Protect

Anytime we mention "we protect" from the outside toxic environment at Hope Street, people immediately associate that with the fact that we are on 26th and Capitol and need protection. Protection from violence, theft, and drugs. While those are all true, rarely are any of those elements things I am most afraid of.

Too often people walk through our doors rattled by the chaos that is outside, labeled with inaccurate names that have become their identity (addict, manipulative, untrustworthy...), and unsure of their purpose moving forward.

So when we say "we protect" we spend most of our time fighting against anything that strips people of their inherent dignity, value or worth.

Would you please join me in praying:

Father, may your LOVE penetrate the hardest parts of our hearts, and then reside there.

May your PEACE calm the storm around us, or until then remind us that you are always with us, always for us.

May your TRUTH thwart any lie that attempts to come up against it.

May your GRACE be the gift we daily receive to honor and glorify you in all that we say, and all that we do.

Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Amen,

Ash