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Grace Personified

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She was grace personified.   My 86-year old grandma was a precious human being, as soft and gentle a person as I’ve ever known, and on October 1st she went home to be with her Creator and Lord.  She raised four kind and generous children, gave her all to raising a family, and lost her beloved husband to cancer when she was only 57 years old.  Nearly 30 years a widow, she found gratitude in even the more difficult of circumstances—her loneliness, her disappointments, and even the dementia that ultimately claimed her life.  She knew she was blessed by God in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3) and she said it often–“I’m so blessed.”  My grandmother seasoned everything she said with grace and love, knowing that the Giver of Life who was her Savior, Friend, and Guide made it all possible with His grace.  As she said often, any and all things in life through Christ were “do-able.”

“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  Years ago God drew my grandma to Himself to save her.  He is the One who lifted her head high in life, and He is the One who lifts our head high now as we grieve her absence.  One thing that remains, and my Grammy testified to it clearly in her last days and even the fog of dementia could not dim it’s brightness—God’s Truth. . .the One, true, life-giving, grace-filled gospel of Jesus Christ available to all who believe.  My dear grandmother believed and she is now with the Lord forever.

I pray that her life, and now even in her home-going, the testimony she gave about Jesus as the only way to true peace, redemption, and eternal life will touch all who knew her and read this post.

September Testimony

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The following is a testimony from Jason Kelley, Executive Director at Metro Relief around the corner in The Colony. Metro Relief is a great ministry that goes to the people most in need in our community and feeds them, fellowships with them, serves them, and shares the gospel with them. I love this! Please read Jason’s testimony of how God is changing lives through the partnership UBO has with them!

“James was a crack dealer and user.  I say this because Praise God he is not that anymore.  We met James for the first time under the I45 bridge in South Dallas.  He was in a world of hurt, but would not admit it the first few times we talked to him.  After a while, though, of constant prayer and relationship building between he and I, God tore down the barriers that were hindering James from fully trusting in what I had to say.

Because of your wonderful organization, I was able to provide a Bible for James.  Together, we studied 1 Corinthians 13, and learned what real love, God’s love, looked like, and how He loves James no matter what he had done or been through in the past.  We were able to talk about the drug addiction, how it started, how he wanted to quit but couldn’t on his own strength, but God could use His strength to take the addiction away.

Eventually, James got to a low point where he would make a choice to go to rehab or die…it was that simple.  Thank God he remembered what he and I read together in the Bible, and he knew that God was the only one that could change his situation.  James allowed us to send him to a rehabilitation/discipleship home in Dallas, and I am thrilled to say he is over four months clean, he has a job, a safe place to stay, and he is actually encouraging and discipling others that come in hurting like he once did.

Thank you, everyone at Urban Bible Outreach, for supplying Bibles to Metro Relief.  With your help, we are making a difference in the lives of hurting, addicted, homeless individuals in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.”

Jason Kelley, Executive Director of Metro Relief

August Testimony

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The following is a testimony from a friend at Victim Relief Ministry here in the area.  VRM works with local law enforcement, homeland security, and victim service organizations to serves victims of crime, disaster, and terrorism.  We have been supplying VRM with Bibles for 2 years now.

“I wanted to share the story of a recent Victim Relief Ministries deployment to San Marcos and Wimberley following the devastating floods which occurred over the Memorial Day weekend.   I was asked to meet with a woman in San Marcos who was described as angry, withdrawn, depressed, felt abandoned, was partially disabled by a stroke two and a half years ago. Without health insurance had not seen a doctor since being released from the hospital.   I found her to be in a state of despair. Typical with a stroke like hers, emotions tend to swing  dramatically.  As we talked, she told me that God had abandoned her because she prayed He would take her life and because she was alive, meant He had abandoned her.   I asked her if I could pray with her and I prayed that God would make himself known to her in ways that she had never experienced.

Over the next three days, the power of the Holy Spirit was evident and working on this woman.  On the last day, My wife Gail and I carried her a Bible donated to Victim Relief Ministries by Urban Bible Outreach.  Upon our arrival, we found her in a state of depression.  She was again feeling abandoned and said she did not have the strength to continue.   The night before as my wife looked for an appropriate passage to share with her, God laid Isaiah 41:10 on my wife’s heart.  “So do not fear, for I am with you; I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”    Gail wrote the passage in the front of the Bible.  Upon hearing that she was feeling weak and had no strength to carry on, Gail read the passage and gave her the Bible.  This time she asked me to pray for her instead of me asking to pray.  We prayed and continued ministering to her for about an hour before moving on to other flood victims.

 The last day we saw her, she asked me about some of the difficult circumstances I face as a crisis chaplain and told me “ I want you to know that I prayed for you last night.”  In 3 days, the  power of the Holy Spirit moved this woman’s heart to a place she could look past her own problems and pray for someone else.  We left her in the care of a local agency who is connecting her to social services.  I pray that God will continue to reveal his presence in her life.  God does amazing things in every Victim Relief Ministries deployment.

The Bibles supplied by Urban Bible Outreach plays a vital an important part in reaching those who suffer personal tragedies.  I hope this story provides an encouragement to you and your ministry team and an understanding of the important work you doing impact the lives of others.   VRM is particularly blessed to be on your donation list.”

Glenn Cato, Victim Relief Ministries

Hope

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“Have you considered my servant Nancy?”

This twist to Job 1:8 has crossed my mind multiple times over the last 3 weeks.  As you might recall, Job was a righteous man of God who was of particular interest to Satan because of Job’s love of and faith in the Lord.  And even though we do not completely understand the whys of suffering, God allowed Satan enough power to test Job’s commitment by stripping him of many, if not all, of his blessings.  Job passed the test.  He remained faithful and continued to praise the Lord with his testimony.

Recently, our friend and UBO board member has been in a battle against acute myeloid leukemia that came on so suddenly and rather severely, and it sent all of us who know and love Nancy into a tailspin.  I think it can be said unanimously that Nancy has been a spiritual mentor to those of us blessed to know her.  She oozes grace.  She is deeply in love with the Lord and most weeks doesn’t go a day without telling someone of His faithfulness.  So only naturally, those of us who know her asked many times those first few days after diagnosis, “Why?”  It is the age-old question, with an answer that will never fully be known this side of heaven.

But Nancy stays faithful.  And I know that it’s sticking like a sesame seed in the back teeth of the enemy!  And that’s okay.  She wants every minute of this trial to be a testimony to God’s goodness, His providence, His love and mercy, His glory and His grace.  But it makes me think of those who suffer without knowing of God’s goodness. . .those who endure trials without the benefit of knowing

  • God’s promises (2 Corinthians 1:20  “For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding ‘Yes!’)
  • God’s peace (Philippians 4:7 “. . .that surpasses all understanding”)
  • God’s hope (Romans 15:13 “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”)
  • God’s plan (Romans 8:28 “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God)
As I see it, without God, there would be nothing to keep me from descending deep into despair if there wasn’t any purpose, power or provision of grace behind my suffering.  And this is why we have to reach out to those we serve with compassion and the message of hope from the Author of hope itself.  We have the message that can keep them from sliding even further into that dark place–a message that offers the only true hope available in the person of Jesus Christ.  So at the prompting of the Holy Spirit and out of thankfulness for His mercy and grace that saved us, we reach a lost world in the midst of their suffering with Christ’s offer of true hope.
For all of the Nancy’s suffering out there that do not know the Almighty, who do not know that they can “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. . .and receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16), help is on the way.

 

 

A Blessing and An Impact

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This month, Urban Bible Outreach has been incredibly blessed by a donation from Dr. Gene Getz, world-renowned author, pastor, and host of the inspiring Renewal Radio program heard all over the United States and South America.  In 2011, his Life Essentials Study Bible was released, the first ever multi-media study Bible.  I have had one since its release and what an invaluable resource it is!

Dr. Getz felt led by the Lord to give a generous donation of these Life Essential Study Bibles to Urban Bible Outreach so that we could distribute them among a few carefully selected organizations.  These organizations minister to the homeless and addicted and are sharing Christ’s life with these hurting and hope-seeking folks, through daily and weekly Bible studies.  Thank you so much, Dr. Getz!  (Note:  This photo only shows a small fraction of his donation.)

One of the organizations that received some Life Essential Study Bibles is Soul’s Harbor, located about 15 miles Southeast of downtown Dallas.  Soul’s Harbor is a recovery home for men who are learning how to live clean and sober.  Executive Director, Brent Burmaster, gave us a life-changing tour when we dropped off the Bibles, showing us their facility, telling us stories of its inception and history, as well as introducing us to the men who lived there.  Each man he introduced us to stood tall and proudly declared the number of months or years he had sober.

All of the residents have jobs onsite, whether it be welding or woodworking in the warehouse behind their living quarters, or cooking meals in the kitchen, and what was profound for both Michael and I was that this honing of their skills and serving others seemed to really give them purpose.  Soul’s Harbor prides itself on taking a holistic approach to recovery, so this also includes the spiritual.  These Life Essential Study Bibles will be such a blessing to those men, and we pray that they are instrumental in guiding them towards long-term success in life as well as a deep, intimate relationship with their Creator.

Brent assured us that Urban Bible Outreach is “making a direct impact” at Soul’s Harbor.  May we invite you to be a part of this impact?  Our afternoon of tours and Bible deliveries Saturday showed us the need in the faces of those desperately seeking hope and healing, as well as the impact Urban Bible Outreach is having.

In John 6:35, Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Spotlight: Dallas Life Foundation

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We wanted to spotlight a few of the many noteworthy organizations that we help with Bibles at Urban Bible Outreach, so that you might get a better feel for our vision and mission, as well as the kind of results we are seeing with your donations and commitment. Thank God for His Spirit moving and orchestrating and calling and enabling. . .and changing lives!

This spotlight is on Dallas Life Foundation, an organization that we have helped from the very beginning days of Urban Bible Outreach. Dallas Life Foundation is the largest homeless shelter in north Texas, but it is much more than a shelter. It is a chance for “new life” as their programs help residents with food, clothing, shelter, job skills, disabilities, self-sufficiency, arts and crafts for the kids, and all while lovingly introducing residents to their Creator, Jesus Christ. After residents have completed their 10-month New Life Program, Dallas Life conducts a graduation ceremony to honor them, and as a parting gift, residents are given a new study Bible.

Please watch the 5-minute video below, notice the joy radiating on the graduate’s faces, and praise God for the donations (YOUR donations) that have allowed these graduates and others to receive Bibles donated by Urban Bible Outreach.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EYA0sRWEAg&feature=player_embedded