I have been talking to a lot of people regarding the Jubilee. Early on, Sunday and the first of this week, the needs that were on the front burner for some have been met, but there is a large group that have yet to give anything away. Many families are praying about what to do and looking for opportunities that they might not have been looking for or even seeing just a week ago. This has revealed a great side benefit of the Jubilee; it is requiring families and individuals to go discover needs. $500 is just too much money to be frivolous with and requires an attitude of stewardship to discover the things God’s heart beats for. Participating in discovering the places where needs exist, will help all of us develop the kind of heart God has for this community. If you are looking for ideas, need help discovering needs or would like to offer your thoughts about engaging the Jubilee, place a comment on this post so we can learn and challenge each other.
Pastor Doug
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
My family and I have an idea. We want to pool our jubilee money together (and hopefully others') to help a friend of ours. Without giving too much personal information onlind, this friend is a single mom with her 2nd child due in a few weeks. She needs some jump-start money to move to Sioux Falls, get a job in her professional field, get a car, and start the divorce process with her abusive husband who wants nothing to do with her or the kids.
ReplyDeleteTo get more details, call Aimee VanderWeide (my mom) at 605.929.8610.
--Jesse
I read the news of the Jubilee on the cupboard door at Cleveland. I rarely have time to go in there, but there must have been a reason I did last week. I immediately thought of two people that could so use such a gift. Yes, I am a teacher at Cleveland.
ReplyDeleteThe first one is a single mother of two small children, who lost her job at the beginning of December. The former employee has never paid her for the last two weeks she was employed, end of Nov. and first week in Dec. She was without work all those months. (She just found a part time job.) Her old car is very unsafe; when she had the oil changed they said the axle could break at any time. She uses the car to take her son to early childhood and now to work. I bought the car for her from Don’s for $850 two years ago to give her wheels so she could become independent and work to support her family. I was in the process of trying to find a reliable used car for her when my own car had major issues and cost me as much as a used car for her.
I have also supported her as she gets her GED. She only has the math test left to take. She passed the other three last summer!!! But as of lately, she has not been able to get the extra tutoring help she needs at Southeast due to working and caring for her children. She hasn‘t gotten any daycare support yet.
Along with all that, she fell and broke her ankle this winter while carrying one of the children down the steps of her apartment and needed physical therapy, a boot and medical treatment. She has no insurance. Long story short, she is behind on her medical payments. I am making minimum payments on those bills, paying for gas money, etc. to help. But, I am feeling drained as I am also helping my son and his family.
The second family is my son and his girlfriend. They recently had to move from their apartment into another one. The day of moving in, the apartment was in the news as having been raided for drugs. A few weeks later her position at work was cut. My son is on disability and so I am helping support them too. Amber has numerous applications out, but no one has called back in regards to them. She has since decided she wants to complete her GED and go to Southeast. I will help her by paying for tests, etc.
I am a very humble person and try to do my best to help others as I know that God has given me many blessings in my faith, family, friends, and having a job in these times. I don’t question why these things have happened nor do I judge the lifestyles of these families. God has a purpose for everything and every human being. And though it’s not the way I was raised I trust God in his infinite wisdom and love, that he knows best.
The best way you can help is through prayer for Lindsay and her children and for Brandon, Amber and Chloe. I ask for your prayers and to please pass this on to your church community so that the prayer requests will be multiplied. I have seen wondrous things happen because of prayer!! Our school, students and staff are better because of your commitment, generosity, prayer and caring.
I asked God to help me, so I can help them, and so, I believe seeing the blog site is where I was led.
I thank you for your time, your love, and your prayers,
Julie
PS. Contact pastor Doug if you would like to help in one of these ways.
heyy! i really like this whole year of jubilee thing. its really cool. sioux falls is up for a really big surprise!!!!!!!!!!!!1
ReplyDelete