vanGO!

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains
of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and
to provide the poor wanderer with shelter- when you see the naked, to
clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” –
Isaiah 58. 

After a few days in Atlanta, doors began to open and we found ourselves standing in the middle of the ghetto.  

The area is called Vine City and it is straight up scary. The
streets are covered with black men and women staring down every car
that passes by. Their faces are so hard.  No smiles. No laughing. No
crying. No emotion.  They just stand there, lifeless.  To the physical
eye, their faces scream that they are not scared of anything.  To the
spiritual eye, their faces scream that they are scared of everything.
They are scared of both life and death and understand the fragility of
their time on this earth.  They stand there looking as if nothing and
nobody has the power to crack through their tough layers.  So many
people are fooled by their looks but we know that Jesus Christ has that
kind of power. A lot of them hang out around this pole that we call,
“The Pole of Death.” It is a telephone pole that has like 6 or 8 stuffed
animals nailed to it.  A lot of the animals are decapitated and some
have ropes around their necks. Back in the day the gang members would
just throw some shoes over the telephone lines to mark their territory.
 Now we see that they are into murdering stuffed animals instead. There
is a darkness and a heaviness about this area that immediately broke our
hearts. We realized really fast that our praying and fasting was done
in vain if we did not hold strong to what Isaiah said.  If we fast with
the intention of simply avoiding food, we have it all wrong.  Fasting is
twofold.  We fast A) to hear from God and B) with the intentions of
putting action to His visions.  

So…there we were. 2 white girls driving around the worst
ghetto in Atlanta in a creepy white van.  Naturally, we parked and got
out. People were literally stopping in the middle of the street to stare
at us.  They were so confused as to why we were there and why we were
not scared of dying.  A few guys warned us saying things like, “The
people here are not right.” All we could say in response was, “We know,
that is why we are here.” One guy named Dred stopped and stuttered for a
while to get his question out, “Who are y’all?” We told him that we
were there in the name of Jesus.  He pounded his heart and said, “Ya’ll
really mean it. Ya’ll really mean it.” We are two talentless, random,
white girls who showed up on a door step with little to say and limited
plans on what to do and God began moving.  

We spent the week mimicking the Dream Center’s idea of “Adopt
a block.” We went door to door asking whoever opened up if they needed
any food, cleaning supplies, household items, etc. One by one they told
us what they were in need of.  We wrote down all that they mentioned and
then asked if we could pray for them.  We prayed for Anthony’s car to
start.  We prayed that Crystal would be able to take care of her
grandchild.  We prayed that Marvin would find some of his stuff that was
stolen.  We prayed life over Paulette, Keith, Flava, Michael,
Geraldine, Mel.  We prayed comfort over James and Cheryl who recently
lost their dad and brother and whose mom has cancer. God continues to
remind us that it has nothing to do with us or what we have to offer but
with a willing heart, his glory will fall. Each time we entered the
neighborhood, we had to fight through the fear of the possibilities. As
we did, the Lord showed up and we walked away rejoicing in his power to
move beyond any social, cultural, or 

stereotypical barriers.

At the end of the week, it was time to shop. We went to the
store and bought groceries and supplies for nine homes. Everyone who
requested groceries received ground beef and hamburger helper, spaghetti
and sauce, rice and beans, oatmeal, bread and toilet paper. Those who
also needed cleaning supplies got bleach, laundry and dish detergent,
 pine-sol, and sponges. The bill came to $130 and it provided four meals
for eight families as well as cleaning supplies for five. With a small
amount of effort and and a small amount of funds, the Lord can do great
things.  It really does not take much. We want to be able to make a deep
impact on a few rather than just scratch the surface of many…so we
are going to invest in these 11 or 12 houses. 

When we delivered the goods we were greeted in all kinds of
ways. Some were surprised that we actually came back and many were
rejoicing in the Lord. Anthony told of how his car started as soon as we
left and that his sister was reunited with her son that she had given
up for adoption…He gave all the glory to God. Paulette could barely
get a word out because she was overwhelmed with praise over what the
Lord has done. After praying over her earlier in the week, she received a
phone call that her son had gotten out of jail. She clapped her hands,
raised her arms, and jumped for joy repeating “the Lord works in
mysterious ways!” She smothered us with hugs and smiles and we
celebrated God’s power together. Marvin greeted us with the genuine joy
to just be able to share his heart with us, “his sisters in Christ.” He
shared with us about who he is in Christ. He said that people have
always called him things like, “Captain Ugly” or “Mr. Burnt up.” He said
that to the world he may be poor, ugly, and weak, but he is complete in
Christ. Even those passing by were drawn to the Spirit that was falling
on that place. People were calling us the “Girls that came to help
people.” They were coming to us with prayer requests because they
believed that for some reason, our God was answering. We promised our
return as we parted ways and once again, marveled at the work of God.

Isaiah goes on to say….