental faculties. Imagine if all those things were stripped away and you had absolutely nothing to fall back on. I have to admit that this was challenging for me to internalize. However, I do believe that God was awakening many of our consciences and causing us to face and embrace people that we are so quick to forget.