Matthew 25: 31-43:



    "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.


"Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.'


"Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'


The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'


"Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;


I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.'


"Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?'


"Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'


The Task Force for the Homeless holds a meeting the first Thursday of every month in Corona. I have been trying to get a grip on the homeless problem in the Corona/Riverside area, so I tagged along with Bill Riemer from Orange County Rescue Mission to the meeting. I introduced myself to the participants in the Task Force as probably one of the least sympathetic people when it comes to dealing with the homeless. That does not really seem to surprise anyone in the room; they know what we all see, intoxicated individuals roaming the streets looking for a handout. One of the participants refers to “druggies, drunks and dealers” who are not looking to get off the streets, just merely maintain their lifestyle. What we would all like to do is really help those who are homeless, rather than just feel like we are enabling those with addiction problems.


The thing I have learned over 24 years as a paramedic is you can’t save everyone. In fact, out of hundreds of full cardiac arrests that I have worked on, probably only a handful have survived to tell about the experience. Enter in Orange County Rescue Mission (OCRM). http://www.rescuemission.org/ . They don’t save everyone, but they definitely make a profound difference.


We have probably all seen something exaggerated on a webpage and thought “Oh how fantastic!” only to see it in person and be somewhat disappointed. That is not the case with OCRM. It is worth the trip to Tustin to tour their facility, what they are doing is simply amazing. A few weeks ago, I sent out an invitation to take a tour and about 14 of us made the trip down to Tustin. It was hard not to walk around the campus with my mouth open in awe of what God has done in Orange County. OCRM has a holistic approach to being able to help those who truly are in need of help, regardless of the situation. Based in a God centered environment, their campus is able to provide the training and support to help people re-enter society with the skills they need to be successful.


The great thing is OCRM is trying to do the same thing in the city of Corona, but that is a few years down the road. Right now, we plan to makeover the existing shelter on Sheridan Ave.


In the past few months, OCRM has taken over the management of the Circle of Hope/God’s Kitchen/ Corona Shelter and soon you will see some changes being made to the facility. Crossroads Church will be jumping in to build, paint, carpet and repair the facility.


God is working on bringing all of the pieces together. Soon you will be hearing more of what God is doing in Corona and I will do my best to give you a “Heads-up” on what is happening. Right now, I would ask you to keep the project in prayer.