Refreshment

Jesus taught in His earthly ministry about His ability to change a life, and the Bible shows us how we
can experience true and lasting change through a relationship with Him. And, we can maintain and grow in that relationship by the power of the Holy Spirit. In John 7, we find Jesus is teaching:
37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Colossians 3 tells us that Christ is our life - and He desires to manifest that eternal life through us as we lay down our own lives, take up our cross, crucify the flesh, and seek to live through the power of the Spirit.  The Spirit convicts us, directs us, draws us closer to Jesus, empowers us, and He will bring a sense of His rest and, as Acts 3 suggests, will refresh us.  He has come to make us new and to set us free from the burdens of the flesh, so that we might enjoy His presence in the Spirit.

+++++

In Acts chapter 3, we find that Peter is preaching shortly after the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given in a dramatic way to the people gathered in Jerusalem.  Peter interpreted what had
transpired and pointed to life change:
19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,
21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

For years throughout the nation, cities of various sizes had the iconic Coca-Cola Bottling plants - there was one in my hometown, and that has been replicated.  According to Coca-Cola's website, after the first bottling agreement was negotiated in 1899 by three Chattanooga attorneys to bottle and distribute the sweet product, within about a quarter of a decade, there were over a thousand local bottlers.

Fifty years or so later, though, driven by technology bottlers consolidated to meet international demand.  This left vacant former plants - some have been repurposed: in Opelika, the local plant there is now an events venue, in Andalusia, the city recently announced its intent to purchase the plant there.  You can actually see some of the repurposed buildings on Coke's website.

In Albany, Georgia, God had a purpose for the old Coke building there.  It was donated by Coca-Cola Bottling Company-Consolidated to a local church, yes, you know it - Sherwood Baptist.  It's been used as a disaster relief center; after all, as Baptist Press reports:

Albany, Ga., has been racked several times by severe storms over the last three years. From hurricane-force straight-line winds to a powerful tornado to Hurricane Michael, the city has experienced a tremendous need for assistance in getting out from under the rubble left behind.

According to the article:

As Sherwood has partnered with Samaritan's Purse and the Team Rubicon veterans service organization, it has become a central distribution point for the entire community working with an interdenominational coalition of churches. Since the first major storm in January 2017, they have disbursed over $334,000 in aid.

God gave the church a building - and a man to run the operation, described as, "a retired Marine Corp logistics officer who was a veteran of the Persian Gulf War as well as involved in the leadership of the U.S. relief effort to Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami."  You know him - he played a firefighter in one of Sherwood's films and a police officer in the next.  He spoke several years ago at the Sav-a-Life of Covington County banquet.  That would be Ken Bevel.

He says, "The last few years I was in the military, I prayed that when I got out, God would put the training and experience I had received to good use...and He did."

Bevel has provided leadership for the disaster relief efforts, but as Baptist Press relates:

We began to ask, 'How else can we glorify God with this place?'" Bevel said.

He then thought of a quote from Charles Spurgeon -- "How do you set a city on fire? You start a fire in the basement."

Bevel began to feel a burden for the "basement" of the city: at-risk youth. He realized many of them had educational needs the church could meet by offering special classes in the plant. The new ministry would be called The Hope Center.

Through partnering with a local technical college and some of the public schools, the program took shape.  The article says:

Classes were developed to replace programs such as home economics and shop that had been cut from the school district. Sunday School classes from Sherwood and other local churches helped recruit kids to participate in the program, and it began to grow rapidly.

Recent offerings include home economics, auto maintenance, home repair, and wilderness skills as well as GED preparatory classes. Upcoming classes will teach plumbing, flooring and woodworking. An adult education class on family finance as well as other classes are being developed.

And, after the classes, a representative from the church shares the gospel.

I remember the old Coke slogan, "The Pause That Refreshes." It is interesting that a popular source of refreshment is now a home for spiritual refreshment.  The Bible speaks of times of refreshing that come from the Lord - His Word can bring us the renewal we need, as we experience His living water.

I also thought about God's provision here - a building donated by a company to a church...a gift, a resource to be used by His people.  We can consider that we can take the resources God has provided and use them for His intent.  Those resources may take physical forms, or maybe a spiritual gift or a skill, to be used for His glory.  We can think about how we can be prepared for service.

Finally, we can see how life skills can be combined with gospel truth.   We have seen God raise up ministries that provide training that can help someone get a job and be a better employee - and we know that the application of God's standards of behavior can help to empower someone to be a model employee, doing his or her work to the Lord.