The Joy In Helping Others
Our church had the privilege of opening its doors to a Hispanic church from Pasadena, TX. They were evacuating from the area because of Hurricane "Rita". Our church is located in Dallas, TX and many people from the Houston area were coming this way to escape the dangers of the hurricane. Just about all the hotels in Texas were full, there were no rooms available. This Pastor called me to see if his family could stay in our guest room at the church. By the time they were ready to leave, many more of the church members wanted to come also, 23 in all. What is normally a 4 hour trip to Dallas, took them 24 hours. The traffic was horrendous. People were frustrated because of the heat and gas, food, and water were hardly available.
Eight vehicles arrived Thursday at midnight and they were very exhausted as you could imagine. Many of our church members opened their homes for them to have a place to stay. But only one family accepted the invitation, because they had small children. The rest wanted to stay together at our church in the fellowship hall because it was convenient at the time. We brought in air mattresses, sleeping bags, sheets and blankets and they all crashed that night.
We had church that Friday night and it was such an uplifting to their spirits. What a joy for us to be able to provide these folks a place to stay, food, water, fun and fellowship. In a time like this, we all want to be a help in some way. I'm glad the Lord opened this door of opportunity for us. The Pastor was a blessing to us while he was here. His profession allowed him to fix an air condition water leak at our church, replace blown off shingles from our church roof, and get our ice maker and dryer working at our home. While we were a blessing to him, he was such a great blessing to us also, in saving us over $2,000.00 of repair work costs. Sunday night The Apostolic Boys gave a mini concert and before the night was over two of the people that came up with them were baptized. They left this past Monday, and made it home in 6 hours this time. There was no damage from the hurricane, only that a few of the homes do not have power. God is good. What a joy to be able to help others that are in need.
Gal. 6:10 "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith".
Joel Pace
The Apostolic Boys Quartet - http://apboys.1lord1faith.org
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