Sometimes when God leads you to do something he doesn’t exactly give you a perfectly planned out road map of what you can expect. There’s no Waze, no start dates, end dates or forecasts of bad weather to come. If I’m honest, sometimes it feels like you’re walking through a pitch dark forest, off the trail with only flashlight to only illuminate the first 2 feet in front of you. Sound scary? I’d say that’s what Business with Purpose has been for us. Umm.. I mean BJST. We changed our name as we progressed and realized that our vision was much larger than just a Business with Purpose, as that was only the vehicle that would provide for our vision of doing and spreading TRUE justice for all of God’s creations; people, animals and his beautiful earth. With the ultimate goal of helping create not just businesses with purpose but lives with purpose.
Every startup has their own story of humble beginnings and we are no different. We started in a condo. Late 2017. Five ordinary people, with full time jobs, very minimal nonprofit experience and to top it off, very little extra time. I know.. on paper, we are an absolute nightmare “dream team”. Why on earth would God choose us for such an important assignment? Right? But we all possessed a little something that is hard to come by these days. In a world of “me, me, me” “self-care” and “Do you boo” we all shared in our desire to do something outside of ourselves, something for the greater good even if it was at the expense of our own time, finances and selfish needs. We arrived to that first meeting, tired from the day, some of us even directly from the airport after a business trip, dripping in one thing: willingness.
Willingness to be lead, to not be “in charge” but to allow God to lead us to the people and places he wanted us to go. We determined that the first step in beginning our walk towards doing Justice was to ask ourselves: What hurts your heart? We all have that thing. Maybe even a few things that every time we hear about it or them we cringe or immediately feel sad or enraged. Those things that evoke in us an involuntary reaction that comes before we can think. Those are the things that hurt your heart. And once we determined what one of those was for the Team, we began immediately planning and praying that God would lead us to the people we would most be able to impact. We prayed that he would prepare the fields for us in ways only he can and we believe he did. Our first heart pang was for people who struggle with addiction. Understanding that addiction is a colossal issue and that we weren’t exactly cut out to directly help treat people with addictions we determined that in this case we would focus on helping to treat some of the symptoms of addiction; more specifically: homelessness.
On March 10, 2018, after getting together with the team and putting together hygiene bags for the homeless in Downtown in San Diego, we spent 30 mins in deep corporate prayer. Asking, among other things, that God would lead us to the people he wanted us to meet that night. People whose hearts would be open, who maybe had been praying for a sign that God still knows they exist. We prayed that he anoint our mouths and that we would simply be a mouthpiece to communicate that which He wanted these beautiful people to hear from HIM that night. When we left Downtown we had no doubt that His hand lead us that evening. The details of that event could be a blog post in themselves so I’ll just say that to this day we maintain active relationships with many of the people we met that first night and we are witnessing firsthand what God is doing in their lives and hearts and it has truly changed us.
Looking at people through the lense of Justice has changed everything for us. Looking at life through the lense of Justice is something you don’t come back from. We define Justice as: The right thing done, based on the inherent value and rights of God, people, living things, and the earth and their intended state of being. Once you start looking at the world through this lense, it is impossible to continue to live carelessly, selfishly and without regard for others or the effect that your actions have on everything around you. I must say, this is a blessing and a curse.. but most definitely a higher percentage of blessing.
Since our first Justice event in March we have had many others. We have cultivated and maintained relationships with people who don’t see us as monthly “do gooders” who come down to meet some type of quota, but as people who genuinely care, that see them as normal people. Not like druggies, hobos or bums to throw a sandwich at but as people who at this moment in time, for a variety of different reasons, do not have a home. In our interactions we have done our best to create a sense of normalcy for them because who can even begin to see a glimpse of hope outside of their situation if they are constantly being treated like a charity case. I know we have only scratched the surface of what God has planned for us and our relationships with these beautiful people but we are excited for what the future holds and all that God will do with and through us.
As a living breathing startup organization we continue to grow and evolve. Everything isn’t exactly as it was when we began last year. As some ideas have fallen off others have become more clear. As some of those sent to help get the organization get started have left, others have been added to help move us forward from where we are today. But we count nothing as a loss. We believe wholeheartedly in Gods perfect timing and that if we seek His Kingdom first, all these things will be added to us. As we begin 2019 with an amazing team and a clearer vision for what lies ahead we come prepared, willing and simultaneously malleable for exactly what God has in store for BJST and all of those that will affected by this movement.
Cheers to a very JUST 2019!