Day 6 - We are home!

It is Thursday morning and Kim and I are up having coffee after sleeping in our own beds in our own home!  We are so grateful for so many answered prayers over the last few days.  We prayed for a lot of different things leading into this trip, but most of all we prayed for three things. We prayed for safety, for good health in this season of sickness, and for God to work in the hearts of everyone on our team.  As we sit and reflect on the trip we realize we went to Atlanta and back safely and we didn't have to deal with any sickness.  We are so thankful! We were also able to watch God work in the hearts of our team.  Since our arrival on Friday night there was growth in each individual.  It was a blessing to watch the transformation from nervousness on Friday to high engagement with people on the streets throughout the rest of the trip. Everyone worked hard.  From lunch prep and street ministry to sorting food and prepping food for future routes, our students were pretty busy from morning to night.  One of the highlights each day was listening to individual reflections and talking with the group about the events of the day.  7 Bridges to Recovery is called 7 Bridges because they base their ministry on 7 different scriptures which they refer to as bridges to recovery.  The passage the ministry is centered on is Isaiah 58:6-8 which reads, 

“Is not this the fast that I choose:
    to loose the bonds of wickedness,
    to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
    and to break every yoke?
 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
    and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
    and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
    the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard."

We lived out this passage while down in Atlanta and the hope is that now that we are back home we will be more sensitive to what is going on around us and that we will look for ways to serve those in our own community who are in need.

As I wrap this up I also have to mention how thankful I am for God's provisions on our journey home yesterday.  It didn't start well and it had a rough ending, but in the end we are home safe!  When we left yesterday morning I was certain I had the trailer door (a rolling door that slides down) locked in place. I even had a padlock on it to keep others from getting inside.  However, once we got on the high way someone alerted us to the fact that our door was open.  We pulled over and found all of our luggage to be inside, but BJ's guitar had fallen out.  We retraced our steps, but someone else had already found and picked up the guitar and we were not able to recover it.  I'm frustrated it happened, but thankful we found out about our door issue before we lost more luggage!  

After that, traveling was good until we approached Indianapolis.  At this point I was driving with my lights on like I usually do on these long trips, but it soon became apparent my headlights were not working!  We pulled off the highway and visited an Advanced Auto and two different mechanics and then called the Chevy dealership before giving up on getting any help.  At this point it was getting dark and we considered finding a church or Christian school to crash in overnight, but we didn't really know where to start. I then noticed, that though my brights didn't stay on, they worked if I held the lever back. So what did we do? We drove from Indianapolis all the way home with our flashers on while I held the brights on.

It wasn't how I planned the return trip to play out, but throughout the day I often remembered John's prayer for us in the morning (John was our leader at 7 Bridges). He prayed we would have patience along the way home and that even if we encountered frustrating delays we would recognize God is sovereign and has a purpose in everything, even if we don't see it.  I have to trust that was the case.

I am grateful we are home and for God's continued grace in our lives.  We thank you for your prayers! It is such a blessing to be a part of the body of Christ!

~ Chris Hendrikse

*Please consider checking back later. I am hoping to post a video recapping our trip!

Blessings!