Craig Clouston

The Tenement

Take care of my sheep.
John 21:16

Jim and Char sold their Colorado ranch and used the money to purchase a rundown Colorado Springs tenement. They immediately began renovation, believing God had led them to this decision.
Over the next seven months they experienced times when they wondered how things would work out, but they never questioned that it would. Several times the project seemed doomed to delay, only to see miraculous things bring them back on schedule. Eight months to the day they’d sold their ranch, they opened the homeless shelter.
Char hired workers and interviewed volunteers between cooking and cleaning. Jim spent his days calling and visiting local businesses and churches asking for donations. His evenings were spent doing structural maintenance and whatever else needed done.
By the end of the first month, they were feeding and housing twenty-seven men and women. Both Jim and Char fell into bed exhausted at the end of each day. Feeding cattle and horses on the ranch had been rough work that had yielded a sense of accomplishment. Yet, it couldn’t touch meeting the needs of God’s flock!

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God isn’t going to ask most of us to sell our homes and take on such a daunting task. But we are all capable of feeding God’s sheep, and He expects us to do our part. Learning what our responsibility is requires thought and effort.
Not all of God’s sheep are starving from a lack of physical nourishment or a lack of housing. Many need nourishment of another kind. Some of our elderly need rides to the store and help with their shopping. Broken families need a compassionate ear and wisdom in how to handle specific situations; their children need a mentor that may no longer be in the home.
Most of us fit in the category of going to work every day to provide the service we were hired for. A smile from behind the counter can do more for the person who needs to see it than all the money in the world.
Nourishment comes in a variety of packages. Discovering what someone needs requires us to be discerning, looking for signs.

Prayer

“Give me discernment, Lord. Show me who needs my help today. In Jesus’ Name, amen.”