We said our goodbyes to the Cupschalk family late Saturday morning and headed off once again to Pennsylvania, but this time we weren’t headed for the slopes.  The snow from the night before had since frozen into a layer of ice that hindered most people from leaving their homes.  But NOTHING can stop the RAD Team (for more than a day…)!  We set our sites on inner city Philadelphia.  We met us with a ministry group called Cast Your Cares to serve lunch to the homeless and poor on this cold winter day.  CYC is a complex (still in the beginning stages) that is strategically placed in a harsher part of Philly between an AA Center and Rehab Facility in a high drug trafficking area.  We set up camp out side the CYC lot with a table of extra warm clothes, lunches, and the ever so necessary hot cocoa.  Although the bitter cold seemed to cut us to the bone, the Lord used us to minister to those who stopped by our little station. 

The Lord opened the doors for me to talk to several people.  One of the most memorable was a man who came up to our table dressed head to toe in a gorilla suite.  Now, let me ask you a question.  How can you hold a serious conversation with a man in a gorilla suite???  The answer is “only by the grace of GOD.”  This man worked handing out flyers at a shop just down the road.  He worked long hours, seven days a week.  He was not only poor, but also illiterate and partially deaf.  My heart broke for this man whose only life goal was to keep his job at the little shop.  I silently prayed that the Lord would reveal himself to this man and give him a hope, dream, and ambition. 

The Lord brought many interesting people to us during this short ministry opportunity.  Each had a different story and each at a different point in their walk with the Father.  I saw lives touched and also hearts hardened.  I saw people ready for a change and people addicted to their lifestyles.  I saw angry people and hurt people.  All are loved by God.  Each one is made in His image.  Each one is being called to the Father.