Clothed With Kindness

For Adesha Adefela, who is part of the Alameda North sector of our church, it all started with a rip in her coat. As she was looking forward to enjoying time at one of her favorite restaurants, she soon found her coat stuck on a nail that was sticking out.

After seeing the rip, she proceeded to make the manager aware. The manager kindly agreed to give her money to get a new coat. Adesha thought that she could donate the ripped coat to someone in need, but after reflecting, she saw a bigger opportunity at hand through this situation.

The very next day, she decided to reach out to a number of her friends and together they raised over $500 to buy 15 brand new coats to give to homeless people sleeping in the cold. She went back and asked the restaurant if they wanted to participate in her efforts, and they gladly agreed.

Soon other organizations donated enough money to also purchase backpacks for the homeless to protect their coats as well as toiletries.

…Realize that the purpose of money is to strengthen friendships, to provide opportunities for being generous and kind. Eventually money will be useless to you—but if you use it generously to serve others, you will be welcomed joyfully into your eternal destination

– Luke 16:9 The Voice

As this scripture teaches us, the purpose of money is not for us to accumulate wealth for ourselves, but to strengthen friendships by being generous and kind. Using the gifts we have been given to build friendships can lead to incredible projects like this one that make an impact in our community.

Let’s remember to slow down and look for opportunities to do good in the midst of the different obstacles we each may face. Like Adesha, let’s remember to listen to what God might be trying to tell us, because his guidance can lead to something incredible.

If you would like to learn more about how to do that, make sure to tune in to our live stream church service this Sunday January 30 about “Finding God’s Signal in the Noise.” You can join us from wherever you are in the world by heading over to bacc.cc/live at 11 am PST Sunday or visiting our YouTube channel.

Til next week,

Sam & Tenea Manuel

East Bay Lead Ministers