All posts tagged: Volunteers

Each day has enough trouble of its own

March 6, 2015 Merlin Gonzales blog

My left eyebrow is twitching!

Why does your eye lid or eye brow twitch?

Could it be that I drank too much coffee this morning or because I need new eyes prescription (I am scheduled to go to my eye doctor early this afternoon). It could not be due to my consumption of a glass of wine last night nor lack of sleep. It is not allergy season yet and my eyes were not dry. My eyes are not tired, it’s only 11am.

I came up with the last possible cause, stress. Somehow, stress can make many parts of our body twitch, one of them is eyebrow or eye lid.

It started yesterday when I received an email from a potential partner about some miscommunications. Then later yesterday, I received a message that one of our partners got a wrong impression of how we operate in one aspect of our ministry. In addition, there are many other things that I need to communicate with to find out about the issues. On top of that, I have some other things that has been on hold and I am getting frustrated. Immediately, my mind started to go in different directions. My emotions could not decide whether to feel offended or come up with ideas to defend myself. At the same time, my mind started to analyze the situations and to produce solutions.

Then early this morning, I remembered that I just wrote a Blog earlier yesterday about Faith in the midst of uncertainties. I asked my wife and my mother to pray for me. I also prayed that God would grant me wisdom to deal with the situations. As my wife and I were on our way to our office, God spoke to me, “You don’t have to solve all the problems!” That’s it!

Suddenly, I realized that I don’t have to defend myself nor to come up with the all the solutions all by myself. There are things that can wait and there are things that I don’t need to let consume a lot of my time. There are situations that are phantom and emotions that are way out of line. Then our logical minds can play tricks on us! Of course there things that we need to deal with but it’s not the end of the world if we’re not able to take care of it!

²⁵“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?²⁷Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?…³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” – Matthew 6:25-27, 33-34

Just before I wrote this, I spoke with 2 of our partners. One gave me some good counsel and I complimented another instead of trying to solve the problem immediately. (My eyebrow stopped twitching!)

Here’s what you can do immediately when your eyelids or eyebrows start to twitch, pray to God for the peace that surpasses all understanding and ask Him to speak to you. If that does not work for you, get 2 pieces of scotch tape, tape them on the opposite side of the part that is twitching while pulling them outward to stretch the skin. That should do the job for you!

God bless,

Merlin

Remember the Fire?

September 18, 2014 Merlin Gonzales a Study on God's Dominion, blog, KIOM, Testimony

Remember when you first commit your life to Jesus Christ?

Remember when you first experience God?

Two months ago, I posted about a house fire that happened to a Pastor who is friend of mine. Many people have helped him in terms of some donated money, furniture & appliances and most of all, prayers. I have been helping him in finding out the best solution for the future of the house that was burned. I have a sense that this tragedy will end up to be a blessing for him and his family. I kept encouraging him and praying for him in the past several weeks.

Last Monday, we heard news about the house and we did more negotiations. We were confirmed that there’s nothing else we can do, so we settled for what was agreed upon. Tonight, I received a message to call the main person regarding the house. We received great news; something that we did not expect!

In these past several months, God has been showing me things that are beyond my imagination. The unexpected things such as the pallet shelving, the launching of one-of a kind food pantry, the $70k walk-in freezer donation and many more.

There is another huge thing that has fall on my lap just 2 weeks ago. I ask that you pray for wisdom and discernment on my part. This one could impact thousands of people and may be an integral part in this particular community for years to come.

God is awesome! I would like to invite you come alongside with me in experiencing the goodness of God. Some people are experimenting with God to see what happens when you trust Him. I would like to invite you to journey with me in fully trusting God in every aspect of our lives.

There’s a difference between making Jesus as our Savior and making Him as our Lord. Our lives reflect who our Lord is – the way we conduct ourselves, react on situations, make decisions and our habits. Our reality is mostly based on our experience. I think many of us have knowledge of God but do not have much of experiencing life with Him – that’s why sometimes we find out selves asking ” where is God in this situation?” Unless we experience Him intimately, His reality in our lives would be fragmented.

Remember when you first experience God and felt that He is involved in your life? If you are like me, I was on fire! It seem like God is so close to me… not only during Sunday but every day of the week! What if we fully trust that every aspect of our lives is connected with our relationship with God…our finances, our relationships, our health and our spiritual life? This may be a silly question: “What if all of our life experience is directly interconnected with our relationship with God?” How would we cope with our failures and celebrate our success, treat our families, work with our associates and deal with our neighbors? If God is ever present in our consciousness, what would our lifestyle be, how would we react with every situation – good or bad, and what would be our perspective in life.

Here’s what I have in mind. I will share with you my experience with Him. Similar with what I have been writing before, I will continue sharing with you what God has been doing in the ministry of FHL. This time, I will be more intimate and share more of my personal experience with Him such as frustrations, praises and prayers, requests and dreams, questions and answers and, my experience. I would like to encourage you to share your stories as well, make comments, prayers and praises. Let’s experience God and share our stories to encourage and to uplift one another.

I hope you would consider joining me in learning more about ourselves and our relationship with the God that we profess – our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. What’s your story and what has God been doing in your life? Remember your passion for Christ when you were a new Christian? Remember the fire in your heart?

Lessons on tendering a garden

July 9, 2014 Merlin Gonzales blog, KIOM

A small 16ft by 4ft plot can yield many kinds of vegetables

During early spring of 2014, I turned a part of my lawn into vegetable plot. I have written how I started my vegetable garden and documented some of my experiences.

Since then, I took care of my garden almost every morning before going to work and almost every evening as soon as I get home. I weed it, water it, prune it, fertilize it and aerate it. It has become my habit and started to enjoy the process. I would look at the flowers and observe the growth of the cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, etc.

My appreciation grew deeper in the uniqueness of every plant and specie, their character and design, and the different fragrance that they emit in the atmosphere.

One morning, I was looking at a plant. I was admiring how the shoots are so long and then, a thought came to me. I enjoyed looking at it although there are no flowers on it. “Of course“, I said to myself, it is not their nature to bear flowers. They have uniqueness in themselves and they are beautiful in their own way. That’s the way the Creator created them. I cannot expect flowers from them because they are not suppose to have flowers.

I know that my argument with myself seems crazy but if we apply this same observation with our families, friends, volunteers, employees, etc. they make a lot of sense. How many times have we catch ourselves expecting others to become just like another person? How can we expect a donkey to run like a thoroughbred and a chihuahua to grow bigger than what they’re suppose to be? Then why do we expect John to be like Paul?

If we can learn how to appreciate the uniqueness of each individual, we can avoid the stress of trying to change other people. What if we slow down and observe others and learn about them for the first time again?

God had created us to be different from each other and to realize that our differences complement one another. As the famous saying goes, “slow down and smell the roses” is very true – to see the importance and the value in each of us. This is also a reminder for ourselves to learn more about ourselves, to appreciate who we are and to celebrate how God had created us.

– Merlin

Significance of spoken and written words

July 3, 2014 Merlin Gonzales blog

Governor of Indiana proclaimed the July 20-26, 2014 is Faith Hope and Love Week in the entire state

In 2 Chronicles 36:22-23 & Ezra 1:1-3, King Cyrus of Persia issued a Proclamation throughout his realm that the exiles from Israel be given safe passage back to their land so they can build the Temple of the Lord. The people of the land are to provide supplies, materials and food for the Israelites as well. Because of this proclamation, God’s people were able to start building the temple in Jerusalem.

The families were reunited after the 70 years of exile in Babylon and the neighbors provided everything they needed including goods and livestock. The families settled in their own towns. After seven months, they came back together again as one people to offer burnt and freewill offerings. This was the start of the process of rebuilding the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. God had used King Cyrus of Persia through issuing a proclamation that became like a law of the land.

God created the universe with His word. When He spoke the word, it never returned void. In the Old Testament, He used the prophets to speak His words. It was the prophet Jeremiah who prophesy that the exiles will return after 70 years of captivity. The prophet Isaiah prophesy of the coming of the Messiah. Jesus Christ proclaimed that those who believe in Him with all of his mind, might and being will become heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven. It was Jesus who spoke that the the believers will be filled with the Holy Spirit – the very same Spirit who filled Him while He was here on earth. Jesus said that the believers can do the things that He had done through the Holy Spirit living in them.

I believe that God speaks to His people. In 2005, I sensed the Lord spoke to me to ask for the Mayors of Central Indiana to issue a Proclamation for Faith, Hope and Love Day (soon it became Faith Hope and Love Week). After a few years, the Governor of Indiana proclaimed the same every year. And every year, countless people in Indiana celebrate the week through serving others. This year, all services and projects are focused on addressing hunger.

There is significance in our spoken and written words. For us Christians, it is even more powerful because as we speak words that are in alignment with the will of God, it will happen because we have the same Spirit who dwell in Jesus Christ while He was here on earth. What is the will of God – faith, hope and love. All of these three remain.

Be careful what you say and be watchful what you write. God had given us delegated authority including the power to create through our words.

The blessings of serving

March 17, 2014 Merlin Gonzales FHL Food Pantry, FHL Indiana, Mobile Food Pantry, Prayer Groups

There are days when something amazing happens when you least expected. Here are a few examples that happened in 10 days.

Warehouse for re-distribution

On March 6th, I decided to move the re-distribution of food from the FHL parking lot to a warehouse that is being rented by one of our partnering food pantry Pastors. We normally divide the food that we receive from Midwest Food Bank to 5 food pantries. Because of the numerous logistics, I have to admit that I was anxious. However, many of my anxious thoughts were wrong! The training went very well at our partner’s building while we were waiting for the arrival of the 24-footer box truck containing the food. Our partner’s warehouse has at least 6 docks, a lift truck and a hand truck. The Lord worked it out that we were able to unload 9 pallets in just a few minutes. Within an hour, the food were redistributed to 5 food pantries. It normally takes us to do all this in 3-4 hours!

Forklift for unloading and loading trucks

In addition, our partner is considering allowing us use some space for storage! This may seem insignificant but the warehouse space with loading docks, lift truck, hand truck and more centralize location is huge for FHL at this time! I’ll share more on this soon.

On March 12th, I conducted a Latino refresher course for food pantry operation at Monte de Sion Hispanic Wesleyan Church. I ended the teaching with role playing to present the Gospel during food pantry days and also anywhere they see opportunities. The participants were all excited to use their newly acquired revelation.

Experiential training

A few days later on March 15th, I visited the food pantry at that same place, Monte de Sion. As soon as I got there, many people are being served and were being prayed for. One of the couples who participated at the training on the 12th shared with me that they led 2 people to the Lord! They were so excited and I noticed that their faith was rising up as they are experiencing the blessing of sharing the Gospel.

Earlier that day, I was expecting a hectic schedule for the opening of our newest food pantry at the corner of Washington & State streets. Opening a new site takes a lot of planning and preparation. When I got to the site, the Pastor of this mobile food pantry was already. The food were placed on tables, volunteers were at their station and were already engaging in conversations with people at this street corner.

At Washington and State St., Indianapolis

This particular food distribution area is one of the depressed areas in Indy. This site had become a “stand by” place for “Labor For Hire”. They hang out at this corner waiting for people to hire them for a day! This is a strategic place to give away food, offer free coffee and sandwiches for the men waiting for work. We’ll see how the Lord would have us serve in this place in the future – maybe more than just giving groceries once a month.

At Beech Grove B&G

My last stop that day was at B&G Pantry of Hope. I was amazed to see how they have become a self-sufficient. Here’s a video of their story as told by their current food pantry director who was one of this pantry’s recipients a few years ago.

I am blessed to witness His goodness and the miracles along the way. I told a Pastor who visited one of the pantries that I receive blessings through serving. I would like to challenge you this coming weeks to count your blessings as you serve in the Name of the Lord; it will revolutionize your outlook in life.

John 12:26, “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”

God bless you!

Merlin