Skid Row

          Its always interesting to think of how other people live their lives.  I can't imagine living on the streets in Los Angeles surrounded by prostitution and drug dealing.  It is great that places like the Alexandrea House and the Jonah Project exist.  Skid Row is one of the darkest places on earth.  People like Jeremiah and Patrick are trying to shine the light of the love of Jesus in this dark place.  The people who live in this area could have been rejected by the church. Its easy for people who belong to the church to turn their backs on and judge homeless people. They might say oh they are lazy or they do drugs, but realistically that may not be the case at all.  Alot of these people are just in a pitfall in their lives and are trying to get out, but if people are constantly rebuking them they will never change.  It all starts when they feel like someone cares.  The man on Secret Millionaire who owned a hat shop and made toiletrie packs for the homeless really can make a difference in someones life.  He felt called to give to others who  had nothing; he even gave someone the shoes off his feet!  Jesus wants us to do this.  He wants us to serve others and care for the less fortunate.  Even the basketball court guys made a huge difference in the lives of those living on skid row.  Just giving someone the time of day can really help save a life. I think that the ministries that go on in Skid row are awesome.  I really hope that I will get an opportunity to go in the future.

DWYL!

It's always interesting to read books. In our Bible class we just read chapters 6 and 7 of Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper.  Forgiveness was the first topic.  We need to stop seeing faults in others and start forgiving. Our biggest motive for forgiving should be that God forgave all of us and gave himself to us.  Our fellowship with God is the best thing we could ever have.  The next thing he talked about was money.  God says to give your money away to the poor, and it's hard to be rich and get into heaven.  We should want more out of our money than to just spend it on things that will burn up the second we leave this earth.  We should want to give it away so that someone could come to know Jesus through it.  The verse on the list that was the most meaningful to me was Luke 12:15: "One's life does not consist in the abundance of his posessions."  It helps me realize that there is more to life than having a really nice house, coolest clothes, biggest TV or newest phone.  Speaking of TV and the internet, is it ok?  John Piper really bashed both in this book.  He considers this the greatest waste of a life and he even said that makes you dumb.  He said that if you sit around and watch TV you will forget how to think. I agree/disagree. I agree that if all you do is sit around and watch meanless shows you will probably go dumb and fat, but there are such things as educational shows.  He said himself that biographies are great because you can learn about people from the past and there are biographies on TV.  Our pastor tapes his sermon on Sundays and they show it on Pegasys so that people who can't come to church can see God's message.  But on the downside, there are also alot of unappropriate shows on TV that could lead you astray.  Also if you are addicted to a TV show you might choose to watch it instead of study for an important test the next day.  It is sad, but I definately spend alot more time watching TV than reading the Bible.  It could seem that I find my satisfaction in worldly things and not in God.  It is just hard to get into the scripture sometimes. I definately need to work on that.