"I find your lack of faith disturbing."

Another great quote from Star Wars. Faith is a word that gets thrown around quite a bit, both by the religious and not so religious. I have faith that we have enough gas in the car to get home. I have faith that I can squeeze into these jeans. I have faith that I can get two kids off to school every morning. See? That's allot of non religious faith right there. But there's so much more to that word.

I experienced true faith last week. It blew. Me. Away. I met some pretty awesome people. I took a trip down to Joplin to pick up my brother for a weekend visit. While there, I met James and Marsha, a couple that run a shelter in town. Their work is truly amazing. They founded a mission which serves the homeless and impoverished in the city. They not only take in people off the streets, nourish and provide clothes. They minister to them in a more meaningful way. They give them a purpose.

You see, in order to sleep in the shelter, a person must be 1. sober, and 2. agree to pay it forward at the shelter. They have something that they call Project Worth. In Project Worth, residents of the shelter do various jobs. It can be anything from gardening to creating jewelry to be sold at their store. As their website so eloquently put it, "The purchase of Worth-Shop items in our community are reminding 'the least of these' that they have something to offer, that they have the ability to earn and that they have worth."

 What an amazing place this is. There are so many stories of redemption in this building. Now I'm not totally naive. Not every story is a happy one. Not every one of these residents makes it out alive. But souls are saved at Watered Gardens. Because of the hard work and dedication of people like James and Marsha, people are given opportunities for a better life.

I imagine that James and Marsha's jobs are very difficult. There must be quite a bit of heart ache. But in that heart ache, must come immense joy when they see one person saved. So when you see a homeless person on the street, remember that person matters. He/she is someone's child, sibling, aunt/uncle. And think of people like James and Marsha, who do so much to help them. Donate to their wonderful ministry in any way you can.  http://wateredgardens.org/