Lemon Grove Outreach
10/23/15

On Friday before the ONE worship gathering, a few of us met up at the church to walk to the trolley area to invite people to come and worship with us, and God had five divine meetings take place.

The first gentleman we met was near the opening of an alley, which brought back some memories for me.

Years ago, I used to walk through that same alley all the time, so much so that I’d wanted to create a naughty memory there to have something good to think of every time I walked through, which I did. As a sober “Christian” woman, I had sex in that alley. I’m glad THAT’s erased from my past and has no place in my future! Anyway…back to outreach.

The young man we met had a criminal record and was scheduled to go to court soon. He was only sixteen. If he hadn’t had a curfew, I think he would’ve gone to worship with us. We prayed for him and went on our way.

A short distance away, we stopped to talk with two young ladies. Both were in rehab and both had young children. One had an eight month old she was caring for. The other just won custody of her one year old, which was removed at birth. They were both looking for jobs, so we prayed for them and blessed them. They liked the sound of the worship thing but, again, had curfews. We hugged them and walked on.

As we crossed the street near the trolley area, we saw a man on a bench, but as we approached, he jumped to his feet and walked away, so we moved on.

Not far away, we saw a black man and woman together. I sat down to talk with them and let them know what we were doing. At first, the woman seemed hard, but the young man joined in conversation with me. He listened about the worship thing and about God. He pulled me away and asked for help with his depression, so I taught him how to talk with God to overcome it. Then, he started talking with Erin and David, while I sat back down with the woman.

As I talked with her, she opened up a little, and as I held her hand and prayed, she began to cry. Both of them walked back to the church with us to see where the gathering was, in case they wanted to come back. Along the way, we had some fun.

There we were, in the middle of October, walking along the street, singing a Christmas carol. It was cool.

You know, at first glance, all of these people looked “mean,” but as we talked and laughed with them, their real inside stood out and walls came crashing down.

Every time I make the time to pray for people in Lemon Grove, they are so receptive. I intend to make more time for that, so if anyone’s interested, please let me know.