livin'

HOT CHOCOLATE ANYONE??

Back in the spring of '03, when I was still on staff with YWAM Montana, I decided to go help out the Mission Aventures program in San Francisco. They needed someone to do the worship every morning so myself and another friend went out there and worshipped with the teams that came through and helped out with the other ministries. One of those was "Hot Chocolate Ministry". This was simply making a ton of hot chocolate and going out and serving it to people on the street. This was not only for "homeless" people, though in the tenderloin district of San Francisco, that's 99% of the people you will find out on the streets at night. I fell in love with this ministry because there was no hidden agenda. We just went out there and loved people and hung out with them. They knew that we were Christians, we were up front about that and sometimes they would ask us to pray for them. But getting them saved wasn't the whole point. (Of course it was a hope that they would eventually know him personally.) You can't walk up to a someone who is starving with a swollen belly and tell them Jesus loves them and then walk away without giving them any food! I mean, you can, but what would it accomplish? The person is still starving to death, right?

It's the same with this ministry. . . it's us going to them. Listening to them, talking with them, giving them hot chocolate and an ear to listen on a cold night surrounded by people strung out on drugs, drunk, and mentally not quite there. People who sleep on the ground in a park every night. People who have a story. They're not out on the streets for a free ride, I can tell you that much. Living on the streets is a hard life and those who do will tell you that right away. A lot of times they preach at us not to make the same choices they did so that we never have to face what they face.

So this is what I've started in Seattle. Every wednesday night at 8pm we go downtown seattle and hang out with the people we find at the park. I don't know the name of the park. We call it "courthouse park" because it's by the court house. ha ;) appropriate - i know.... and I love it. There is no such thing as a "typical night" doing hot choc. ministry, some nights are hard, some are super fun, some are very dramatic. You never know who you'll find and what they'll be strung out on, or what mood they'll be in ....

...but I do find Jesus there every wednesday night. And i know His heart beats for them, just as hard as it does for mine.

posted by Amanda @ 10:39 AM