Challenges...

I spent some time Sunday talking to a fellow named Gary. From Dallas. Chased a welding job here and it didn't pan out. So as we're talking he tells me his story. Now some of these fellows tell me stories and occasionally I find myself doubting some of the details. For some reason Gary had me at hello. Someone introduced me to him, but I can't remember who. Never saw Gary before, as he's only been in Omaha for a month or so. He sleeps in the woods behind the Sienna Francis House shelter. Said there was too much "mess" in the shelter. I can only imagine. So as we're talking, I'm getting parts of his story and I'm wondering how a 58 year old African American fellow ends up here on our corner? Doesn't matter I guess. He's here. Tells me of his medical issues. Missing a couple of ribs. Missing parts of a couple of other organs. And then he shows me something else. Now I'm not easily startled, but this kind of freaked me out. I don't know why. He raises his shirt just enough for me to see, just as he's telling me "here's my large intestine". Your what??!! C'mon man! Put that thing away. Not to make light of it by any means. Just kind of shocked me a little I guess. First time for me to see something like that. Colostomy bag. Yikes. Said a young fellow he knew in Little Rock was being initiated into a gang and this was the result. The crazy thing was he knew this kid. The kid was supposed to work Gary over pretty good as part of his initiation. But Gary stood his ground. Then a few days later, he saw the same kid approaching him and told him to move along. However, this time, the kid had a sawed off shotgun. Place it right in his ribcage and did the deed. Gary was able to make it to a phone and call for help...the only problem was he couldn't talk. Anyway, he made it, but that wasn't the end of the story. He got well enough to confront his attacker. With two 9 millimeter pistols. Had the kid on the ropes and said that God got a hold of him. He said he did not at all understand what was happening nor did his would be victim. With tears streaming down his face, he told the kid he'd better go. Get. Now. He did. Imagine that. So here he was on our corner. Some of the people we meet, I question their resolve. Not Gary. I have no doubt he'll get back on his feet again. By the grace of God. And with a heavy dose of humility and a little "intestinal" fortitude, he'll make it. Said he was coming back next Sunday. Needs a coat. Mornings and evenings are starting to get chilly here. I hope to see him next week. Just maybe not so "much" of him.

Bill was back again this week. Bill is our friend from the Office. Blogged about the office and Bill way back. There's something about Bill that makes me want to continue to try. There are times I see him and I honestly think there might not be any hope. I thank God people didn't think that of me way back when. So I always know there's a great deal of hope even when it seems otherwise. I ran into Bill at the Francis House on Tuesday. You see, Robin and I meet with a small group on Tuesdays here at Mosaic Community Development. Our group sends a van down to the Francis House prior to our meeting just to see if anyone at the shelter is interested in coming to our group. So I ran into Bill there Tuesday night and he was in a good mood. Sober too. That's always good. I invited him to come with us, but he declined. Said he had a bed and wanted to get off his feet. Maybe next time. So we see him Sunday on our corner. He was at the back of the van as we were unloading and had a request for me. Now he's not one to ask for really anything, so when he does ask, I usually listen. Wanted a Bible. Says that several times this past week, and really, I'm sure he hears it often, people would tell him "that's what the Bible says...". Things like that. So he needs a Bible. We always try to have them available. If nothing else, I've found a website that gives free copies of a small booklet that contains the Gospel of John. But we try to have Bibles available. And we did have one for Bill. Just one problem. Needs reading glasses and the lettering is too small. No problem. We make arrangements to meet Monday morning with new reading glasses and a big letter Bible. I have no doubt that he'll read it. He said that he couldn’t just take the word of a "bunch a yahoos", he needed to read it himself. I've always felt drawn to Bill. And I know there's hope for him yet. I think he's in his late 50s. Led a hard life. Lives on the streets sometimes and in various shelters other times. But I just feel as though God has crossed our paths for a reason. I love Bill. I love running into him wherever that may be. I just love the guy. I only pray that he remembers our meeting place and time. Not to worry really even if he doesn't. I know where he hangs out and I can probably find him. The interesting thing about our relationship with Bill is just that. The fact that we now have a relationship. We attempted something almost 10 months ago that was very foreign to us. Going out, meeting people where they were, developing relationships, and letting God work through us. We had a good idea that we could do something like this. But we just didn't know how it would work. Would people trust us? Would they think we had ulterior motives? (well duh...your salvation!) Would they confide in us? Would we be able to meet there needs? Physical? Spiritual? So many questions. Now we are slowly starting to see things unfold that are amazing. Robin is a whiz with all the community connections. She is a social organizing type of personality anyway. Right up her alley. She's starting to get plugged into all sorts of great connections. And make no mistake. We are making connections. Within our community on that corner. Within the socially responsible community of people that want to help. And because of these things, we are starting to make the turn in the first mile of the marathon. When I saw Bill on Tuesday, we were like old friends reminiscing about our first meeting. In the park. About 10 or 15 of us total. I remember him and a couple of the other guys telling us how "they" would run us over in short time. "They" being the homeless community that we are so blessed to serve in our small way. As we talked Tuesday, he commented how he couldn't believe how much it's changed since we started. Well Bill, I guess God has a way of doing that. And I pray that God will shine through us to Bill. He said the only reason he comes down on Sundays is to see us. Like I said, I love Bill. And I obviously don't have any idea how this will end for us and him. But I know he'll get a Bible and some new reading glasses this week. It's a start. A big start. Pray that Bill will immerse himself in John or James or whatever book God leads him to. Pray that the Spirit will lead him and that he will follow. I'll be praying for a deeper relationship with Bill. Has to happen...

And finally, good news. Or better yet, the best of news. We have another friend named Gary who comes pretty regularly. I was just hanging out chatting with a couple of different people when Paul brought Gary over and said he wanted to talk to me. Gary said he wanted more. Wanted things to change. Now Gary had been drinking, which is not so unusual for some of these guys. In fact, rumor had it that someone had literally driven up and "donated" some leftover liquor to our friends at some point Sunday. I didn't see it happen during our time, so maybe it happened earlier in the day? Anyway, Gary was ready for change. Now I don't know Gary very well, and I don't think it matters. I know him well enough to know that he wanted something more. So right there on the corner of 14th and Douglas, literally, Robin and I prayed with him. But more importantly, he prayed for salvation. Prayed for Christ to come into his life. It was a moment I'll never forget. I obviously can't guarantee that Gary will be ok. None of us can. We can only be there for those moments. It's so crazy to me because crazy things have been happening lately. Challenges that I would rather not face. Individuals questioning our reasons for doing what we do. It is almost to the point of being ridiculous. Questioning our family's faith. Questioning the fact that we are not in a traditional church. Questioning our very foundation. It really bothers me that these challenges come from people we know. I can understand people who don't know us and have no idea where we stand in our faith. We certainly don't have things "figured" out. Certainly not. Anyone that says they do should probably be sitting at the Right Hand. And challenges are good to be sure. We are constantly trying to reassess and reevaluate what it is we feel God leading us to do. Sure, we don't deliver a formal message on Sundays. There are lots of things we could probably do differently. But the fact remains that we are doing something. Something for the Kingdom. Something we feel intimately led to do. Something that led Gary to our corner today to ask Christ into his life. On a dirty, stinking corner in downtown Omaha. How can that be so wrong? How? So we're not in a traditional church with all the things that go along with that. Today? Neither was Gary. But he was in our church. So is what we are doing so wrong? So wrong that people will sit in judgment on our activities and actually tell us that we are wrong? Like I said, it's been a challenging week. But we'll carry on. Have to. And I don't expect everyone to understand. It can get so complex that most times I don't even understand. It'll probably always be a challenge. That's ok. We'll carry on. God has led us to this. Of that I have no doubt. And if it were going to be a walk in the park...well, actually it sort of is a walk in the park. Every Sunday. Noon. Next week? I'm betting that Gary will be back for his coat and more. And Bill will hopefully be able to tell us where he chose to begin his readings. And Gary number 2? We'll be praying that Christ did indeed come into his life and that the journey has begun...

Peace and have a great and blessed week.

..."it matters to that one"... :)