05-01-10

AN EMERGENCY MESSAGE FROM THE EMERGENCY ROOM

Dear brothers and sisters, God bless you. Turned on the television news this morning and learned that the city of Chicago is considering calling out the National Guard to patrol and protect their streets. Seems that since January, 113 persons have been murdered in Chicago. By way of a miserable comparison, since January, 138 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Am not sure what that all means, but I don’t like it.

Lots and lots of things are happening here at our Rescue Mission, all the time. We are very busy. Our Operations Manager strives to give balance and structure to the hardworking staff and volunteers, but spends a great deal of his time repairing broken-down things like our van, truck, sinks, toilets, doors, floors, ceilings, windows, etc., etc. And I spend most of my time repairing (healing) broken-down people invariably suffering from severe depression, patching them up, and putting out spontaneous crisis fires “with the washing of water by the word,” (Eph 5:26). This Rescue Mission is quite like a spiritual hospital, and I work in the “emergency room.”

God’s people need a lot of help. The preponderance of persons who currently come through the doors of this Rescue Mission seeking our help are bewildered children. These persons are confused grown men and women who have, mostly on account of the steadily deteriorating economy, lost their jobs, their homes, their families, friends, and cars - pretty much in that order, and have consequently picked up some type of self-medication which is addictive. Beer is the cheapest and most readily available. These newly homeless persons have experienced a systematic series of intensely traumatic falls, due perhaps to no fault of their own; nevertheless, they are too often viewed as “failures” by family and friends, and tremendously reduced in their own self-image (from high in the bright sky to low and rolling in the filthy muck of the earth), not really understanding what has happened to them. These are the severely depressed broken people who think and act like bewildered children that we minister to every day.

May I say, as this letter seems to be taking a stream-of-consciousness format that our Rescue Mission needs a good healthy economic shot in the arm right now. On average, our Rescue Mission wins 25 to 35 men, women, and children to eternal salvation in Christ every month, and is instrumental in providing 30,000 free meals per month to the hungry citizens of Pinellas County. But, we need your help. I have not cashed any of my last five weekly paychecks, preferring to honor and pay our overhead bills and keep the doors open rather than to pay myself. Not that I am any grand and wonderful guy please understand, but I do strongly believe in winning lost souls to Christ and in feeding His people. In that, I am “sold out” and have dedicated my life to obeying the gospel of Jesus Christ; therein lies my great joy, for I am a Christian. However, my meager reserves are quite depleted and I must start cashing the payroll checks again, else I too shall soon join the growing ranks of the homeless - really.

Probably what put us financially back the most was the Rescue Mission truck, a year 2000 Isuzu with 165,000 miles on it. The engine blew a rod (broke), and we dithered for a bit, and then the Lord sent a man who said he would pay the $2000 for a new engine, and he did. But we spent an additional $2500 more repairing the truck than what we had expected. That initially set us $2500 in the hole. And then I started not cashing my checks as we continued to pay the due overhead bills necessary to keep us open. As of our last Board meeting on April 19^th we were $4,500 in the hole and looking at an overdue electric bill of $1456, a commercial auto insurance bill of $1246, a utility bill of $839, and a current electric bill of $1550, plus assorted monthly billings – roughly $10,000.

God bless you dear brothers and sisters,                      

Sincerely, Rev. Lionel  J