Dear Friends,
I don’t believe I’ve ever made an actual appeal for donations. But I’m coming to you today with a very special cause I ask you prayerfully consider.
In November in a visit to the French Bible Society (Alliance Biblique Française) I learned of a very special project to produce and distribute 10,000 Bibles for the homeless. Yes, it’s in French, but it’s a truly special project and one I pray will be successful so we can learn from it and reproduce it in Brazil and other countries.
A lot of thought, planning, and prayer has gone into this project. You can read more about the Bible de la Rue here. In our accompanying video you’ll see me showing some of the special qualities of this Bible.
Please do watch the video. Some of our homeless friends will be talking about why God’s word is so important to them.
When you turn to the Bible for hope, for comfort, what kind of passages do you turn to? What kind of answers are you searching for? What does your favorite passage from Scripture say about what’s most important to you?
When a homeless man’s favorite passage is Psalm 91:1 “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” or John 14 “There are many rooms in my Father’s house… I am going there to prepare a place for you” what does that say about them?
How important might it be to our Father, that the hope, the dream, and the promise of a dwelling place, a home might be present in the lives of those who may never have one here?
After presenting the Bible for the Homeless to our friends in Derby Park and at Christland, I did something else I’ve never done before. I took up a collection. I asked them if any would like to contribute to this project. From the roughly 240 homeless men and women, we received almost R$40 Reais.
Mostly coins, a few small bills. Converted into dollars, that works out to about 3 cents apiece. And of course not everybody gave. But those who did were probably giving up their cup of coffee or a meal for the rest of the day. Made me think of another very small contribution that meant so much to the Lord.
I’m going to give as much as I can to help get this Bible for the homeless published and in the hands of the homeless in France. I know that however much I give will be small in comparison to what our homeless friends here gave.
I pray you will consider giving as well. Please don’t give in place of your regular church contribution. If you’re not able to give to the project you can join us in praying for it!
The Alliance Biblique Française is working through a partner organization in the US, Impact France that can receive donations on their behalf and it’s my understanding give donors the tax benefit. You can use the Impact France page to make your donation.
If you have any questions about this or the project in general please email me. Email replies to our newsletters still aren’t reaching me but you can email me directly at dennis@iluminalma.com
Thanks so much for your prayerful consideration. May God repay you in double!
