Signs of hope ... Daily choices to be brave, to show mercy, and to love deeply. 

Greetings friends, ​

I was at Home Depot yesterday with my family getting supplies for the Community Garden and I was moved by the many day laborers standing around hoping, praying for someone to choose them to allow them to have the dignity of a hard days work as well as the accompanying pay that comes with it, that would perhaps allow them to buy their girlfriend a gift or bring home dinner to their family.  

               Whenever I see this I always think of the parable of the day laborers in Matthew 20.  I wondered if this would be the day I could be brave and move past the excuses of; what if this person hurt my my family, or what if I can't communicate effectively because I don't know Spanish.  I think I would of left the Home Depot parking lot like many times before without hiring a day laborer but God in his kindness intervened.  As I was loading the bags of soil with my girls, Javier came out of nowhere and reached to lift one of the 8 bags of soil and in broken English simply said, "here let me help you my friend"  We invited Javier back to the Garden and we worked side by side as brothers and before God we were both day laborers, dependent completely on being 'hired' to work not only for a daily wage but the privilege of working with Him in his redemptive purposes.  ​

A few weeks ago we had our monthly garden work day, held the 3rd Saturday of each month.  We were able to get a lot accomplished in the Woodland Community Garden but we also began our first phase of using our grant money to help others.  We were able to build three garden plots for the Neighborhood Ministries preschool.  The goal is to get the kids envisioned for health and nutrition at an early age and engage their parents in this process and then at the end of the year help build a plot for each family at there own home.  To see more photos click here 
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Next week we have Thankful Sounds on Wednesday night 7:30pm Noel Barto will be the special guest.  

To learn more about the vision and to stay connected click here


Next Thursday at the Thurman's house we will have our second 3rd Thursday Study night at 7PM.  
Click here for more details.  

The study focus this month will be on Saint Francis of Assisi 

To see full details of what's going on check out our calendar on the new A2J website http://www.a2jphoenix.org/calendar.html



your friend, 
Ryan


friend and follower of Jesus