Blessed Portion Update For 3-17-23

Good morning Friends, what a beautiful Sunday morning it is, the sun is shining and boy does that just feel so amazing! It has been a little while since Gina and I have put up a post, but behind the scenes, the Ministry is still at it every single week and every Friday evening downtown with our downtown homeless community. Gina and I - well our lives are a bit different ever since Gina's accident so we have had to prioritize the way we do things on some avenues like doing a Facebook post about our Friday evenings downtown but believe me we are still and will continue to have some amazing encounters downtown - God always show up! There is so so much to tell and to catch up on but that would take a long time to do a TELL-ALL! But I will just start with this past Friday when we had the pleasure of joining SJM Church - St. John Bible Church all the way from Pandora Ohio which is about a 1 hour and 30-minute drive for them. We had some of the greatest youngmen - about 15 of them along with their youth leaders - Jason and Dan and head Youth, Pastor Paul - as you can see in the pic's these youngmen where just amazing to be around for the evening and to serve with and spread out MUCH love to our downtown friends. With so much darkness and evil in our world today which is constantly hitting us in the face on a daily basis I was TRULY in AWE of being around these young men and their leadership who drove so far on a Friday evening to come down and be the hands and feet of Jesus for 3 hours. It actually gave me such a feeling of hope for the next generation - My hats off to Paul, Jason, and Dan for doing such a great job with these Young Lads and wanting to come over and serve with The Blessed Portion Ministry on a Friday evening. Well, let's get to the eating part of the evening and WOW you would have thought we got Mexican food from a 4-star restaurant - the burritos were AMAZING and they were huge! Along with the burritos we endured some chips and salsa and homemade brownies. I could tell a lot of time and love went into the dinner prep prior to coming over to serve. After dinner and fellowshipping with about 40 of our friends outside we headed over to the 13th Step House ( which is a safe and secure living environment to allow alcoholics and addicts an opportunity to recover physically, mentally, and spiritually. After leaving our friends downtown we still had about 1 hour before we could get into the 13th Step House due to their nightly mandatory meeting so while serving food downtown we do not eat - the food is for our friends who are living homeless outside and will also pack up seconds if we have enough to go around another time. So having an hour to burn we ALL went over to the Famous Coney Island and had a few dogs and some hot chocolate and I believe EVERYONE had that 1st-time experience at such a historical landmark " THE FAMOUS CONEY ISLAND". So we headed over to the 13th Step House and had some good fellowship with some of the men there and had food for them also, and they are always so appreciative of anything we bring. But after the food has been eaten and enjoyed we shared a little bit of a message with the downtown friends and then at the 13th Step House and the message went along something like this ------Jesus wants us to come to him for understanding since He knows us far better than we know ourselves, NO detail in Our Lives is hidden from Him. Jesus views us through eyes of grace, so don't be afraid of His intimate awareness. Let His Light be a Presence to shine into the deepest parts of our being - cleansing, healing, refreshing, and renewing Us. Trust Him enough to accept the full forgiveness that He offers to us continually. This is such a GREAT gift, which cost Jesus his life, to give us eternity. Jesus says He will NEVER leave or forsake us. When no one else seems to understand all of our mess-ups and sin - Jesus tells us to draw closer to him. And ALWAYS rejoice in the One who understands YOU and ME and LOVES us so dearly and PERFECTLY. And as He fills us up with love we also become a reservoir of love and bring it out into the world so it's overflowing into the lives of so many other people no matter what your status and circumstances are. Joshua 1:5 says " No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you." Please enjoy the few pictures I posted, and a picture really does say soooooo many words. I was so blessed and honored to meet these fine Men from Pandora Ohio this past Friday evening to serve alongside them - really touches me immensely to the core. Love you all !! Before I close I would also like to thank Michael and a new friend we met who came down to serve with us who is from Texas and is a local nurse and attends Pathway Community Church as well - her name is Gina as well, just like my wife - she was such a wonderful addition to our team. I also would like to give a huge shout-out to all of our friends who support us on a monthly basis and allows us to love our friends in the downtown and surrounding area to bring the gospel to them and show and tell them how much Jesus loves them. Thank you so much to our home church Pathway Community Church, Hamilton Church of Christ, Grace Summit Church, Tracy and Dale Bullion, Forrest, and Sonia Radcliff, Cherri and Randy Thomas, MJS Apparel, and all of you who give to our ministry Gina and I surely love you all and could not do what we do without all of you. Have a wonderful Sunday and a good work week. Tommy