Setting the Scene
Since I began working as a missionary, the homeless population has steadily increased, heroine use has become a nationwide epidemic, “K2” has emerged as the new street drug, and human trafficking, especially prostitution, has shown no signs of disappearing. For all intents and purposes, things have been getting worse. So how in the world can I claim 100% success?

Lillian (Pictured above)
I met Lillian on my very first outreach with Metro Relief. It was more than a year before I joined the staff. I remember sitting with her on the ground, leaning back on the fence at the self-serve car wash on Malcolm X Blvd in South Dallas while she told me about her struggles. I remember learning her street name was “Red” and she was struggling with drugs and she was sleeping on a porch or sometimes in an abandoned car. My heart was breaking for the situation she was in and I remembered all I could do was listen, encourage, and pray with her and I did.

Fast forward to a month or so ago and I reconnected with her outside a shelter. In fact, the rest of the staff had not seen her in quite some time as well. I didn’t recognize her at first because she looked so much healthier. She was off drugs and in doors. Everyone that knew her was so excited for her. I asked her how she got off drugs and she gladly shared. She told me she got arrested and spent several months in jail. I then asked what her plan was to stay “clean.” I ask this especially since it wasn’t her initial choice to get clean.  I’ve found that folks in Lillian’s situation are more vulnerable to relapse.

Lillian told me that if she stayed at the shelter at least two weeks, she would be eligible for a housing voucher from the city effective 1/1/16. (Side note: Housing vouchers are not a guarantee. Once received, a person has to find a place that will accept it followed by a city inspection, and the backlog for inspections is ridiculously long. A landlord that accepts a voucher does not get paid until the tenant moves in, nor can they rent out to anyone else while awaiting inspection, costing them revenue, and resulting in fewer landlords accepting vouchers and fewer options for people with vouchers which also have an expiration date. Either way, the voucher is still a necessary step to public housing assistance.) So Lillian said she was going to continue staying at the shelter and avoid the old neighborhood by the car wash where she was surrounded by bad influences.  I encouraged her to do so, we prayed together, and celebrated our reunion with the  photo above.

For the next three Thursdays we saw Lillian at the shelter, but on the fourth Thursday we saw her back at the car wash smoking “something.” Highly concerned, I asked why she was back, because this wasn’t part of the plan and the car wash itself is where the worst influence is. She told me she got a weekend pass from the shelter to visit a family member and while she was gone the few possessions she did have got thrown out because they were not properly tagged by the shelter staff. She was so discouraged that she lost everything, she left the shelter and decided not to go back. I spent some time reminding her of how well she had been doing and we talked about alternatives. She said she would consider them, but for now, Lillian was back sleeping on the porch and hanging out at the car wash. I haven’t seen her since that Thursday a couple of weeks ago, and while she is right back where we first met, Lillian is still a success story.

How do you measure success?
Most people measure success by evaluating achievements. Victories won, quotas reached, tests passed, pounds lost, and so on. It makes sense to measure success this way. I do too. However, when it comes to people we need to reconsider our way of measuring. Thomas Edison, the inventor of lightbulb was quoted as saying, “I have not failed 10,000 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 10,000 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.” I love that perspective. In a similar way, Lillian’s story may not seem like a success, but I assure you it is. Yes, the last I saw her she wasn’t indoors and back in the old neighborhood, but there’s more to it. Let’s reconsider how we measure.

Just like Lillian, most of the folks I encounter on an outreach are still struggling with their respective situation after the outreach. That might sound like a “waste of time,” and some people (more than a few) even tell me and my fellow missionaries exactly that. Despite that I am still 100% successful. That’s because I have a focused goal and I am resolute about achieving it.

My goal isn’t to tally up how many lives I can change. My goal isn’t to fill my helmet up with more stickers. My goal isn’t to end world hunger or to end poverty. I think that’s delusional. Jesus didn’t end these things. In fact, it is recorded in the Gospels that he said you will always have the poor among you. (Matt. 26:11, Mark 14:7, John 12:8) Jesus was referring back to what God said in Deuteronomy: “There will always be some in the land who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need.” ‭‭(Deut.‬ ‭15:11‬ ‭NLT‬‬) Do you see that God’s not telling us to fix poverty, but rather to love those who are experiencing it? I picked up a saying from Richard Galloway, the founder of New York City Relief. “The poor are not a problem to be fixed, but a people to be loved.” John Mckenzie, the lead pastor at my church, Hope Fellowship in Frisco/McKinney, Texas repeatedly says, “If lost people matter to God, then they should matter to us.”

We have a tendency to make things more complicated than they need to be, and I believe that one of the reasons God sent Jesus was to simplify things. When asked what is the most important commandment, “Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”” (Matt. 22:37-40‬ ‭NLT‬‬). If you need it even simpler, here it is: ‘You must love’!

Therefore, my goal is simple. Not easy, but simple. My goal is to Love the ONE in front of me. To love whoever God sends my way. Wherever and whenever that may be. God doesn’t tell us to love this one or that one, but EVERYONE!

As for my bold claim of success.
A group from “The Bridge Church” in Long Island, NY shared this thought with me. Throughout the parable of “The Sheep and the Goats” in Matthew 25 that leads to the famous 40th verse where Jesus says, ““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.’” (NIV), Jesus had never indicated that ‘you solved my problems and fixed me.’ The essence of what Jesus is actually saying is, ‘you saw my struggles and had compassion.’

The reason why Lillian is a success story is not because I solved all her problems, but along with others, I showed her that she matters through love and she knows it! When we reunited at the shelter, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone so excited to see our bus. When reuniting at the car wash, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone so grateful to have a shoulder to cry on.

God knows what I’m capable of and knows my limitations. He made me. I can’t fix anyone, but I can love everyone. So I do, and that’s how I am successful 100% of the time, and what’s even more exciting is you can be too!

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Nothing is accomplished without your love and support.

God has always called for us to tithe or give to Him. Not because He needs it, but as an act of worship. While my family and I may be the obvious and immediate earthly beneficiary of anyone’s gift, it is my sincere hope that you feel it’s a gift to God for something greater and that you only cheerfully give and are blessed by it.