My life was transformed Sunday night in Long Beach, California. Service was finished at our new church plant. I was speaking to a visitor right outside that old church building right in the heart and soul of the neighborhood. Suddenly, I hear a high-pitched scream from a little boy. I turned around and a little boy was rejoicing about the toy he just received in children’s church. It was the happiest sound I’ve heard in my life. Quickly, I asked who was so happy?  I saw a little boy standing nearby. The little boy said, “Daddy, can I come back here every week?” The sound of they little boy’s pure joy melted my heart.

I talked to the boy and his father and realized why he was so happy. The family was homeless. Thus, the reason why the toy was so special. Recently, they lost their mother and found themselves jumping from hotel to hotel to survive. A church member saw them outside of a Rite-Aid and brought them to church. I knew they needed a place to stay at the Dream Center to live and to rebuild.

I also knew we had no more family housing. What do you do when your carefully planned system can no longer absorb one more family?  What do you do? God spoke to me, “Throw caution to the wind.”

BE RECKLESS IN DOING GOOD!

I called my staff in and like champions they arranged to take in another family against the will of convenience (as they always do). We didn’t have room but made room. Miracles happen when we learn to take steps that we cannot take.

The family will move into the Dream Center tomorrow and I cannot wait to hear some more high-pitched screams of joy from that little boy and his sister when they find that they now have a home at the Dream Center. Let’s all decide that we will throw caution to the wind and see which way the winds of compassion decide to carry us.