On wednesday I went along to Findlay memorial church Glasgow to hear Tony Campolo speak on behalf of Singpost International http://www.signpost-international.org/main.php ,but truth be told he was speaking on behalf of the poor.His passion for what God is doing around the world touched me and challenged me.I always feel my spirit disturbed when I hear the kind of stories Tony shared.
And while I agree that the poor of the third world need all the help we can give my passion remains here in Glasgow .The challenge to bless the poor among us is perhaps the most difficult one.There is resentment about our own poor ,after all they are cared for by the state and they are not realy poor .This resentment can be felt accross the media and even in church cirlcles.
So we have to be creative in the way we reach our inner city urban poor .We need to try and change and challenge the dependency culture that has grown up in urban areas.As we now know we cannot solve the problems of the thrid worlds poorest by just giving them food in a crisis but we need long term commitment to there over all needs.The same principal applies to those in our cities who for generations have become dependent on goverment hand outs and petty crime to get by.
We need efforts like this http://www.tbnetwork.org/home/index.php and others to make an impact in our own nation so that another generation does not end up in the hand out booze crime drug circle that kills who God has made them and keeps them as prisoners in there own community .I have no magic answers but rather see the need to keep pluging away where God has put me and to keep looking for those creative ways the get involved in "doing it to the least of these"

Open door continues to amaze me.For such a small project it is having a great impact on the life of local people.We continue to hear amazing stories of God at work in the life's of ordinary people and more and more people are passing through our Open door.
Fridays are now a drop in day for women to come and have a chat and get a free massage and some aromatherapy kindly given by one of the church members.People continue to say its a place where they feel they can relax and be themselves which is great because this is what we have above our door"Open door a place to be yourself"

We continue to wrestle with God on the way forward and how we finance the place but we all have the feeling that God just wants us to focus on him and he will do the rest.Over the last few weeks we have seen a £1000 come in from other church's and the promise of over £200 a month more in giving from some other individuals.

I believe God wants us to be there but more than that he wants to be there and to bless the lives of those around us who are hurting and in need of some loving support.Please continue to pray for us so that we can see his kingdom come and his will be done.