Nothing Usual in the "As Usual"

This past Saturday we were in Fort Collins giving out Easter blessings bags that we had put together for the homeless.  The Easter blessing bags were a small cellophane type Easter bag and in the bags were socks, paper, pen, kleenex, granola bars, a comb, deodorant and an Easter devotional about Jesus' death and resurrection.  We had 25 bags to give out.

This past Saturday we also had the pleasure of working with two Middle School girls.  They had chosen to work with Soaring Wings Ministries for a class project and had raised money to purchase and fill 45 backpacks.   All together we had 70 bags to give out to the homeless.  You would think that it would take a long time to give away 70 bags but that is not the case.   As usual, the blessing bags went quickly and we finished giving out the bags within an hour.  As usual, the people were very polite and very grateful to receive the blessing bags and as usual we were blessed to give out the blessings bags as much as the homeless were blessed to receive them. 

As usual, there is one homeless person or family that stands out in our minds and captures our hearts in a special way.   Usually, it is the most vulnerable of the homeless and in this case it was a little girl who appeared to be about 8 or 9 years old.  She had blond hair, wrinkled clothes and a slight frame.  She was with an older person who was her caregiver.  I don't know how this person was related to her but it was obvious that this person was watching out for her and also watching over her.  The girl was shy and did not say much.  I had a child's sweatshirt with me that I was looking to give to someone and it looked to be just her size.  I asked her if she would like to have the sweatshirt but she didn't answer me and didn't say anything.  I told her to take it because it looked like it would fit her perfectly and I wanted her to have it.  She took the sweatshirt from me without saying a word.  We gave her one of the adult Easter blessing bags and we also gave her a child's blessing bag filled with candy, a child's Bible card game, some crayons and a pad of paper.  We also gave her and her caregiver some water.  They said thank you but that was about all that they said.  We saw them walk back to their vehicle and as usual we saw that they quickly opened the blessing bags to see what was inside them.  I was so glad that we were able to reach out to this young girl and her caregiver.  As usual, I wish we could have done more.  

As usual, some wonderful friends had donated blankets, sweatshirts and jackets for us to give out to the homeless.  This past Saturday we took the 5 jackets and the 1 blanket that we had left hoping that we could find someone who needed them.  We never know how many blankets or jackets we will need or if we will even run into some homeless who will need them at all, but as usual, God has everything planned out for us.  All we need to do is to be obedient and faithful in reaching out to the homeless.  We saw a group of 6 young men sitting on the ground, under a tree in downtown Fort Collins.  We gave each of them a blessing bag and then we asked them if they needed a jacket, sweatshirt or a blanket.  Each young man took a sweatshirt and one of them took the blanket.  As usual, they were so grateful to receive them and as usual we had just enough sweatshirts and blankets for the 6 young men sitting on the ground under a tree.  As usual, we once again realized that God had completely and easily planned the distribution of our hand full of blankets, jackets and sweatshirts.  

As usual, our time spent in distributing the blessing bags in Fort Collins was a huge blessing to us.  We ended our time there feeling that we had once again, in a small way,  lifted the spirits of some very needy people.  As usual, it felt very good to be on the giving end of the blessing bags and as usual it felt very good to be reaching out to the needy in Fort Collins.

As usual, we were blessed and encouraged to have others share in our work of reaching out to the homeless.  We were so happy to work with two teenage girls who were giving of their time and money to serve the homeless in Fort Collins.  We knew that there were so many other things they could have been doing on a beautiful Saturday morning but instead they chose to help improve the lives of some needy people.  It was such a blessing to see them use their time and talents in such a meaningful and unselfish way.  We know that they were also blessed to be on the giving end of their blessings bags school project.  

We left downtown Fort Collins having reached out to over 60  homeless people with a blessing bag.  As usual, we left with the wonderful feeling that we were doing exactly what God wanted us to do and doing it in exactly the place where He wanted us to do it.  As usual we left downtown feeling very blessed and very grateful for the opportunity to serve the homeless in Northern Fort Collins.  As usual, we know without a doubt that there is no better place to be than living in obedience to God and that there is absolutely nothing usual in the "as usual".  

Anita Rennells
Soaring Wings Ministries
Wellington, Colorado