Building relationships while meeting needs

Pictures of the old stove, thanks to a generous donor a new stove has been provided.

I want you and I to put ourselves in the shoes of another person for a minute. I know that is very hard to do because we can't really understand everything that a person goes through and all of the background and history in their lives that have brought them to this point in life.

Lets try!! I want you to think of what it might feel like to have very little, have no hope of taking care of your family, and feeling very overwhelmed and inadequate compared to others you meet. You feel like you are judged by others and that no matter what you do you can never get ahead.

You know that there is no way to provide the basics in life and you begin to ask yourself if anyone really cares. You have heard that a group of people called "Christians" are supposed to be nice people. You remember your parents or grandparents talked about how churches were a place to help out families and people in need.

You finally muster the courage to pick up the phone and ask someone to help. They treat you like you are a criminal by asking 100 questions, and at the end they tell you that they cant help you because they have no resources for you. They tell you to go to the soup kitchen or the food bank because they can help. You already know they cant help because you have already tried that.

Really what you need to find is someone that genuinely cares. Somebody that will build a relationship with you. Someone that you can call when things are good and someone you can call when things are not going well. You need that because there has not been anyone in your life who has shown that for a long time.

Most people if they had a choice would choose to have someone in their life than something. I hope that we can continue to build relationships with those we help. Tonight we were able to deliver a stove to one of our families. They got the stove set up and were excited to cook a meal in their new stove.

A few minutes ago I got a call from the mom. She called to say thanks for the stove and she said, "it is the first time I have been able to prepare a whole meal for my family all at once." I am so excited that she would call and thanks us and that they could have a real meal together.

I want to be sure that the people that come to us for help understand that we are about more than just giving a handout. We are also about taking the time to invest in them as people.