C.A.S.T.

Manna-it literally means…what is it?  The Israelites ate when they did not know

what it was.  They ate what they could not comprehend.  They ate what they were confused by.   They ate this food, this manna…they ate the mystery. 
Ann Voskamp

I am a Trauma Consultant for a medical device company.  I represent the company that creates and manufactures the plates, screws, nails, rods, pins of internal and external fixations that hold a fracture together until it heals.  Many of the broken bones that come into the hospital are very severe…multi-fragmented…they have to be pieced back together by master surgeons and held in place with these devices.  This is not always the case.  Many patients come into the surgeons' offices, and they only have a sprain.  They just need a friend or family member to help them around for a few days or even weeks.  Then there is the majority…the moderate or moderately-severe fractures.  They need a cast to hold the bone in place for a few months until it heals.  The cast is then removed so the person can slowly begin moving their bones, muscles & ligaments on their own until they are fully functioning again.

The church is a hospital…full of trauma…full of broken people.  Sometimes these broken souls need a master surgeon; a pastor or even a mental health professional.  Sometimes it’s just a sprain and they need a friend to help them around for a few days or even weeks.  Then there’s the majority…those that have moderate or moderately-severe fractures of the heart/soul and need a cast…someone to come alongside and hold them up until the fractured soul heals enough to stand on its own.

C.A.S.T.  Care Advisors of South Tulsa.  These are people formally trained with 50 hours of time-tested tools to come alongside a hurting person and in the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God…like a cast…they hold them up and encourage healing until the person can stand on their own again, and serve the Lord in wholeness.

“Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn” Romans 12:15

Manna-it literally means…what is it?  The CAST training is very unique.  These Care Advisors are trained to be caregivers…not cure-givers.  They know that there is only one cure-giver, Jesus Christ.  They are trained to come alongside a person devastated with life circumstances that force the questions…what is this?  How do I comprehend this?  Why am I forced to eat this “manna” that I cannot understand?  The Care Advisor walks alongside and instead of trying to answer the questions…he or she simply agrees…this is incomprehensible…this is chaotic…this is confusing…this is…a mystery.  

The Care Advisor courageously walks down into the pit, the valley of the shadow of death with the hurting person.  There is one distinct difference, though.  The Care Advisor is firmly rooted in Christ, His Word, and the power of the Holy Spirit.  The Care Advisor, surrounded by and rooted and grounded in accountability/advisory groups and time-tested training, reaches one hand into the care-receiver’s darkness while firmly gripping the Tree of Life, Jesus Christ.  The two hold the “manna” together.  They mourn together.  But ultimately the Care Advisor is ever-pointing to hope, to joy, to revelation, to wisdom, to healing, to transformation, to restoration, to salvation, to Jesus Christ.

Have you ever reached out to someone, helped them, and walked away full? 

Jesus said he had manna that we did not know of, and His meat was to do the will of the Father.  When we enter into the life, the pain, the pilgrimage of another and make the decision that, yes, whatsoever we do to the least of these, we do unto Him…we encounter the living God, Jesus Christ in such a way that can be found in no other place.  He has manna that satisfies…fully.  His manna for us is to do the will of the Father.  The will of the Father is to bear one another’s burdens.

“He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness, though he is surrounded by light.”  Daniel 2:22

In this life I have suffered greatly, and I know many others that have, as well.  But in the times of greatest darkness, I have discovered the greatest light. I believe that by reaching into another person's heart and life of suffering, we are not only filled with His manna, but we penetrate deep and mysterious things…things that lay hidden in darkness.  In the darkness, He reveals His secrets…the secrets of His marvelous light.  He gives us hidden manna...we see and we behold the face of God!

Members of C.A.S.T. give because they care.  But because they care…they receive…