Three weeks out from our mission trip to Atlanta I knew something was wrong.

I had been planning for this trip for the better part of the year. My desire was to take my teens to another large American city similar to the DFW area to work with homeless and those living below the poverty line. After talking with a few Atlanta ministers back in February I contacted a local homeless shelter and signed our group up to work there for the week of our trip. After Spring Break, I call just to reconfirm and iron out a few details. Everything seemed on track. We would work for the better part of the days in the shelter serving, meeting, and sharing with the men and women of the shelter. I was excited. My teens were excited. This was going to be a great trip.

Like I said though, three weeks out I wasn’t so sure. As we were returning from camp, while my teens slept in the van, I called the shelter again just to re-reconfirm.

“Who are you again?” the voice on the line said. “When are you coming? Ok, Someone will call you back.”

That day came and went without a phone call. The same story the next day. Something was up.

Very long story short… The shelter was nearly bankrupt. They had been cutting staff right and left. Our trip had been lost in the turmoil. They had no idea we were coming and they couldn’t promise to even have something for us to do once we got there. Oh snap!

Have you ever had a moment where the bottom dropped out? That is exactly how I felt. What were we going to do? Time was running out and the bulk of our trip was now, not just in jeopardy but, out of commission.

God, what are we going to do now? Father please help me, help us! You have to step in right now God!

If I had ever doubted whether or not God hears the prayers of the desperate I was about to be shown the power of what an Almighty God can do. Yes, he heard my prayer(s) but not even I could have expected how greatly these prayers would be answered over the course of our trip.

To Be Continued…