Well, it is finally happening. I feel as though "I" am losing control. Now, it could very well be that I never had control. In fact, I'm sure I never actually had control. What I mean is I now see this "thing" that started last year for us in downtown Omaha taking on a life of it's own. It never fails to amaze me how that happens. Just as a recap, November 12, 2006. That was our first Sunday. It started with Robin, myself and our kids going downtown two weeks before and sitting on a corner trying to figure out what the heck God wanted us to do. What? Go downtown and feed people? We can barely "feed" ourselves. How are we to "feed" others? Well, He told us to go. We did. A few of us loaded a pot of soup, some bottles of water and a very generous Panera Bread "dougnation" and headed out for what has grown to be our church. I know some people might take issue with us calling this our church. But that's exactly what it has become for us. Church. In the beginning, I wasn't sure what we were thinking. Maybe we weren't thinking. But we really had and frankly, have no idea where this thing is going to go. If you take issue with us calling this our church, please try to hear me out. I'm not theologically trained by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, for various reasons, I often feel rather inadequate when it comes to discussions that are biblically deep, if you know what I mean. I don't read my bible enough. My oldest son, Christian is involved in a bible-quizzing group at a local church here in Omaha. It amazes me how understands not only the scripture, but also the context. He gets it. That was just a little aside from a proud father. The thing is, I just don't spend enough time buried in His Word. I know I should, but I don't. Anyway, for reasons unknown to me, it just really seems that God has moved Robin and myself in a different direction, at least for the time being.
As I said, I know people will disagree with this thing we feel God has led us to do. That's certainly ok with me, I mean, we all disagree with one another on matters like this all the time. I don't know that it means one way is right and the other is wrong. I guess one day we'll all find out? But this missional, incarnational type of church, for us, right now, in this time and place is how we see Him using us. What this means to us is that instead of attending a traditional, attractional church, we are attempting to take the church to His people. Into the cracks and crevices where He leads us. I can see where a person might say "well yeah, but you need to be in church". I totally see that. The hardest thing for me has always been the extraction from the traditional thinking. Taking myself out of the box. Out of the forward facing pews and out into the world. The transformation for me has been at times, both a long, slow journey and a radical shift in my thinking. A very close friend of ours recommended a book to us called "The Shaping of Things to Come". It speaks to a lot of these things. A lot of these issues. I haven't read it yet. I will. I've skimmed some of it and read a couple of online reviews. It's next on my list. But the crazy thing about this and a lot of these types of books - they nail down where Robin and I are at right now. Almost as if I could have written the thing myself. Now, I haven't read it. I'm not a big reader. Unless it's the sports page or a Cornhusker message board forum where I can escape from the craziness of life for a few minutes. I've just never been a big reader. Call it procrastination, attention deficit disorder, whatever. So, when I do pick up a book like this and it resonates with me exactly the things we are going through, it has to be from God. Has to be. Has to.
Here's the thing for me. I'm not saying for one minute that we'll never be in any kind of traditional or non-traditional church again. We attended a church (or un-church) in Charlotte that was one of the best experiences of my life. I mean, I learned more in the short time there than in most of my other experiences combined. But it's all part of the journey. I don't think I could take one piece of my church experience out and have a complete puzzle. Does that make sense? I mean, all the places we've been all the churches we've attended, they all complete the experience to this point. This, for us, is simply the next step. What we've seen in the 5 or 6 months that we've been at this only confirms that we are where we're supposed to be. I think the understanding that I've come to is that there is a place for our type of worship, just as there is a place for traditional worship. In the attractional setting of the traditional church, and this is just my opinion, the person seeking answers might be uncomfortable. Again, in the big picture, this shouldn't be about our comfort level. But lets face it, if people are uncomfortable sitting in a pew, they aren't coming back. At least in some cases. So why not offer another setting? A really radical and untraditional setting? Why not? Jesus didn't say, sit in your church and wait for people to come to you. I mean, it works in lots of instances for people to show up at a church, be invited by a friend or however one makes it in the front door. That definitely works. I've seen it far too many times. But there are a whole lot of people out there who are lost and that approach may not ever work. Ever. That's an awfully long time. So how do we reach them? Maybe take the church to them?
Here's a great analogy, stolen straight from the book. I'll plagiarize a little here, because I'm not being graded. The only citation I'll give is read the book. I don't think God will mind. Here goes. The traditional church asks people to come and hear the gospel in the holy confines of the church and its community. This seems so natural to us after seventeen centuries of Christendom, but at what price and to what avail have we allowed it to continue? If our actions imply that God is only really present in official church activities - worship, Bible studies, Christian youth meetings, men's and ladies fellowships - then it follows that mission and evangelism simply involve inviting people to church related meetings. Here's another one - If you are digging a hole in one place and realize that you need to dig it elsewhere, you don't get there by digging in the same place only deeper. And yet, sometimes, churches when they realize the old attractional mode isn't working, seem to believe that if they just do attractional church better, it will work. ??? Just some things to think about...
So then, lets look at it like this. A fence is "a bounded set," something that determines who is in and who is out. But a well is centered. For example, fencing the vastness that is the Australian outback simply isn't possible. Instead, a farmer sinks a well to create a precious supply of water. It is assumed that livestock will stray, but never wander too far from the well. Therefore, when we sunk our "well" on 14th and Douglas, we centered ourselves in a crack or crevice that we knew to be un-fenced. We knew that if we showed up consistently at noon every single Sunday, we'd have a crowd waiting for us to share Christ's love. In every action. In every deed. With every draw from the provisional well, we could share, in this open expanse, that we are all in this thing together. So we might as well do something worthy of His cause.
I recently finished a book called "Same Kind of Different as Me". Now again, I'm not a big reader, but this book had me from the start. Thanks to Mendy for recommending it to us. What an awesome story. It's about a fellow who starts out as a modern day slave in Louisiana and becomes homeless in Fort Worth, Texas. At the same time, a couple in that city is on a journey, much like Robin and I, to find a higher meaning. Their paths cross and the book tells their stories. One of the points of the book - we're all different, be it because of life circumstances or whatever, but we are no different. In fact, we're all the same kind of different.
Rambling... :)
So, yesterday, I felt as if I was losing control. But not really. What I mean is this. Robin was out of town, roughing it on a Carolina beach somewhere. Rough duty. She deserves it. So we had a group of folks who wanted to do the meal yesterday as a small group service project. His timing is amazing. So no cooking in our house yesterday. You see, the well is sunk in downtown Omaha. Doesn't matter who cooks. Doesn't matter who goes down. What matters is that people get involved in the bigger mission. The missional church. Look, we send people to foreign countries to do missional work. And we need to. We have to. But we also need to send people into the inner cities and the other less desirable places right in our own backyard. It takes all these things to make it work. To reach the less fortunate. To be the hands and feet. I had a guy call me reverend yesterday. Reggie. I was passing our some of the many provisions we are blessed with on a weekly basis. Reggie was simply asking for one of the hygiene items that were in abundant supply in the van. I had to stop him and tell him I'm nobody. In the grand scheme of things? Nobody. And definitely not a Reverend. No way, no how. Just plain old me. But his perception was different. Why? Because I say prayer before we eat on Sundays? Because, whenever someone thanks me for whatever, I tell them not to thank me, thank Him? Why? Who knows? I've never once represented myself in that manner. So I have no idea why he would think that. Just seemed odd to me. Because in the big picture, I'm nobody. Different maybe, but nobody. Just one who felt the need to do something a little different? And some wonder why we chose Sundays at noon? I couldn't really tell you that either. I guess because it's lunchtime and people are hungry? Seemed like a good time and place to sink a well? I simply give thanks to God for blessing us with this ministry. We have been blessed beyond our wildest imaginations.
Back to the control issues for a minute...not for one minute do I think I'm in control. I mean, we have to do the work. The dirty work. So someone or a couple of someones have to take somewhat of a leadership role. But we all know who the true Leader is. Make no mistake about that. The funny thing for us now is that we have so many new people jumping on board, it's really hard to keep track of all the names. And maybe thats ok. Maybe we should all be nameless and faceless. Helping those that, lots of times, are themselves nameless and faceless...hmmm.
Anyway, just some random thoughts on things that are happening for us. I just like to try to capture some of the things that are happening for us and why we do some of the things we do. Missional vs. attractional? Fences vs. wells? I just hope if we are digging holes we are able to get out of them. The one thing to remember...if you find yourself with a shovel in hand and the dirt keeps falling back on your head? Stop digging... :)
Peace and have a great and blessed week.
..."it matters to that one"... :)
Monday, April 30, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
3 questions...Who do you serve, who do you serve with, and why?
Well, the first one should be obvious to most. At least it is for me. Why of course I serve God. The Father Almighty. The Maker of all that is. The Beginning and the End. He is the one reason I do all I do. The sole purpose. Now don't get me wrong. Often times I find myself falling prey to all that the world has to offer. Money, things, stuff, etc. I suppose we all do. However, in the quiet times, when I'm driving to work in the mornings and the streets are quiet, when I walk the stairs here at work, 20 flights, which I try to do a couple or four times a day, I pray. I pray to Him that he would continue to allow me to serve in ways that please Him. Small digression here. The stairs are really cool. The stairwell faces east. So in the morning when I trek up them, the sun is coming up and when I get to the top floor, you can see the sun beaming through the clouds on certain mornings. Very cool. Looking out over the downtown area. And if I look down and to the south a little, I can see the corner where we serve. 14th and Douglas. Our corner. Pretty small from up there. Pretty big on Sundays from down there. It provides a different perspective from above. That corner is like a gateway to the park that sits in the middle of downtown Omaha. The park runs all the way down to the Missouri River, ultimately. Several blocks long. But the corner of 14th and Douglas is somewhat of an entrance point. IF you look down from the top floor of my office building, you can see the worn path that that corner is. That is the place where a lot of the homeless folks congregate on a fairly regular basis. So while most of the park is now a lush green, that particular corner is worn down. Pretty symbolic of some of the folks we serve. Worn down. Tired. What must it be like to live that lifestyle? To be down to the point that your whole world is carried on your back. Literally and figuratively. In a backpack. Maybe trying to figure out where your next meal might be coming from? Most of these guys know the system. They've been at it a while. They know where to get a meal. Where to get some of the basic necessities of life. But lots of times they have to jump through hoops just to get these "things". Stuff. So who are we serving? The least of those? What are the stories that got these people to this point? How do we help them? Not just on Sundays. How do we help them long term? Are we serving them in the way that God would have us serve them? Are we being intentional about why we do what we do? Are we serving them and Him in a way that is pleasing to Him? I'd like to think the answer is a big, resounding yes! I hope it is. We try to make sure that it is. We venture down every Sunday with that intention. The hope that our Father is the true guide of our mission.
Question number two...Who do you serve with? Well this is the good one for me. I am honored to serve with my best friend, my closest confidant, my compadre, the love of my life. I am so blessed. Beyond belief. How in the world I was ever blessed with such a beautiful and compassionate wife, I'll never know. Well, someday I'll know. How was I blessed with her? What did He see in me that said I have someone so special for you? I can just see Him stepping back and saying to Himself..."Dave, you have no idea how good this is going to be". For those of you who don't know, Robin and I met in a bar here in Omaha. I say June of 1990. She says May. You know who is right and who is wrong. She was a cocktail waitress. I was playin' in the band. They were good times. Troubled times, but good times. You know the old character building times. It was a time for both of us to remember. We were both on our way out of that scene, even though we didn't know it at the time. I was mere months away from being told to make a decision regarding the rest of my life and how I would choose to live it out. She was about to go along for the ride. I've mentioned in a previous blog about my lifestyle choices. Drinking...drugs...etc. Well, when I met Robin, I was winding that lifestyle down. God, apparently, was preparing me for the next phase. How ridiculous does that sound? I'm in the middle of Satan's world, and yet God still has a use for me. Grace. In over my head...totally immersed...drowning in Grace and I don't even know it. So God puts Robin in my path. Thank you God! I'll never forget telling my Mom that Robin and I were getting married. Mom, I'm sure, often thinks I'm nuts. Well, this time, I'm sure she was thinking I'd totally lost it. I won't even tell you how I proposed to Robin. I could barely take care of myself, and here I am talking about getting married. What a goober. But God had a plan for me. For us. I don't have any idea how this all works. How is it that some of us are "restored"? How is it that some of us can be "rehabbed"? It is simply and purely by the grace of God himself. That much I know. But how does it work? Why can't all my friends in our church be restored? Rehabbed? Right now. Yesterday, I spent a little time in the "office". I mentioned the office before. The central area of the park. Lots of shenanigans happen in the office. Yesterday, one of the guys that we met our first week in the office, Jay, was back. Jay spent a few months in jail. Shoplifting. Like, third offense. So Jay was back yesterday. Several guys hanging out in the office. Passing a brewski around. We had a weather situation yesterday. You see it's severe weather season here on the plains. Lots of spring thunderstorms and such. Yesterday, the weather was supposed to be severe. Tornado watches and thunderstorms and that sort of thing. So as we are getting ready to go downtown, I tell Robin that I think we should just bring the bare essentials. Food only. No clothing bins or extra stuff. Let's get in and get out before the weather gets us. So Robin tells me she prays for good weather between 11:00 and 1:00. So at 9:00 when the skies are just opening up on me as I leave "the" Wal-Mart, I'm thinking we are in for a rough day. But you know what? It slowly starts to let up. Then, by the time we get downtown, and I'm not exaggerating, the skies turned blue all around us. You could see storm clouds everywhere around us except for directly above us where the skies were nothing but blue. It was amazing. The woman I serve with prayed for that and here we were. Now, does God hear these kinds of prayers and bless us in these situations? Well, duh! He did! And here's further proof, as if we need it. Heather is a young lady that shows up on occasion. Yesterday was the first time I've actually met her I think. I was doing my normal schmoozing and I came upon her. Shorts, a t-shirt, no shoes. So Robin, in all her compassion, and because I was such a non-believer and didn't bring any of our usual provisions (shoes, clothing, etc.), promised Heather that we'd run over and get her a pair of shoes. We could run over to Wal-Mart and grab a pair and meet her back at the park. Heather is trying to get her life turned around. The state has taken her baby. She and her husband have been trying to determine if it is not in the baby's best interest to just let that be the case. Apparently they are going back and forth trying to make that decision. Hard to provide for a baby when you are having difficulty providing for yourself. So anyway, Robin tells her we'll take care of her. God will provide. So we wrap up our activities on the corner, take our remaining Panera bread "doughnation" to the shelter for their kitchen to use and then we head over to "the" Wal-Mart. Grab her a pair of sneakers and some socks. Now, while we are driving to "the" Wal-Mart, the skies are opening up on us again. This is just after 1:00. 11:00 to 1:00. Blue skies. Just after 1:00? Torrential downpour. And I mean biblical rain baby. Answered prayers. So we get the shoes, head back to the park, and the rain stops again. I mean STOPS! I head down under a bridge, because that was our designated meeting point. About 15 or 20 of our friends had gathered for refuge from the rains. The guys from the office. Heather and her husband. Robert in his wheelchair. A bunch of 'em. So I give her the sneakers and head back to the van. She is very grateful. I am very grateful. The rains had pretty much ended for the day. And have I mentioned how amazing my wife is? How completely and totally undeserving I am to be working for God along side this amazing person in my life? Well, God absolutely blessed us when he placed us together. So that's who I serve with. Robin Laney. Amazing creation of God. And the love of my life.
3rd question...why? Well, this is the most obvious of all for me. Because He said to. It's that simple. He said to go and do. Serve His people. Especially the least of those. Those that need it the most. Sometimes...I need it most. I constantly wonder how I am in the position I'm in. Why me? Because He rescued me from oblivion? He saved me from a life of aimlessness? From the evil grip? Because He is the reason for all we do. He is the reason that we go. It is so obvious. I am so sure. We had the news piece a couple of weeks ago. From that, we have more people stepping up than we know what to do with. And that's a good thing. We've been very intentional about letting people know what He has us doing. We have to share it. People have to help. It is so important that people know. That the opportunity is presented in a manner that is pleasing to Him. I had a guy yesterday ask me how Jesus could be the Son of God and yet still be God? Deep. Questions like that happen to us almost every week. At least to me. I can't really speak to the other folks that come down every week, because I'm not sure what the conversations center around. It can be a whirlwind. Things happen pretty fast. I can only speak to the things that happen to me. From my perspective. But when I can have conversations like that with a fellow named Joseph on a corner in downtown Omaha, that is why I serve. That is why...
Gotta run. Have to meet a fellow named David on the corner of 12th and Capitol at 11:00. All his clothing was stolen. Needs a couple of pair of pants, a couple of shirts, and a few other clothing items. Goodwill is our friend here. David needs to know that God's provisions are coming. He needs to see that we care. Because we do. Because we serve a God that cares. He cares deeply. And I know that when I serve Him, with Robin and all of our other faithful servants, for the simple reason that He says to, then He will be pleased. Because whatever we do for the least of them...
Peace and have a great and blessed week.
..."it matters to that one"... :)
Question number two...Who do you serve with? Well this is the good one for me. I am honored to serve with my best friend, my closest confidant, my compadre, the love of my life. I am so blessed. Beyond belief. How in the world I was ever blessed with such a beautiful and compassionate wife, I'll never know. Well, someday I'll know. How was I blessed with her? What did He see in me that said I have someone so special for you? I can just see Him stepping back and saying to Himself..."Dave, you have no idea how good this is going to be". For those of you who don't know, Robin and I met in a bar here in Omaha. I say June of 1990. She says May. You know who is right and who is wrong. She was a cocktail waitress. I was playin' in the band. They were good times. Troubled times, but good times. You know the old character building times. It was a time for both of us to remember. We were both on our way out of that scene, even though we didn't know it at the time. I was mere months away from being told to make a decision regarding the rest of my life and how I would choose to live it out. She was about to go along for the ride. I've mentioned in a previous blog about my lifestyle choices. Drinking...drugs...etc. Well, when I met Robin, I was winding that lifestyle down. God, apparently, was preparing me for the next phase. How ridiculous does that sound? I'm in the middle of Satan's world, and yet God still has a use for me. Grace. In over my head...totally immersed...drowning in Grace and I don't even know it. So God puts Robin in my path. Thank you God! I'll never forget telling my Mom that Robin and I were getting married. Mom, I'm sure, often thinks I'm nuts. Well, this time, I'm sure she was thinking I'd totally lost it. I won't even tell you how I proposed to Robin. I could barely take care of myself, and here I am talking about getting married. What a goober. But God had a plan for me. For us. I don't have any idea how this all works. How is it that some of us are "restored"? How is it that some of us can be "rehabbed"? It is simply and purely by the grace of God himself. That much I know. But how does it work? Why can't all my friends in our church be restored? Rehabbed? Right now. Yesterday, I spent a little time in the "office". I mentioned the office before. The central area of the park. Lots of shenanigans happen in the office. Yesterday, one of the guys that we met our first week in the office, Jay, was back. Jay spent a few months in jail. Shoplifting. Like, third offense. So Jay was back yesterday. Several guys hanging out in the office. Passing a brewski around. We had a weather situation yesterday. You see it's severe weather season here on the plains. Lots of spring thunderstorms and such. Yesterday, the weather was supposed to be severe. Tornado watches and thunderstorms and that sort of thing. So as we are getting ready to go downtown, I tell Robin that I think we should just bring the bare essentials. Food only. No clothing bins or extra stuff. Let's get in and get out before the weather gets us. So Robin tells me she prays for good weather between 11:00 and 1:00. So at 9:00 when the skies are just opening up on me as I leave "the" Wal-Mart, I'm thinking we are in for a rough day. But you know what? It slowly starts to let up. Then, by the time we get downtown, and I'm not exaggerating, the skies turned blue all around us. You could see storm clouds everywhere around us except for directly above us where the skies were nothing but blue. It was amazing. The woman I serve with prayed for that and here we were. Now, does God hear these kinds of prayers and bless us in these situations? Well, duh! He did! And here's further proof, as if we need it. Heather is a young lady that shows up on occasion. Yesterday was the first time I've actually met her I think. I was doing my normal schmoozing and I came upon her. Shorts, a t-shirt, no shoes. So Robin, in all her compassion, and because I was such a non-believer and didn't bring any of our usual provisions (shoes, clothing, etc.), promised Heather that we'd run over and get her a pair of shoes. We could run over to Wal-Mart and grab a pair and meet her back at the park. Heather is trying to get her life turned around. The state has taken her baby. She and her husband have been trying to determine if it is not in the baby's best interest to just let that be the case. Apparently they are going back and forth trying to make that decision. Hard to provide for a baby when you are having difficulty providing for yourself. So anyway, Robin tells her we'll take care of her. God will provide. So we wrap up our activities on the corner, take our remaining Panera bread "doughnation" to the shelter for their kitchen to use and then we head over to "the" Wal-Mart. Grab her a pair of sneakers and some socks. Now, while we are driving to "the" Wal-Mart, the skies are opening up on us again. This is just after 1:00. 11:00 to 1:00. Blue skies. Just after 1:00? Torrential downpour. And I mean biblical rain baby. Answered prayers. So we get the shoes, head back to the park, and the rain stops again. I mean STOPS! I head down under a bridge, because that was our designated meeting point. About 15 or 20 of our friends had gathered for refuge from the rains. The guys from the office. Heather and her husband. Robert in his wheelchair. A bunch of 'em. So I give her the sneakers and head back to the van. She is very grateful. I am very grateful. The rains had pretty much ended for the day. And have I mentioned how amazing my wife is? How completely and totally undeserving I am to be working for God along side this amazing person in my life? Well, God absolutely blessed us when he placed us together. So that's who I serve with. Robin Laney. Amazing creation of God. And the love of my life.
3rd question...why? Well, this is the most obvious of all for me. Because He said to. It's that simple. He said to go and do. Serve His people. Especially the least of those. Those that need it the most. Sometimes...I need it most. I constantly wonder how I am in the position I'm in. Why me? Because He rescued me from oblivion? He saved me from a life of aimlessness? From the evil grip? Because He is the reason for all we do. He is the reason that we go. It is so obvious. I am so sure. We had the news piece a couple of weeks ago. From that, we have more people stepping up than we know what to do with. And that's a good thing. We've been very intentional about letting people know what He has us doing. We have to share it. People have to help. It is so important that people know. That the opportunity is presented in a manner that is pleasing to Him. I had a guy yesterday ask me how Jesus could be the Son of God and yet still be God? Deep. Questions like that happen to us almost every week. At least to me. I can't really speak to the other folks that come down every week, because I'm not sure what the conversations center around. It can be a whirlwind. Things happen pretty fast. I can only speak to the things that happen to me. From my perspective. But when I can have conversations like that with a fellow named Joseph on a corner in downtown Omaha, that is why I serve. That is why...
Gotta run. Have to meet a fellow named David on the corner of 12th and Capitol at 11:00. All his clothing was stolen. Needs a couple of pair of pants, a couple of shirts, and a few other clothing items. Goodwill is our friend here. David needs to know that God's provisions are coming. He needs to see that we care. Because we do. Because we serve a God that cares. He cares deeply. And I know that when I serve Him, with Robin and all of our other faithful servants, for the simple reason that He says to, then He will be pleased. Because whatever we do for the least of them...
Peace and have a great and blessed week.
..."it matters to that one"... :)
Friday, April 6, 2007
My homeless night...Bill, Frank, and Dave's excellent adventure...
So yesterday, coincidentally, Holy Thursday, I decided to do something a little crazy. My initial plan was to do it Friday, but, since I have Friday off, I thought Thursday might be the better choice. I got off work, came home, packed a few things and ventured out. I headed back downtown and parked in a garage. I then went to our normal downtown Sunday gathering spot. 14th and Douglas St. You see, by coincidence, that is where the local mission van picks up the homeless folks for their 2 or 3 mile trip back to the shelter. My plan? Hop in the van, head to the shelter and see what it is like to be homeless for a night. Now, since I have the back-up plan, that being a house in the suburbs, being homeless for a night is really a farce for me. But I wanted to spend a night in their world just to get a small glimpse of what it is all about. So I catch the van about 6:00 p.m. and we are off to the mission. The first thing you notice is the smell. Homelessness just has a variety of unique smells. You almost have to experience it up close and personal to really know. The van and its occupants carried the smell. It's not always a bad smell...just unique. One you never forget.
Anyway, as we are leaving downtown Omaha and heading to the shelter, my mind is racing with all kinds of thoughts. As I looked out the window at the car next to me, I get the "look". You know the "look". We've probably all given the look at one time or another. The look probably has many emotions tied up in it. Pity. Sorrow. Disgust, maybe? I've given the look. Last night I was on the receiving end. Didn't feel good. At all. I felt sad and lonely...just from a simple look. The lady in the car who shot her look at me had no idea who I was or what my story was. Or the story of any of the guys in the van. Bobby McGee who just "celebrated" his 62nd birthday was in the van. Don't know his story. Neither did she. Nor did she know mine. But she gave me the look anyway. I have to digress for a minute here, because that's what I do. I was talking to a guy last Sunday...Scott...we were talking about stuff. Homelessness. Bums. Hobos. His terms. Not mine. I'm going to paraphrase, but this is what he told me - "I didn't grow up and decide I wanted to be a bum. I didn't go to school to get a degree in homelessness". Circumstances...
So after I got the look, I'm wondering what it is exactly I'm doing in this van. What is my goal? Well, first and foremost, my goal is to simply visit some friends and see what it's like to spend a night in the shelter. What are the things that go on there at night? Secondly, and probably as important, I wanted to see what it was like from their perspective. How are they treated by the people who run the shelter? Are they shown the dignity they deserve? I mean, I realize that after working in a place like this for however many years, you are bound to become somewhat insensitive. Probably just can't help it. Anyway, those were a couple of things I wanted to see. But really, I just wanted to see what it was like. Wow…did I ever see what it was like.
I got out of the van, and headed in to the front desk to sign in. I filled out an information form, so I imagine I'll start getting snail mail spam from the mission. After I filled out the form, I got the pink ticket. The ticket represents my sleeping accommodations for the evening. The small pink ticket means I've reserved a spot in the line to get a 1 inch mat, a dirty pillow, a sheet that I hope was washed recently, and a blanket. I don't think the blankets get washed so regularly. So I pocket the ticket, and head off to the "dining hall". Chow starts at 5:00, so I'm a little late. Most everyone is finished eating by the time I get my tray. I get a pile of BBQ chicken, bones and all, a scoop of green beans and a scoop of rice and gravy. It was actually not bad. The rice was basically mush, but hey if you're hungry? So, I pull up a chair and dine with my friend Pete. I kind of know Pete from our Sundays, but this is an opportunity to chat one on one and get to know him a little better. Pete is just here because the food is better here than at the other shelter. Tells me I should go to the other shelter for the night. Better food here, but better accommodations at the other place. I told him next time. There will be a next time. One shelter at a time.
So after dinner, I'm just loitering in the lobby and chatting with some of the guys I already know. Meeting a few people I don't yet know. Just stuff. Then in come Bill and Frank. Feeling no pain. Again, Bill and Frank were the first two guys we met in the "Office" on our first Sunday. So here I am in their world. And what a world it is. As the night progresses, I stand out in front of the shelter and watch them break rule after rule. Whatever. They seem to know what they can get away with. But, this is a dry shelter. Meaning, I think, that you are not even supposed to be intoxicated on the premises. I have no idea how you could ever enforce that with these fellows. I'm talking Mad Dog 20/20. Budweiser tall boys. And the topper? Dope. Weed. Reefer. Right in front of the shelter. There's an office/glass cubicle right in the front, middle part of the shelter that is occupied by a staff member almost constantly. These guys were plying their wares about 10 feet from the office window. In plain sight. They said no one could do anything about it? Now understand these are just my observations. No judgments or anything like that. Just what I saw. This went on over the course of the evening. But wait…it gets better. More on that later.
So at 7:15, chapel service starts. Now, I've been on the other side of the chapel service before. A couple or three times. We attended a local church here in town and our church did the chapel service the first or third Monday of the month. Can't remember which, and it's not important. Basically, various local churches come in every night of the week and put on a chapel service. And for the most part, they seem to be fairly well received. The thing I get from the guys who sit on the receiving end? It's the same thing over and over. Again, just another observation. I'm not sure what could be done differently and maybe it doesn't need to be done differently. Last night, the message was the death and resurrection of our Savior. I tried to listen intently to the words of the message. You know how sometimes with the delivery of the message, it just isn't working for you? Well, besides the fact that Bill was sitting beside me, being somewhat distracting and belligerent, I just wasn't getting it. For whatever reason. The message was clear. But the delivery was lacking. Probably just me. Anyway, at one point something a little humorous happened. Another fellow I know, Turbo, shows up and sits down for a minute. Now this is during the message. So maybe there were simply too many distractions. He shakes my hand and I have to tell you…this guy has the most haggard hands of anyone I've ever met. Just rough and calloused. Anyway, he hands me a small bag. Says it's for me. I look at him, not really understanding why he is giving me this bag? I open it and it is a small train and a wooden base. He says since I work at Union Pacific, you know the train company, maybe I'd like this train. It's a 1931 #400E Blue Comet by Lionel. Model train. Ok. Cool. Thanks Turbo. Then he proceeds to whisper to me that he just got back from the hospital. I ask him why? In his words and after I've just shaken hands with him…"I woke up this morning with the runs. Been throwing up all day". Nooooooooo!!!! I did not want to go there. Not at the mission. I'm guessing that is not the place to be if the stomach flu is flying around. Not good. So, he leaves to go back and lay down and to leave me thinking I'm now tainted. Then, I have the bag sitting on top of my backpack and I accidentally knock it off on the floor. Makes a noise like it might be glass or something. Well, that got Pastor Leonard's attention right smartly. He was on me like a duck on a junebug. Wanted to know what was in the bag. This happened during the service, mind you. Pastor Leonard, I believe, runs the place at night. I feel like a kid who just got caught with contraband in high school. Not that I know what that feels like? So I show Pastor Leonard my Lionel Blue Comet. No harm…no foul. Now Pastor Leonard doesn't know me from Adam. But I would suggest he not worry so much about the new guy and look to some of his veterans? I guess he thought I had a bottle or something. Nope. Not for 17 years. By the grace of God. Just a Blue Comet.
The chapel service ends and no one is saved tonight. I know it does happen, because I've seen it happen. But not tonight. As soon as the service ends, there is a mad scramble to put the chairs away so that everyone can line up to wait for a mat. This whole process takes about 20 minutes. So the magic door finally opens and we are shuffled through to get our sleeping gear. They check off names, because they receive federal grants. Apparently, it is a big deal to have an exact head count. Gotta get the grant money, ya know. I cannot imagine what it takes to run a place like this. I mean, when you boil it down, it is really like babysitting adults in a way. At least that is how it comes off.
We get our mats and Bill and Frank make sure, loudly, that I'm taken care of. Did I mention loudly? So we all have our spot on the floor, which a couple of hours ago served as the "dining hall". Now they have a bunk area, but you have to be working and what not to have a "permanent" bunk. I'd guess around 40-50 bunks? As the night wore on, I counted probably 70 or so guys sleeping on mats. On the floor. Of the dining hall. Look, I'll be 44 this year. Served time in the army. Been in some places I'm not real proud of. But this was just something else. I could not even begin to describe the feelings that permeate this place. I mean, it's as clean as they can keep it. But man…it was depressing. For me, I had the back up plan. For most of these guys, this is the plan. Some of these guys have "lived" here for years. Years. I can't imagine. There was dirt…DIRT… on the shower floors. I don't mean a dirt floor. I mean dirt and trash in the shower area. Not that I took a shower. No. But I walked around and tried to just do a cursory rundown of the place. I cannot stress enough what a great job they do in running this place. But man, have we as a society let these guys down. Now, there are lots of issues at play here and some of these guys just need to get to work or whatever, but I just don't think people should have to live like this. Some choose to. Others, not so much. Circumstances.
So here at the dry shelter, my friends Bill and Frank are consuming their tall Buds right there in the sleeping area. Smoking pot right outside the front door. And they tell me this was a tame night? And really, it was. Other than their loud drunken behavior, it was pretty tame. Didn't sleep much. Prayed a lot. For them. For myself. For lots of things. For Bill and Frank. All the guys there. For the mission. Not just the physical building we were in, but the bigger mission. That of helping the least of those. Of God's mission for us. For Robin and the kids. Christian, Nicky, and my little sweetheart Erin. I pray that they never have to experience anything like this from the inside. I have no idea what kind of circumstances could lead to that. But I'm not naïve enough to believe that it could never happen. I can't see it happening. But it could. To any of us. I know no answers. I do have lots of questions.
5:00 a.m. wakeup. Lots of guys head into town to try for temp work. Me? I'm going home. Besides freezing my butt off (temp has dropped here recently…it is Nebraska…it happens) I catch the first van back into town. The van drops me off at the library, right across the street from our corner. It's cold. Probably about 20 degrees. High in the mid 30s today. Windy. Suppose to warm back up next week. Then spring will be here, officially. So, I walk a few blocks to my car and head home. What a night. What a world we live in. Where I can experience all that in one evening. And then back to suburbia the very next morning. Bizarro. And no stomach flu. Thanks Turbo!! Now? Time for a shower. Don't want to come home with the "smell". Otherwise, Robin might give me the "look"…
Peace and have a great and blessed week.
..."it matters to that one"... :)
Anyway, as we are leaving downtown Omaha and heading to the shelter, my mind is racing with all kinds of thoughts. As I looked out the window at the car next to me, I get the "look". You know the "look". We've probably all given the look at one time or another. The look probably has many emotions tied up in it. Pity. Sorrow. Disgust, maybe? I've given the look. Last night I was on the receiving end. Didn't feel good. At all. I felt sad and lonely...just from a simple look. The lady in the car who shot her look at me had no idea who I was or what my story was. Or the story of any of the guys in the van. Bobby McGee who just "celebrated" his 62nd birthday was in the van. Don't know his story. Neither did she. Nor did she know mine. But she gave me the look anyway. I have to digress for a minute here, because that's what I do. I was talking to a guy last Sunday...Scott...we were talking about stuff. Homelessness. Bums. Hobos. His terms. Not mine. I'm going to paraphrase, but this is what he told me - "I didn't grow up and decide I wanted to be a bum. I didn't go to school to get a degree in homelessness". Circumstances...
So after I got the look, I'm wondering what it is exactly I'm doing in this van. What is my goal? Well, first and foremost, my goal is to simply visit some friends and see what it's like to spend a night in the shelter. What are the things that go on there at night? Secondly, and probably as important, I wanted to see what it was like from their perspective. How are they treated by the people who run the shelter? Are they shown the dignity they deserve? I mean, I realize that after working in a place like this for however many years, you are bound to become somewhat insensitive. Probably just can't help it. Anyway, those were a couple of things I wanted to see. But really, I just wanted to see what it was like. Wow…did I ever see what it was like.
I got out of the van, and headed in to the front desk to sign in. I filled out an information form, so I imagine I'll start getting snail mail spam from the mission. After I filled out the form, I got the pink ticket. The ticket represents my sleeping accommodations for the evening. The small pink ticket means I've reserved a spot in the line to get a 1 inch mat, a dirty pillow, a sheet that I hope was washed recently, and a blanket. I don't think the blankets get washed so regularly. So I pocket the ticket, and head off to the "dining hall". Chow starts at 5:00, so I'm a little late. Most everyone is finished eating by the time I get my tray. I get a pile of BBQ chicken, bones and all, a scoop of green beans and a scoop of rice and gravy. It was actually not bad. The rice was basically mush, but hey if you're hungry? So, I pull up a chair and dine with my friend Pete. I kind of know Pete from our Sundays, but this is an opportunity to chat one on one and get to know him a little better. Pete is just here because the food is better here than at the other shelter. Tells me I should go to the other shelter for the night. Better food here, but better accommodations at the other place. I told him next time. There will be a next time. One shelter at a time.
So after dinner, I'm just loitering in the lobby and chatting with some of the guys I already know. Meeting a few people I don't yet know. Just stuff. Then in come Bill and Frank. Feeling no pain. Again, Bill and Frank were the first two guys we met in the "Office" on our first Sunday. So here I am in their world. And what a world it is. As the night progresses, I stand out in front of the shelter and watch them break rule after rule. Whatever. They seem to know what they can get away with. But, this is a dry shelter. Meaning, I think, that you are not even supposed to be intoxicated on the premises. I have no idea how you could ever enforce that with these fellows. I'm talking Mad Dog 20/20. Budweiser tall boys. And the topper? Dope. Weed. Reefer. Right in front of the shelter. There's an office/glass cubicle right in the front, middle part of the shelter that is occupied by a staff member almost constantly. These guys were plying their wares about 10 feet from the office window. In plain sight. They said no one could do anything about it? Now understand these are just my observations. No judgments or anything like that. Just what I saw. This went on over the course of the evening. But wait…it gets better. More on that later.
So at 7:15, chapel service starts. Now, I've been on the other side of the chapel service before. A couple or three times. We attended a local church here in town and our church did the chapel service the first or third Monday of the month. Can't remember which, and it's not important. Basically, various local churches come in every night of the week and put on a chapel service. And for the most part, they seem to be fairly well received. The thing I get from the guys who sit on the receiving end? It's the same thing over and over. Again, just another observation. I'm not sure what could be done differently and maybe it doesn't need to be done differently. Last night, the message was the death and resurrection of our Savior. I tried to listen intently to the words of the message. You know how sometimes with the delivery of the message, it just isn't working for you? Well, besides the fact that Bill was sitting beside me, being somewhat distracting and belligerent, I just wasn't getting it. For whatever reason. The message was clear. But the delivery was lacking. Probably just me. Anyway, at one point something a little humorous happened. Another fellow I know, Turbo, shows up and sits down for a minute. Now this is during the message. So maybe there were simply too many distractions. He shakes my hand and I have to tell you…this guy has the most haggard hands of anyone I've ever met. Just rough and calloused. Anyway, he hands me a small bag. Says it's for me. I look at him, not really understanding why he is giving me this bag? I open it and it is a small train and a wooden base. He says since I work at Union Pacific, you know the train company, maybe I'd like this train. It's a 1931 #400E Blue Comet by Lionel. Model train. Ok. Cool. Thanks Turbo. Then he proceeds to whisper to me that he just got back from the hospital. I ask him why? In his words and after I've just shaken hands with him…"I woke up this morning with the runs. Been throwing up all day". Nooooooooo!!!! I did not want to go there. Not at the mission. I'm guessing that is not the place to be if the stomach flu is flying around. Not good. So, he leaves to go back and lay down and to leave me thinking I'm now tainted. Then, I have the bag sitting on top of my backpack and I accidentally knock it off on the floor. Makes a noise like it might be glass or something. Well, that got Pastor Leonard's attention right smartly. He was on me like a duck on a junebug. Wanted to know what was in the bag. This happened during the service, mind you. Pastor Leonard, I believe, runs the place at night. I feel like a kid who just got caught with contraband in high school. Not that I know what that feels like? So I show Pastor Leonard my Lionel Blue Comet. No harm…no foul. Now Pastor Leonard doesn't know me from Adam. But I would suggest he not worry so much about the new guy and look to some of his veterans? I guess he thought I had a bottle or something. Nope. Not for 17 years. By the grace of God. Just a Blue Comet.
The chapel service ends and no one is saved tonight. I know it does happen, because I've seen it happen. But not tonight. As soon as the service ends, there is a mad scramble to put the chairs away so that everyone can line up to wait for a mat. This whole process takes about 20 minutes. So the magic door finally opens and we are shuffled through to get our sleeping gear. They check off names, because they receive federal grants. Apparently, it is a big deal to have an exact head count. Gotta get the grant money, ya know. I cannot imagine what it takes to run a place like this. I mean, when you boil it down, it is really like babysitting adults in a way. At least that is how it comes off.
We get our mats and Bill and Frank make sure, loudly, that I'm taken care of. Did I mention loudly? So we all have our spot on the floor, which a couple of hours ago served as the "dining hall". Now they have a bunk area, but you have to be working and what not to have a "permanent" bunk. I'd guess around 40-50 bunks? As the night wore on, I counted probably 70 or so guys sleeping on mats. On the floor. Of the dining hall. Look, I'll be 44 this year. Served time in the army. Been in some places I'm not real proud of. But this was just something else. I could not even begin to describe the feelings that permeate this place. I mean, it's as clean as they can keep it. But man…it was depressing. For me, I had the back up plan. For most of these guys, this is the plan. Some of these guys have "lived" here for years. Years. I can't imagine. There was dirt…DIRT… on the shower floors. I don't mean a dirt floor. I mean dirt and trash in the shower area. Not that I took a shower. No. But I walked around and tried to just do a cursory rundown of the place. I cannot stress enough what a great job they do in running this place. But man, have we as a society let these guys down. Now, there are lots of issues at play here and some of these guys just need to get to work or whatever, but I just don't think people should have to live like this. Some choose to. Others, not so much. Circumstances.
So here at the dry shelter, my friends Bill and Frank are consuming their tall Buds right there in the sleeping area. Smoking pot right outside the front door. And they tell me this was a tame night? And really, it was. Other than their loud drunken behavior, it was pretty tame. Didn't sleep much. Prayed a lot. For them. For myself. For lots of things. For Bill and Frank. All the guys there. For the mission. Not just the physical building we were in, but the bigger mission. That of helping the least of those. Of God's mission for us. For Robin and the kids. Christian, Nicky, and my little sweetheart Erin. I pray that they never have to experience anything like this from the inside. I have no idea what kind of circumstances could lead to that. But I'm not naïve enough to believe that it could never happen. I can't see it happening. But it could. To any of us. I know no answers. I do have lots of questions.
5:00 a.m. wakeup. Lots of guys head into town to try for temp work. Me? I'm going home. Besides freezing my butt off (temp has dropped here recently…it is Nebraska…it happens) I catch the first van back into town. The van drops me off at the library, right across the street from our corner. It's cold. Probably about 20 degrees. High in the mid 30s today. Windy. Suppose to warm back up next week. Then spring will be here, officially. So, I walk a few blocks to my car and head home. What a night. What a world we live in. Where I can experience all that in one evening. And then back to suburbia the very next morning. Bizarro. And no stomach flu. Thanks Turbo!! Now? Time for a shower. Don't want to come home with the "smell". Otherwise, Robin might give me the "look"…
Peace and have a great and blessed week.
..."it matters to that one"... :)
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Airtime...
I've heard that no press is bad press. Is there such a thing as bad press? You know, news coverage, airtime, a slot on the morning newscast? Last week we had an opportunity to get a little news coverage of our downtown activities. We didn't seek it out. It found us. I have been intentional over the past couple of weeks about offering more people the opportunity to jump in and help in any way possible. I've put notices on the electronic bulletin board on the intranet at work. I've posted messages on various Husker message boards. I've asked people personally. We've asked people personally. You see, this is too good for us to not let people know. People need to know. People have to know. So I posted a message on the Husker Power Hour message board. What a name. The Husker Power Hour!! This community is one of Husker fanatics who sit and spout off about all things Nebraska. Sports that is. Husker football mainly, but there are smatterings of NU baseball, Creighton sports and whatever else happens to come up. There are various "rooms" one can post in, but there is etiquette to follow. I mean, we're talking about well coiffed, highly mannered, sophisticated individuals here. You don't just go posting needs for the homeless on the football board. No sir. That's strictly for the "Cigar Room". Where anything goes. Now I have to tell you, it is a fairly tame arena, but it can get a little racy at times, re, language etc... After having been a member of this particular message board for a few years now, you pretty much know how to maneuver your way around. And there are all kinds of folks hanging out in there. Lawyers, pastors, me, whatever. All kinds.
So when I posted my latest needs message on the general board, I had no idea what kind of response we'd get. But these are great resources to draw from. I know there are big, fat football fans who have clothes and things to give away. And if they are big, hefty football fellows, they must be eating pretty good, right? Somebody must know how to cook, right? Tailgate parties come to mind. Recliners and buckets o' chili and chips. So, I post a message explaining ways a person might want to get connected up with us in our downtown fellowshippin'. I get the usual responses from people telling us what a great thing it is we are doing. One guy says he and his family have gone to a mission in KC at Thanksgiving and Christmas to help out. Says we must be saints to do this every weekend? Man, we'd be foolish not to do it every weekend. It's an absolute blast. We'd be denying the Almighty if we didn't do it every weekend. It's His job for us. His mission for us. We also get what I've come to know as the goodwillers. These are the folks who ask how they can help, what we need, etc. They have stuff they were going to take to the Goodwill, but we can certainly have it if we so desire. Seems a smaller percentage of these folks actually follow through, and that's ok. We just have to be subtle and intentional about nudgin' 'em when possible. I'm talking strictly about this message board environment here. Don't get me wrong. We've been ginormously blessed in so many ways. Ways that have allowed our friends downtown to be blessed in huge ways also. It is all good. What I'm saying is sometimes, people, me included, have good intentions, but the follow through just kind of gets misplaced. I believe we call that living life. You know, kid's football practice, cub scouts, school. Stuff. So we go through our closets and bag some stuff up, put it in the garage and have every intention of getting it to Goodwill. Or the Salvation Army. Wherever. But maybe it sits. And sits. So, I imagine that some of these guys who offer to bring stuff over get caught up in the life cycle. Cool. The cool thing is that every week we get just what His provisions are for the week. Every single week.
One guy made an offer that was pretty cool. His screen name is mszone. He's a local reporter for the morning news. His initials are MS. He also does an afternoon sports show on one of the local sports stations. 1620 the Zone. Hence the name, mszone. Well this fellow saw my begging message and responded. Mentioned that he might be able to get us a little air time if we were interested and if we hadn't already gotten any. My first thought was H*$& yeah! jk. Actually my initial thought was one of concern. How will it be portrayed? How about editorial control? Right. That happens. Will it get a message out to the right people? Should we even do it? Well, I have to tell you that not doing it really never crossed my mind. I prayed about it and I prayed some more about it. Look. One of the ideas here is to raise awareness of what it is God is doing here every weekend. Raise a little awareness as to the greatness of the people we hang out with on a given Sunday. Let people know that God is blessing our happenings on that corner every single time we pop our table out of the van and put His people's provisions out for their needs to be met. Give anyone who is looking for something a little different an opportunity to join us on Sunday to witness Christ's love in action. He is there. His love is there. We do nothing but the physical side. He is there.
So Mr. Mszone arranges for us to get a little airtime. We make arrangements to meet him on the very corner where our church meets on Sundays. Of course, Robin is anxious...bless her heart. She is anxious because this is our passion. Has to be portrayed in the right way. What if it comes off as self-serving? What if they portray it as something it isn't? What if the city officials see it and decide that we need to find a different meeting place? We've been kind of flying under the radar for about 5 months now. Not even the slightest hint that they would give us any trouble. But what if, by putting ourselves out there, we raise the wrong kind of awareness? Well, that was just going to have to be a chance we'd be willing to take. So we meet there last Thursday afternoon. KETV sends a photojournalist, Ben Gray to do the interview. The whole thing took about 15 minutes. It had been raining most of the day, but we were blessed to get a brief window to make it happen. At one point during the interview, Ben turned off the camera and asked us a pretty pointed question. Do we want to address the fact that the city probably doesn't want us down there? Apparently, and I don't know many details, they have shut down several different groups who were doing similar things. You see, Omaha is in the middle of a downtown revitalization project. Local downtown businesses don't particularly care for these types of congregational gatherings, if you catch my drift. It is unsightly. Can't have homeless folks massing up, ya know. Bad for the scenery. Whatever. The thing is, we haven't so much as had a police officer tell us to clear the sidewalk where we meet. And when we went down some weekends and there was 6, 8, 10 inches of snow, you better believe we set our stuff right on the sidewalk. The guys even showed up with a snow shovel one snowy weekend and had a path shoveled for us when we got there. So, he just didn't want to blind side us with the question on camera. So I turned it around and asked him what he thought of our situation? He plainly stated that we should continue what we were doing. We came to an agreement that we would not address the question on camera. Blissful ignorance. But let me tell you, if they try to "remove" us from that corner, and they probably will at some point, we are going to have a tussle on our hands. :) Pray for us. We don't need to expend energy in that direction. There is too much to do otherwise. No time to waste on that sort of thing.
So the interview goes off. The intent from mszone's perspective was to run the interview several times over the morning newscast Friday morning and offer people an opportunity to help on Sunday. The intent from our perspective was to get people to jump into Gods mission field. Right here in downtown Omaha. Our piece ran about 4 or 5 times over the 2 hour broadcast. They portrayed it exactly as God would have it. Funny how that works. The news started at 5 a.m. Thank goodness for tivo. We were able to see all the spots they aired. About the only thing they didn't get was that we already have several people helping on a regular basis. Apparently, we did not get that properly conveyed to them I guess. I think that Robin's 6,498 apologetic emails conveyed that to all those we were concerned about. We have been blessed by God to have a wonderful group of people that are all in. They are amazing. And God knows it! AMAZING!
Anyway, mission accomplished. The one important thing they neglected to get across - our contact information. So we weren't sure what to expect on Sunday. They simply said that if anyone wanted to help, they should show up on Sunday at noon. Well, they did. We pulled up, and Wolf, a big strapping fellow who is always one of the first people we see as we round the corner, points to a couple of bags of clothing someone dropped off. Wolf is a fellow from New York. Been here in Omaha 4 years. Probably about 6' 6'', around 300 or so pounds. Big dude. Now my first inclination was to wonder why the clothing was still there. Are these people not homeless? In need of this kind of stuff? Why didn't they pounce on this stuff? Because in spite of what some people think, these are decent, good, respectful people. We've not had the slightest inkling that we would have any kind of problem from day one. There have been a couple of times that I thought we might, maybe have an issue. Keith didn't care for the fact that Horatio lifted his new boots right from under his nose one Sunday. He got his boots back and we got Horatio boots the next week. Here I am trying to run interference. Riiiiight. That's my forte...or not. Things like that. But in all honesty, in 5 months, I can think of 1 or 2 times that I felt that way. That's it.
So anyway, people show up. Not just our homeless friends. But people we don't know who have shown up to help. 3 new couples. Another fine lady. A young mom and her 8 year old son - Dadrionne (sp?). Coolest little fellow. Collected several bags and a box of his clothing and wanted to bring it down. His own stuff. That is what it is all about. Everybody chipping in to help. People offering to help cook. People bringing down food. The opportunity exists to show God's love. All we have to do is act. It is so simple. So. Simple. No walls. No buildings. All inclusive. Anyone is welcome. Everyone is welcome. God is there. It is amazing. AMAZING.
So the press was good. And this week? Easter dinner!! Ham...potatoes...dinner rolls...Easter dinner stuff. With our friends. On that great corner. I can't wait. And people to help. To share in our Lord's wonderful works. On the weekend of His Resurrection. I can't wait to share His story with our friends. I know most of them know it. But we'll share it with them again. And again. And again. Give 'em the news. The Good News. He sent us. He blessed our mission. He is the sole reason we do what we do. We are so blessed. As Lindsay, a little friend of mine says in her cute little southern drawl..."thank you for our blessins"!!
That's it. This time my eyes are bleeding...sorry. :)
Peace and have a great and blessed week.
..."it matters to that one"... :)
So when I posted my latest needs message on the general board, I had no idea what kind of response we'd get. But these are great resources to draw from. I know there are big, fat football fans who have clothes and things to give away. And if they are big, hefty football fellows, they must be eating pretty good, right? Somebody must know how to cook, right? Tailgate parties come to mind. Recliners and buckets o' chili and chips. So, I post a message explaining ways a person might want to get connected up with us in our downtown fellowshippin'. I get the usual responses from people telling us what a great thing it is we are doing. One guy says he and his family have gone to a mission in KC at Thanksgiving and Christmas to help out. Says we must be saints to do this every weekend? Man, we'd be foolish not to do it every weekend. It's an absolute blast. We'd be denying the Almighty if we didn't do it every weekend. It's His job for us. His mission for us. We also get what I've come to know as the goodwillers. These are the folks who ask how they can help, what we need, etc. They have stuff they were going to take to the Goodwill, but we can certainly have it if we so desire. Seems a smaller percentage of these folks actually follow through, and that's ok. We just have to be subtle and intentional about nudgin' 'em when possible. I'm talking strictly about this message board environment here. Don't get me wrong. We've been ginormously blessed in so many ways. Ways that have allowed our friends downtown to be blessed in huge ways also. It is all good. What I'm saying is sometimes, people, me included, have good intentions, but the follow through just kind of gets misplaced. I believe we call that living life. You know, kid's football practice, cub scouts, school. Stuff. So we go through our closets and bag some stuff up, put it in the garage and have every intention of getting it to Goodwill. Or the Salvation Army. Wherever. But maybe it sits. And sits. So, I imagine that some of these guys who offer to bring stuff over get caught up in the life cycle. Cool. The cool thing is that every week we get just what His provisions are for the week. Every single week.
One guy made an offer that was pretty cool. His screen name is mszone. He's a local reporter for the morning news. His initials are MS. He also does an afternoon sports show on one of the local sports stations. 1620 the Zone. Hence the name, mszone. Well this fellow saw my begging message and responded. Mentioned that he might be able to get us a little air time if we were interested and if we hadn't already gotten any. My first thought was H*$& yeah! jk. Actually my initial thought was one of concern. How will it be portrayed? How about editorial control? Right. That happens. Will it get a message out to the right people? Should we even do it? Well, I have to tell you that not doing it really never crossed my mind. I prayed about it and I prayed some more about it. Look. One of the ideas here is to raise awareness of what it is God is doing here every weekend. Raise a little awareness as to the greatness of the people we hang out with on a given Sunday. Let people know that God is blessing our happenings on that corner every single time we pop our table out of the van and put His people's provisions out for their needs to be met. Give anyone who is looking for something a little different an opportunity to join us on Sunday to witness Christ's love in action. He is there. His love is there. We do nothing but the physical side. He is there.
So Mr. Mszone arranges for us to get a little airtime. We make arrangements to meet him on the very corner where our church meets on Sundays. Of course, Robin is anxious...bless her heart. She is anxious because this is our passion. Has to be portrayed in the right way. What if it comes off as self-serving? What if they portray it as something it isn't? What if the city officials see it and decide that we need to find a different meeting place? We've been kind of flying under the radar for about 5 months now. Not even the slightest hint that they would give us any trouble. But what if, by putting ourselves out there, we raise the wrong kind of awareness? Well, that was just going to have to be a chance we'd be willing to take. So we meet there last Thursday afternoon. KETV sends a photojournalist, Ben Gray to do the interview. The whole thing took about 15 minutes. It had been raining most of the day, but we were blessed to get a brief window to make it happen. At one point during the interview, Ben turned off the camera and asked us a pretty pointed question. Do we want to address the fact that the city probably doesn't want us down there? Apparently, and I don't know many details, they have shut down several different groups who were doing similar things. You see, Omaha is in the middle of a downtown revitalization project. Local downtown businesses don't particularly care for these types of congregational gatherings, if you catch my drift. It is unsightly. Can't have homeless folks massing up, ya know. Bad for the scenery. Whatever. The thing is, we haven't so much as had a police officer tell us to clear the sidewalk where we meet. And when we went down some weekends and there was 6, 8, 10 inches of snow, you better believe we set our stuff right on the sidewalk. The guys even showed up with a snow shovel one snowy weekend and had a path shoveled for us when we got there. So, he just didn't want to blind side us with the question on camera. So I turned it around and asked him what he thought of our situation? He plainly stated that we should continue what we were doing. We came to an agreement that we would not address the question on camera. Blissful ignorance. But let me tell you, if they try to "remove" us from that corner, and they probably will at some point, we are going to have a tussle on our hands. :) Pray for us. We don't need to expend energy in that direction. There is too much to do otherwise. No time to waste on that sort of thing.
So the interview goes off. The intent from mszone's perspective was to run the interview several times over the morning newscast Friday morning and offer people an opportunity to help on Sunday. The intent from our perspective was to get people to jump into Gods mission field. Right here in downtown Omaha. Our piece ran about 4 or 5 times over the 2 hour broadcast. They portrayed it exactly as God would have it. Funny how that works. The news started at 5 a.m. Thank goodness for tivo. We were able to see all the spots they aired. About the only thing they didn't get was that we already have several people helping on a regular basis. Apparently, we did not get that properly conveyed to them I guess. I think that Robin's 6,498 apologetic emails conveyed that to all those we were concerned about. We have been blessed by God to have a wonderful group of people that are all in. They are amazing. And God knows it! AMAZING!
Anyway, mission accomplished. The one important thing they neglected to get across - our contact information. So we weren't sure what to expect on Sunday. They simply said that if anyone wanted to help, they should show up on Sunday at noon. Well, they did. We pulled up, and Wolf, a big strapping fellow who is always one of the first people we see as we round the corner, points to a couple of bags of clothing someone dropped off. Wolf is a fellow from New York. Been here in Omaha 4 years. Probably about 6' 6'', around 300 or so pounds. Big dude. Now my first inclination was to wonder why the clothing was still there. Are these people not homeless? In need of this kind of stuff? Why didn't they pounce on this stuff? Because in spite of what some people think, these are decent, good, respectful people. We've not had the slightest inkling that we would have any kind of problem from day one. There have been a couple of times that I thought we might, maybe have an issue. Keith didn't care for the fact that Horatio lifted his new boots right from under his nose one Sunday. He got his boots back and we got Horatio boots the next week. Here I am trying to run interference. Riiiiight. That's my forte...or not. Things like that. But in all honesty, in 5 months, I can think of 1 or 2 times that I felt that way. That's it.
So anyway, people show up. Not just our homeless friends. But people we don't know who have shown up to help. 3 new couples. Another fine lady. A young mom and her 8 year old son - Dadrionne (sp?). Coolest little fellow. Collected several bags and a box of his clothing and wanted to bring it down. His own stuff. That is what it is all about. Everybody chipping in to help. People offering to help cook. People bringing down food. The opportunity exists to show God's love. All we have to do is act. It is so simple. So. Simple. No walls. No buildings. All inclusive. Anyone is welcome. Everyone is welcome. God is there. It is amazing. AMAZING.
So the press was good. And this week? Easter dinner!! Ham...potatoes...dinner rolls...Easter dinner stuff. With our friends. On that great corner. I can't wait. And people to help. To share in our Lord's wonderful works. On the weekend of His Resurrection. I can't wait to share His story with our friends. I know most of them know it. But we'll share it with them again. And again. And again. Give 'em the news. The Good News. He sent us. He blessed our mission. He is the sole reason we do what we do. We are so blessed. As Lindsay, a little friend of mine says in her cute little southern drawl..."thank you for our blessins"!!
That's it. This time my eyes are bleeding...sorry. :)
Peace and have a great and blessed week.
..."it matters to that one"... :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
