Broken Life to Broken Chains

There are those memories you have and those people you meet that you know are going to stick with you forever. This past summer, we had the opportunity to make some of those memories and meet some of those people. On July 29th, a group of our youth students loaded a bus and drove 150 miles to serve the city of Nashville for the third year in a row. Our students had the opportunity to visit the Nashville Rescue Mission that morning. That evening, we drove a short distance to the Jefferson Street Bridge and fed over 1,000 homeless people.

I could talk with you about the different things we did throughout the day, but what I really want to share is the story of a man who I will call “Jeff”. As soon as we arrived on site at The Nashville Rescue Mission, we were greeted by the happy-go-lucky Jeff. Throughout the day of serving at the mission, we were able to hear his story and we found out that there was a time that Jeff was not so happy. Jeff was actually a graduate of the Mission’s “Life Recovery Program”. This program is designed to help struggling alcoholics and drug-addicts break free from their addictions, but more importantly to break free from their chains of sin. Just a few years ago, Jeff entered the Mission as an alcoholic with no hope, but this day we met a man who had been redeemed by the blood of Christ; he was filled with an inexpressible joy.

As we left the Rescue Mission, I was first thankful for their ministry and the way they are serving their city and seeing lives changed. But secondly, I was in awe of God’s grace and mercy. These people are entering this place with no hope; they think their biggest need is to fix their addiction, but what they encounter is the Gospel and they realize their deepest need is to be restored back to a relationship with God. Praise God that He sent His Son Jesus Christ to offer forgiveness for sins and to make a way for the worst of sinners to be reconciled.

How amazing it was that God was able to orchestrate a group of middle school and high school students to drive 150 miles to meet Jeff and hear His amazing testimony and the testimonies of many others there at the Nashville Rescue Mission. How neat it is that God allows us to develop these memories and meet these people! Please pray with us for Jeff as he continues to love and minister to those people he encounters, and let’s pray for those people next door to us that may not be struggling with drugs and alcohol but still need to break free from their chains of sin. We have the remedy… we have the cure… and it’s found in the beautiful news of Jesus Christ!