Easter at Light of Life
Last Thursday at Light of Life, all of the staff and the clients in our programs came together and celebrated Easter. There was a period of time devoted to giving everyone an opportunity to share what the resurrection of Christ meant to them. It was incredible. For an entire hour, I heard what God has done in the lives of the men and women we serve. Over and over again I heard things like, “I got my life back…” “I got a second chance…”.
People always wonder what it’s like to serve the homeless. In the three years I’ve spent at Light of Life, perhaps the most revealing thing I can tell you about the men, women, and children we serve is that they are just like you. Seriously. They may be in a tough spot, but we are all only one or two decisions away from being in the exact same position they are.
I would also add that they are not just “somebody”… they are real people. They are someone’s father, mother, brother, sister, son, or daughter. If you have someone in your family who has struggled with homelessness or addiction, you totally understand what I am saying. When you actually realize this, it changes everything. It changes how you view every individual we serve. When you see them as real people, you will treat them as real people, which is the best way to make a difference in their lives.
I would encourage you to take some time and read Matthew 25:31-46 and Roman 5:8. Matthew 25 focuses on what we do at Light of Life. We exist to serve the needy, broken, homeless, addicted, abandoned, and abused.
Romans 5:8 shows us why we should serve the poor. The verse says, “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” In essence, God loved us and sent His son to die for us when we had nothing to offer Him and He had absolutely no reason to love us.
When we help those who can do nothing for us, we are loving as God loved us.
When we accepted Christ, we were in the same condition spiritually as a lot of the homeless are physically, broken. While we were broken, God opened a door for us to become something that we could never be without Him. When you give to the poor, you open the door for homeless men, women, and children to become something they could never become without the support of others.
Take a few minutes and watch this video, my favorite story is the last one which begins at 5:25 into the video. These are just a few examples of lives that have been changed because people chose to love these people by giving their time, their talents, and money when they did not have to.
My favorite line in his story is, “I’m so convinced that Light of Life is a vessel of Christ, because they give you everything you need to get your life back. I got mine back…”
To know that one life has been changed forever as a result of a ministry that I give my time, talent, and treasure to is absolutely priceless. Nothing else in life compares to that. When you give your time, talent, and treasure to Light of Life or any other organization that reaches people, you have a part to play in the lives that are changed. I’d like to ask you to personally support Light of Life by supporting Laura and I as we run the Pittsburgh Marathon for this awesome ministry. You can learn how to support us below.
Marathon Training Update
In January, I let everyone know that Laura and I committed to running the Full Pittsburgh Marathon, 26.2 miles, on May 4th for Light of Life Rescue Mission.
Our training has gone well. We finished our last big training run last week. It was a 23 mile run! We’ve been training since the first week in January. It was probably one of the worst winters we have had in a long time, which provided some challenging runs in 2+ inches of snow in very cold temperatures! I can’t say that Laura loved those runs, but overall we have loved taking this journey together. We are excited to cross the finish line together in less than 2 weeks!
Fundraising Update
As of today, Laura and I have raised $13,653 for Light of Life. We are both humbled by and grateful for the generosity of others. If you are reading this and you supported us, thank you.
If you have not supported us yet, I would like to ask you to. We would love to get over the $15,000 mark by May 4th. I hope that you can see that your giving will make a significant impact on the homeless men, women, and children of Pittsburgh.
You can support us by donating online:
Or by sending a check made out to Light of Life, Memo: Doug/Laura Marathon, to PO Box 6823, Pittsburgh, PA 15212.
Thank you so much for being a part of our lives!
Doug and Laura
