June 25th marks the third anniversary of Latter Rain Ministry and I deserve none of the credit for that at all. Truth be told, I have spent the better part of two of those years wanting to throw in the towel. I have struggled mainly with my lack of experience and resources. But, the one thing that has grieved me above all else has been the people in my life. The vision for Latter Rain Ministry is to provide transitional housing and retraining to the homeless who have a desire to become independent productive members of society; to work with at-risk kids in the inner-city; to help inmates being released from prison get a fresh start with a clean slate, as having paid their debt to society. Latter Rain Ministry needs to raise funds to support partner ministries in other countries. All this requires a lot of man-hours and large sums of money. Neither of which I have.For three years, I have struggled with my own shortcomings, I've technical difficulties, my property was stolen, and much more. But, the people in my life have been my greatest adversity from the beginning. My mother was the first of many people who were in opposition to everything I set out to do. However, this was nothing new with her. I spent most of my life defending myself against her malicious attacks. For instance, one night she heard me mention to a friend that I was applying for a preacher's license. When I got off the phone, she asked me how I was able to apply for a license to preach. When I answered, she replied, "But you haven't been to school to be a preacher." I reminded her that I didn't have a license during the four years I spent in inner-city missions, one year as a youth minister, and one year in inter-denominational evangelism. She expressed her vehement disgust with me and turned in for the night.

Mom kicked me out of her house during a Thanksgiving dinner after answering a question she asked regarding my faith. Once I received the certification of incorporation from the state of Mississippi, she began accusing me of stealing things I didn't know she had. She accused me of letting people into the house late at night. She accused me of breaking into the house and helping someone else break in. The list goes on but, the straw that broke the camel's back was when she told me that what I "needed to do was get on my feet and get stable before I tried to help anybody else." Before I knew that I was speaking, I responded, "Mom, foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but, the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head." (Matthew 8:20, NASB). She became furious and ordered me out of her house, once again.

I called everyone I knew that I felt like either had resources or had influence with people who had resources that would potentially support the ministry. Not only was I unsuccessful, the people I thought could and would support the ministry, no longer speak to me. I asked friends to help me with anything, make phone calls, reach out to churches, or even help me find some people who knew more about what I was doing than I do. The response was pretty much the same, "Sure, I will help. Whatever you need, I gotcha!" Without fail, the outcome was the same. None that said they would help has lifted a finger to do any work but, they all felt obliged to bury me under a mountain of excuses.

Finally, there are those who come around, knowing that I have a lot to do, and they are a constant distraction. They want to talk about everything except what I am working on. Sometimes they will get all up in their feelings if I try to stay focused on my work instead of giving them my undivided attention. Some get their feelings hurt when I don't stay on the phone to talk nonsense or listen to breathing. God forbid I don't drop what I am doing when somebody expects me to do something for them. Worse than all of that is someone knowing how m...