Walking right on by

"Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." Isaiah 1:17

"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:17-18

http://tinyurl.com/3gqklgj

"He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses." Proverbs 28:27

"You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall." Isaiah 25:4

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained ^[b]by the world. James 1:27

"If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday." Isaiah 58:10

"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners." Isaiah 61:1

Proverbs 31:8-9

Open your mouth for the mute, For the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, And defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.

"She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy." Proverbs 31:20

http://tinyurl.com/42a8xwy

I want to be this woman. The woman that opens her hands to the needy.

The truth is that I can´t even really find pictures on the internet that resemble the situations of the people I  am going to tell you about. None of these pictures are taken from the actual situations I am writing about. I refuse to take pictures of them in their situations because that would only mock them, so I will do my best to tell you about some of the specific people that have touched my heart over the two months.

Sachi

http://tinyurl.com/3gkeh3g

Sachi apparently was robbed of her most important worldly posessions within the last year and now lives on the street. She tells us that she had a good job as a some type of social worker, but that that she lost her job somehow around this same time. She has been living on the street for some time. Several well-meaning people have tried to take her a nursing home, but she always ends back up on the street because she says they mistreat her in the nursing homes. Sachi is about 50 I think, but looks like she is 70. She apparently has two families with which she sometimes stays, but many times she is on the streets through the night. She works for about 10 soles a day (equivalent about $3) by watching a street vendor stand. A cheap meal in the part of town where she is costs about 10 soles. Sachi told us that she had surrendered her life to Christ about 2.5 years ago, but I honestly have not spent enough time with her to learn more about her story.

Samuel

http://tinyurl.com/3g62ca8

Samuel is a blind man who sells candy on the streets of the rich touristy part of Lima. I met Samuel when I was walking with Lauren one night, and stopped to talk to him. I only talked to him for a few minutes, but in those few minutes, Samuel told me that he had given his life to Christ and was a follower...yet still he is on the street. He might sell 10 soles worth in one day, I really have no idea, but I know it´s probably not much. My heart goes out to this man.

Rimac Teens

http://tinyurl.com/3vvj2q9

Rimac River

Then there are the kids that I have only heard about but never seen go to river Rimac in Lima and hang out there doing drugs and just spending life there. I want to talk to them, and tell them there is hope beyond Rimac River. Lauren was the one who found out about these kids, and I am so glad she did. Several of our guy friends have said they would down there with us and spend some time with these kids. We plan to go there sometime soon, the Lord permitting.  Please pray for God´s hand to touch the hearts and lives of the kids there.

?

http://tinyurl.com/3f7q2me

Then there´s the man with only one leg. He sits on the bridge and ¨rents out¨ his scale. No, he doesn´t sell scales, but for 10 cents, you can weigh yourself on his scale. People here many times only have enough money to live for the moment. Which means you don´t buy a scale...you weigh yourself for 10 cents when you have the extra 10 cents. I have yet to talk to this man. I pass him every time I go to Puente Piedra to go to the market or the grocery store.  He is someone who God loves and who, everytime I pass, wonder about him- his story, and if I should share the gospel with him.



I walk by these types of people every day. And so do you. They may not have limbs missing or be blind, but they are desperate need. Need of love. Of Christ´s love. Need of physical things. Need to hear the gospel. Need of a hug. Need of a warm meal. Need of a million different things. I ask that the Lord shows you who is in need and what their need is. Don´t walk right on by like I have done countless times with the man on the bridge. They have faces and names. Why do I not know them?


Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ Matthew 25:44-45

http://tinyurl.com/3tfp6bx

Please pray for us as we seek a way to help the homeless, poor and needy. And please pray how you too can be a part of helping the people of Ventanilla / Zappallal   Lima, Peru.