….And then, there are people like Jesse.
I spent the day helping Ashley run her speech & debate tournament today when I had the pleasure of meeting a good soul named Jesse. I had caught wind that he was a pastor of sorts. The morning got off to a slow start, giving us some time to make small talk.
He’s a man on a mission. He feels called by Jesus to minister to the fringes of society. The “throw away people”, as he calls them… the people that the mainstream would rather just ignore- homeless and transient people, specifically. “God told me to ‘go find the people that nobody wants, and tell them, that I want them’ “, he recounts.
All too often, , it’s easy to trace the motives of any given religionist to power, money, pride, fear, or all of the above.
This guy has me stumped. Here is a guy whose ministry revolves around feeding and clothing the needy, homeless people of Ogden – out of his own pocket. He holds his “services” at a well frequented park in town…. he preaches “the word” and feeds his homeless flock a meal every week – all out of his own pocket. (this urban sermon on the mount lands on as many as 150 pair of ears on any given sunday). And a collection tray?
I don’t think so.
It’s guys like this that give the whole Jesus story some real credence.
To loosely quote a chapter in the book of James:
THIS is pure religion.
