Love your Neighbor as Yourself

He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.

Proverbs 14:31

Amber and I have a heart for the poor and needy. In Joburg, you can't drive 1km down the road without seeing many men, women and children begging at robots (stop lights). Some have signs asking for jobs, money or food while others just sit. We can't hide our eyes from these people.

We decided that we wanted to be a blessing to them and share God's love. We did not want to give money, not knowing what they would spend it on. Therefore, we have thought to give them food and a Bible verse written on a notecard.

This particular card is John 3:16 written in Zulu on one side and English on the other.

We give food and Bible verses to beggars, people handing out flyers or selling newspapers, car guards (those who watch your car while you go into a store), gas attendants (it is full service here, they fill up your gas for you) and anyone selling something on the side of the road. Really anyone we see that we feel God is leading us to speak with.

It has been such a blessing to my heart to see the excitement and shock on people's faces when we give them something. We have had people so excited that they have yelled to their friends working on the other corner to brag about what they have received. Every time we have noticed that the people are quick to first read the card and don't even look at the food. At garages (gas stations), they call the other workers over and we usually count around 4 to 5 gas attendants gathering around to read the card. Many reply with "thanks so much for the message."

There are many women with children that sit at robots.

I have shared with you a little about taxi drivers... they have a culture of their own. A taxi will not drive away until all the seats are full therefore they drive down the road hooting every 5 seconds to try to get people's attention. The front seat passenger has many jobs and one of them is "husseling" for passengers, which is what these men are doing in the picture below. Once the taxi is full, they will drive off and the front seat passenger is now in charge of counting the money to make sure everyone pays. You will be kicked out of the taxi if you don't pay up.

Well, we wanted to reach them with the Gospel but didn't know how until our Bossman (my nickname for our awesome and cool boss) told us of an idea to pass out Christian CDs. Thanks to Brett (you're the man!) he found me some Christian rap, Sho Baraka that I have been able to burn onto CDs and pass out to taxi drivers.  They are all surprised and excited to receive a free gift.

Side note: In order to get the full South African experience... Zach and I are going to ride in a taxi with our national friend Given. Amber has willingly volunteered to drive behind us to take pictures, as she does not feel it necessary to experience this part of the culture. Haha.

Please pray for these people who receive the message of salvation. Pray that they would seek to understand and know God. Pray that they would look to God to provide for all their needs both physically and spiritually.

Pray that the taxi drivers would listen to the music and share it with their passengers. Pray that they would believe and accept Jesus as Lord and be a witness to those they drive around every day.