HERE AT SOX PLACE

Another interesting week here at Sox Place.  My typical day, if there is such a thing, is kind of like this: up around 6am, a pot of coffee, time with my Lord, checking my emails, and around 8 start cooking something. Usually I know the night before what I'm going to cook, but it has changed after a cup of coffee.  Depending on what I fix, around 10 or 10:30, I move down stairs and mingle with the staff and interns.
Around 11 we gather for a time of Bible study and prayer. Some of the street people will come in and sit with us, and they come because they want to.  These are the ones who will eventually want to know more. One recently asked Doyle how to have peace in his life, he just wanted peace.  Another wanted to know how to get out of his present lifestyle.  Opened doors for speaking into their lives. 
We officially open the door at 12 and the lunch counter is open.  We do not serve them the food, they are free to get what they want and as much as they want and are welcome to come back for more.  They then move to a sofa, chair, table or even outside to eat. There are pies, cakes, pastries, etc., that have come in from grocery stores, bakeries, donut shops and the kids get what they want, sometimes one will take a whole pie or cake.  This will go on until the food is gone or it is closing time.
Some will crash and sleep for hours on a sofa because they know it is safe and they can sleep.  For some reason they were not able to sleep during the night. Others will be gathered around the pool table, it is never without players, others are at 4 computers on Facebook or Twitter or surfing the Web.  There is a large TV that movies are going during the whole time selected by one of them.  People are coming and going all the time.  We sit two small metal round tables outside on the sidewalk with chairs and again people are coming and going all the time.
Last week a young woman asked me to save her a cake, a birthday cake if possible. Her young son's birthday was Thursday and she wanted to have a cake for him.  An elementary school (public) fixed sack lunches and drove the streets looking for street people to give them to.  They saw the youth hanging out in front here and came in to see what was going on.  They left about 75 sack lunches with a burrito, apple and fruit bar in them. They didn't last long.
The Lord is showing me some insights into serving.  When we serve the poor we are not expecting anything back, nor can we. Look up and read for yourself Luke 6:32-36, especially 35a.
In Rick Warren's book, The Purpose Driven Life, the first line of the first chapter says it all when it comes to serving - "It's not about you."  Jesus said that he came to serve, not to be served. Matt 20:28.  Also read Matt 25:35-45.  There is always the discussion about who is the least and as the old saying goes, When everything is said and done, more is said than done.  I would put to you that instead of trying to figure out who the least is, that you go out and do something for someone who is less fortunate than yourself.  As the advertising slogan goes, Just Do It!
Why not read Matt 25:35-45 and pray for the Lord to show you where your Matt 25 ministry lies?  Why not start your own Matt 25 project?
I continue to ask you to pray for us here at Sox Place.  There is true spiritual battle raging around us.  Pray for our needs - financially it takes $2500 a month to open the doors; we are getting more requests for blankets; we desperately need one or two more freezers as we are getting food from the stadiums after home games that can be frozen, and some catering companies are doing the same; I have been asked to do a once-a-month Saturday Breakfast for the kids and will need to raise the support for that.  Mention us in your prayer time as the Lord lays us on your heart.
We are giving away to other ministries food that we can not use. We are giving off the top, first fruits, to others so they can be blessed and bless others. Giving not what is not usable but what is good and very usable. Tithing, if you will.  That is why we need another freezer, because God is blessing us to bless others.
Love ya'll
Troy