"if it weren't for Christians, i'd be a Christian"

July 23, 2003

monday has become my favourite day of the week. for two weeks now, i've gone down with the RHCBC people to do a sandwich run and help out at the soup kitchen (ICC). and it's been awesome! bobby has impressed me yet again with his amazing tupperwear for every single sandwich AND each bag of carrots. why you ask? because he doesn't want the sandwiches to get squished. yup. so this week, we were armed with tupperwear and more people. the team? bobby, steve, syd, me, amanda (go amanda!), tisha (don't know how to spell her name) and vanessa. i split off with steve and amanda. and bobby split off with syd, tisha and vanessa.

i saw a lot of interesting things and learned a lot yet again.

1) homeless people care deeply about one another - they would ask us to go to a certain place because their friends were there and they wanted them to have food

2) homeless people are surprisingly giving - and i don't mean to say that to stereotype or anything. we met a man who told us to give the food to someone who NEEDED It MORE! he was saying how there was a soup kitchen nearby, so he didn't need the food because he was going to get food from them. that floored me. "give it someone who NEEDS it more." i was thinking, hello, you need it more! you're part of the people who need it more!!" just how incredible is that?

3) a drunken homeless man was telling us not to forget about the needs in Markham so take this with a grain of salt. he was saying how Markham is slowly deteriorating and that it'll eventually end up to be like DT if measures aren't taken. interesting.

4) a woman by the name of karen (or kiwi) was saying that a lot of homeless people have wanted or want to know God. she was saying some other things, but i don't remember it! doh...

5) a big theme for the day: "if it weren't for Christians, i'd be a Christian". our friend earl (we met him last week) at the soup kitchen agreed with that statement wholeheartedely. so what does this world need? authentic, passionate lovers of Christ, in whom, the love and joy of Christ outpours into the lives of others through them. i was talking to jer last night (tuesday) and we both came onto this. islam is the fastest growing religion in the world right now. why? because muslims are active in their faith. their faith makes the news because they are rooted in action. i've seen it. i've read it. i've heard it. and as a result, more people come to faith in islam. but what about Christianity? i've rarely heard anything in the news about active Christians in the community. in fact, the only things i ever hear about are negative. instead of turning people to Christ, we turn them away because of our hypocrisy. "the greatest cause of aethiesm is Christians." (from the quote at the beginning of what if i stumble? - DC talk) how sad is that? this world DESPARATELY needs authentic, passionate lovers of Christ in action, word and thought. "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." 1 peter 2:12 [niv]

Posted by Leo Chan at July 23, 2003 7:37 PM