Be Jesus hands and feet...

From Tori:
Matthew 25: 31-40
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

I used to think that “the least of these” were a specific group of people. After last night, I think that for each person, we all have our own “least of these”. I don’t know what any of the boys I talked to did that got them to the place they are in. I don’t know what I think about the fact that they have a giant flat screen TV or that they play playstation in their rooms. But I do know, that last night, I walked in, and I showed them a picture of my God. Jesus calls us to nothing less, if not more. I would challenge you to consider who your “least of these” are, and go find them. Visit with them, and be Jesus’ hands and feet. I’m pretty sure that’s the best gift you could give him during this season of celebrating his birthday. And, I’d be willing to guarantee, that you will be completely blessed.

From Mike:
Lots of excitement from the young men as we walked in with El Pollo Loco, and cake and gift bags. I think all 30 boys gave me a hug and shook my hand and told me how glad they were to see me. Kemone and Sterling and Josh all told me they were glad we were there. Several guests with us today, so we had some opening introductions and Melanie introduced a lot of the board members from MATFA. Then she left and took some of the people with her. Tori, Susie and me stayed with the group we are always with. We started serving food and the 30 of them devoured food for 40. 

The chicken and tortillas were gone in a couple minutes and the rice and coleslaw and chips were not far behind. Coleslaw and beans seemed to take a back seat. They also loved the salsas, big bowls of green and red. Some boys seemed to more or less cover their whole serving with it. Seconds were requested and in some cases thirds. Then Tori talked to them - About John the Baptist and how as a baby in the womb his Mom was told about John coming to prepare the way. How glorious indeed to see a 22 year old girl standing in front of 20 young men from 17-24 who have offended society and hold them captive with the word of God. She got done and prayed, and then one of them asked a question about if she liked the star or the angel on top of the tree. We had told them about that the last time we were in. They remembered and wanted to hear about it. She told them more Bible, talked about how the wise men actually followed the star for a long time, and had been walking for a long time before they got there. About how there was a host of angels that night, but the star was what actually led them to Jesus. After that we talked for a few minutes, and it was about 7:30.

We got in the prayer circle and before we knew it we got interrupted. They were going to have lock-down. Every boy who was with us once again hugged us all. They loved us all and told us to come back. The security team was scurrying them off but they took time to share love with us. We sat in the open room for about 10 minutes or so - Susie, Tori and me. Then they released us to go back to the control room. There we met up with the rest of the volunteer team. God once again was in control. He didn't want last night to be about Christmas bags or anything else other than sharing food and love with the young men in that prison. I am struck once again by Matthew 25-

35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me

Last night, for 90 minutes we were able to feed the hungry boys, both physically and spiritually and visit them in prison, just as Jesus talked about. How great is our God?

From Susie:
Osvaldo has been paroled and is going home today!!!  Praise GOD from whom all blessings flow.  Thank you all for your prayers for Osvaldo!!

I am at a loss for words, again, after witnessing our God in action last night.  More than anything, I want to share with you that it God's power and presence was so obvious in that facility last night.  We were in our prayer circle when the guards interrupted us to "lock down" the unit.  Satan may have made a little noise last night, but God reigned.  It doesn't matter that we weren't there when the boys received their care packages or their cake, we were there when the Word of God was proclaimed and the birth of Jesus recognized and celebrated.  We were there to watch God feed those hungry boys with food and fill their hearts up with His love.  We were there to proclaim HIS name and HIS salvation. I have to share Tori's translation of Luke 3:15 with you from her message last night... "If you think I'm cool?  Wait until you see the guy who's coming after me!"  I also loved hearing her say, "When I look at Jesus, everything else goes away."  Her passion for Jesus was a wonder to behold last night.

The "lock down" was a result of a riot occurring on another unit.  We don't know exactly what happened, but all of the volunteers ended up gathered in the Control area.  We had no idea how long we would be there before being allowed to leave. Melanie had everyone join hands to ask for God to take control and bring His peace.  Many prayed and within five seconds of saying Amen, we were allowed to exit the facility. 

Thank you again for your prayers for these boys.  They love hearing that you are praying for them and they loved knowing that you had participated in the preparation of their care packages.

Our time with the boys was cut short, but God's message to the boys is eternal.  Praise GOD!!!

Merry Christmas to you with much love!

Susie, Mike and Tori

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Prayer Requests - we could not collect prayer requests before we had to leave, so I will share a few things with you.

• Please continue to pray for Osvaldo as he learns to treasure his freedom and re-establish relationships with his family. 
• Marquis goes before the parole board on January 6.  
• Jose was not feeling well last night and couldn't even join us for dinner.
• Pray for the facility and the staff - that God's peace will prevail.
• Pray for Kyle, Steven and Anthony who have been moved to different facilities.