While I'm living out this Operation Christmas Child journey my husband has been on a parallel journey of his own.
It's been just about ten years since Jim retired after 31 years of teaching. He felt God calling him to a ministry of building and repairing homes for low income persons in our city and he was prepared to chase that dream.
He didn't know, however, how long that chase would be. Over the past decade he's presented this vision to a number of different organizations looking for a nonprofit with which he could partner. There have been some short-term relationships over the years but no sustainable ministry has developed.
The time has not been wasted. Through the years he's led a group of men to build wheelchair ramps and repair some homes. They have met genuine needs.
He spent a year as a site supervisor for Habitat for Humanity and led volunteers in building new homes for clients.
In the past two years he's even flipped a few houses for profit.
Still, he's continued to chase after the vision of training men in building skills as they rehab a house to provide a home for someone in need. He dreams of using this as a means of forming friendships with needy men and giving them an opportunity to learn job skills and life skills.
Over the past few months he's made some hopeful new contacts with the possibility of a grant being written that could fund the start of the dream. The dream looks closer than ever, but after so many disappointments over the years it's almost frightening to think about
Tomorrow he has another meeting with a local agency to discuss prospective plans. Would you pray for God's leading in this chase?
No comments:
Post a Comment