I really don't know where to begin. It's been such an amazing week and now it's all coming to a close. Today was our "free day" where we could do whatever we wanted as a group. We decided a while back already that as long as we were going to be down in Atlanta we should check out the Georgia Aquarium. We also decided to take a tour of CNN. It was close to everything else so we thought we'd check it out. It was pretty amazing to see what goes on behind the scenes in preparation for a news story. Allison got to try her hand as a news anchor reading off a teleprompter and delivering the news - she did a great job:)
The Georgia Aquarium... Wow it was pretty amazing to get a close up look at some of God's creatures which, for the most part, would be difficult to encounter in the wild because of where they live. From fish in the Amazon River to jellyfish and giant manta rays - it was quite something to take in. However, I imagine none of us will forget the huge whale sharks in the aquarium. Wow, what a site to behold. We really enjoyed our time walking around and looking at the different fish and critters of the sea, lakes and rivers. But our day was not done.
We left the aquarium and began heading towards Underground Atlanta. We wanted to check out a few shops and see what the area was all about. We figured we would get a bite to eat somewhere along the way and decided to look for a place using Google Maps. Well, we found a little pizza joint, but it was a little more off the beaten path than we anticipated. Nonetheless, we decided to check it out and it turned out being some pretty tasty pizza. The fun started when we left.
We began walking down the street and were waiting for our whole group to catch up before we crossed the street and then noticed Josh, Noah and Michael were talking to a man sitting on a chair outside the restaurant. We walked back to see what was going on and found out the man was homeless and was asking the boys about what they were doing in Atlanta. One thing led to another and we ended up spending some time in prayer over this man and giving him the phone number to 7 Bridges (the church we worked with all week). As we left we were approached by a husband and a wife who were living on the streets, daily spreading the gospel and ministering to people. They talked to our group and encouraged us. We decided to pray with them and then two strangers joined our circle for prayer. We talked to each of them afterwards and ended up praying for each of them and handed them the number for 7 Bridges as well. Again we went on our way and again we began talking with another man. He knew we were Christians and was trying to say all the right things to get some money. We ended up taking him into a restaurant to buy him a meal. Not long after that we bought another man a meal. Our mission work was "done" yet what did we end up doing in Atlanta on our free day?
We saw pretty quickly we didn't need an organization or another church leading us to people so we could minister to them. We just had to be open to be used by God, be sensitive to the needs of those around us and then be willing to talk to them and show them Christ's love. The CNN tour was good, and we really enjoyed the Georgia Aquarium, but the unplanned encounters with "the least of these" was probably the hight point of the day for us as a group.
The challenge will now be to come back home and back to the distractions of life which suck up all our time, and still continue to have that desire to bring the gospel to the lost in our community. There is so much we can do here in Sheboygan County, but I fear the busyness of life will get in our way. It's my prayer we don't slip back into our routines. It's my prayer that we look for ways to find and help those in need in our own community. There is so much we can do as the body of Christ. Let's continue the conversation!
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| Allison assuming the role of an anchor news woman |
