If you are anything like me, you have a warm, safe place to call home, close friends and a family that loves you unconditionally. But, for one reason or another, not everyone is as fortunate as you and me.
For each of us, life’s journey is full of twists and turns with mountaintop experiences, as well as those painful seasons in the valley that so often become a teachable moment that leads to a breakthrough God had intended in the first place. For some, this journey leads them to the doors of the Nashville Rescue Mission. It may be a path of poor choices, tragedy, living on the edge, overloaded obligations and responsibilities, or a simple debilitating circumstance.
Still, I always wonder, how does someone end up in borrowed clothes, with no money and no home, with feelings of desperation, no hope and no way out? Who am I to pass judgment and view myself as being better or even different than that homeless man or women? What can I do to help? How can I show them how much they are loved by God? How much they mean to God? The answers to these questions can be found inside the doors of the Nashville Rescue Mission.
“Learning more about the Mission made me want to support their efforts. It made me want to help.”
I was both impressed and inspired by the people, the services and the programs provided to our community by the Mission. As long as I’ve called Nashville home, the Nashville Rescue Mission has quietly been serving the poor and hurting in our community, never looking for recognition, fame or even credit for the thousands of men and women who are given a fresh start and a new life in Christ. Learning more about the Mission and the services they provide made me want to support their efforts. It made me want to help.
I recently had the opportunity to perform a concert for a few of the Mission’s donors and volunteers. It was there I met a community of people with huge hearts who were making a difference in the lives of people they didn’t even know. I had one of those “WOW” moments. The people sitting before me were living examples of James 2:17, “So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.” The Nashville Rescue Mission provides a means of putting your faith into action.
The Mission is a friend in our community providing the good news that can forever change eternity and certainly a pathway off the streets—God loves you.