Chaos...

I'll warn you up front...this might be a long one. We had some amazing things happen Sunday...

The craziest things are happening for us on our church corner these weeks. We are starting to experience problems I never imagined we'd experience. And to be sure, there are good problems and some not so good problems. The good? Lots of people are stepping out to help. Lots. The bad? Well, actually, there really aren't many real bad ones, other than the obvious...homelessness, alcoholism, drug abuse, etc. Now we are certainly dealing with situations that we probably aren't necessarily trained for. I mean, in the worldly sense. But that's ok. God's got us covered. We have to be cautious, have to take the steps necessary to ensure everyone's safety, have to do the legwork that a mission like this demands. But some of the things happening these days are almost more than I could ever have imagined.

For instance, here's one for you. In 1990, I got a job here at the local Campbell Soup plant. At the time, Campbell’s owned the Swanson frozen dinner line and this was the plant that produced this particular brand of frozen dinner. I got the job there shortly after I met Robin. They paid for my schooling. It was a good time. At one point during my time at Campbell’s, I worked for a fellow named Tony. I left Campbell’s in 1996 to begin working in the software development field. Or I became a programmer. :) So I didn't see Tony for years. One day, a couple of months ago in the early morning hours, I'm walking a street in downtown Omaha. I hear someone calling my name. I look around? It's Tony. He was driving by, sees me, pulls over, parks his car and gets out to greet me. Like a reunion of old friends. I really liked working for Tony. Great, great guy. So he says he saw me walking, thought it was me and he stopped. Well, over the course of the next few weeks, we exchanged voice mails and never could seem to catch up to each other. I did, however, mention to him that we did this "thing" downtown every Sunday. Next thing I know? Tony is hooking us up with the young lady who is in charge of the outreach ministry at his church - Paradise Missionary Baptist Church here in Omaha. Jodi is someone who is a go-getter. So, we exchange various phone conversations with her over the course of the next couple of weeks, she comes down to visit us on our church corner, and just gets a feel for what it is we do. Then, a couple of weeks ago, she offers to have some people from her church do our entire Sunday meal! Oh yeah. That will work! You see, as we've gotten deeper and deeper into this ministry, there is no question people want to help. And there is certainly no doubt that the need is there. But the opportunity must exist for people to get involved. Well the opportunity exists right there on our little church corner. These great people show up from Paradise Sunday. They come bearing armloads of chicken, corn, rice with gravy, green beans, cakes...man it was amazing! And one nice thing about it? Robin got the day off from cooking! She got to socialize at church. And if you know my girl, that's what she does well. The only thing missing for her was a nice mocha latte and the socializin' would have been right on the money. Anyway, not only did our friends from Paradise bring food? They brought people. Lots of people. It was the first Sunday where I was having a hard time giving people meaningful things to do. I mean, one of the most important things we do is listen. On many levels. Because God is always speaking. And our friends usually just need someone to listen. But the young girls from the Sarpy County Community Services program are teenagers. Not so good at mingling with our homeless friends maybe? And sent to us by someone rather than come of their own will? Not necessarily a real happy match, initially anyway. But as the day wore on? They were sitting on a wall right next to some of our downtown friends eating the same food and hanging out with and helping out with the mission. Very cool. (I realize I could be rambling, but stay with me.) And there's Dennis. Dennis was also sent by the good folks at Sarpy County. DWI. Has to do some hours. But he took the initiative to make himself very useful. Every time I saw him, he was busy doing stuff. The coolest thing however, was what he told me as I signed off on his card. Mentioned what a cool thing we were doing. Said he has a family and hasn't had a drink since his December arrest. Wants to bring his son down to help out. We get that almost every time someone new comes down. Lots of people say stuff like that and we maybe never see them again. But that’s ok. People have busy lives. We know that. But the opportunity always exists on our church corner. Noon every Sunday. Until about 2:30 or so. The opportunity is there. And Janna. She's from Sarpy also. Don't know what her deal was. Only that she was there Sunday because the courts told her to come. But I bet she comes back because I think God will tell her to come. And I just have a feeling she'll listen.

Chaos? Not really. Now there was a moment of that Sunday. Hollleeee cow was there ever??!! I'm at the van getting another fellow started on the hygiene stuff. Handing out shampoo, soap, etc. How hard could it be? Not very. So I'm showing Dave what we have. Dave is a guy that I spent a year with in an accelerated degree program at Bellevue University. We completed the program in August. It was a pretty full year for all of us. Now we have one more requirement to fulfill. A 12 week program which involves a civic project. :) Well, guess who has an opportunity for a little civic action? So now Dave has joined us for at least a few weeks while he fulfills the requirements for his project. And John is in the same boat. John called this week with the same thing in mind. Come on down John. He spent an hour on a wall talking to a guy he didn't know. He knows him now. :) The opportunity exists. And my good friend Jean. Same thing. However Jean came a few weeks ago with her son and daughter. And I think she might come even without the civic thing hanging over her head. And Jean's daughter, Jessica? Well this is where it gets really cool. She's the president of her high school student council. Gonna do a Starfish Ministry Coat Drive! That time of year here. I had people asking me for coats and hoodies this morning. It's only September!! It seems that every single facet of our lives, wherever we encounter people and tell them of what we are doing, people listen and want to help. I am blown away. So back to Chaos. I was at the van getting Dave started and someone called my name. Several someones. There were the beginnings of a dust up happening and my defusal skills were needed. Well, I have no defusal skills. And this was the closest I think I've ever been to being in the middle of something a little ugly. I'm 5' 6" on my best day. 155 pounds. No threat to most people. My sons maybe, but that's changing too. Christian is officially taller than me. Anyway, a couple of guys are getting ready to do the deed. Over a hat apparently. Now later I find that the hat has significance. One of the fellows apparently had a hat stolen from him. A hat? All this for a hat? The hat was from a friend who passed away or something like that. So it had significance. The fellow who owned the hat? Never saw him before. At least I don't think I have. And his potential sparring partner? Our friend Courtney. Courtney and I spent a night hanging out once playing pool, doing that crazy DDR thing and just talking about life stuff. So when I saw that he was in the middle of a flare up, I was disappointed to say the least. Back to the hat owner. His name? Chaos. Literally. I tried to calm him down, but the guy is easily 6' 5" or so. Maybe more. We weren't really seeing things eye to eye. At one point, another young fellow, Malachi, pulls me out of the danger zone. I was right in the middle of this thing. COULD NOT HAVE A FIGHT. NO WAY. Not in front of all these people. I'd do what I had to do to defuse. So Malachi pulls me out and says he didn't want me in the crossfire. Sorry dude. Gotta settle this down. We did. It went on, the words anyway, a little while longer. But I'm telling you. I tried to calm my new friend Chaos down the best I could, but he has a look in his eyes that said otherwise. Now I'm not naive enough to think that we'll never have a fight on this corner. It'll probably happen. I pray that it doesn't. But Chaos and guys like him keep me honest. It probably will. God will protect us. Of that I have no doubt. But the evil one will continue to see what is happening on our corner and will attempt to exert his influence. With God's help, we'll carry on.

One of the coolest things that happened? About an hour after me almost getting my head taken off? Chaos shows up at the van. We're wrapping things up. Robin and I are both right there and he comes to offer an apology. Frankly? It was the last thing I expected. I thought he was long gone. But here he is. Tells us he's a convicted murderer? Huh? A what? And I'm in the middle of what? The middle of chaos. That's what. And here he is apologizing to us. Very humbly. I was amazed. As he stood there waiting to offer his apology, I'm thinking all sorts of things. And not in the nicest ways. What do you need man...new shoes? A coat? What is it? And in an almost inaudible voice, he says he wanted to say he was sorry for his behavior, sorry for causing a scene, he respects the Lord and was sorry. You now how sometimes someone will shake your hand and you feel something? Well, I felt something. Here this guy who I thought was going to open up a can of something earlier was humbly sorry and everything was once again ok. Whew. I don't know what I was thinking when I was standing in between him and Courtney, but it felt better now. Chaos? Not now.

One last thing. We've had a young lady coming down on Sundays for a while now. Very pregnant. Alicia. She wasn't around the last couple of weeks. Guess why? :) David Alexander was born September 6th. They are staying in a weekly rate hotel. About an inch above homelessness. So here she is Sunday with brand new baby. 4 days old. Oh my goodness. She asks me if we can help her with diapers and formula. She has 7 diapers left and 2 bottles of formula. If you've had a baby, you know this is not going to last her the rest of the day. Can we help? The baby's father is here also. And he's working. But they don't get paid until Wednesday. It's Sunday. Can you guys help us out? I ask Robin to think about how we can help. A trip to Wal-Mart seems to be looming. Ah but wait. The fine ladies of Paradise are here. And guess where one of them works? The Omaha WIC office! That’s right. How convenient. By the time I get back to Alicia, they already have an appointment set up for Monday morning to get her set up with all the stuff she needs. And, they are going to help her with what she needs to get through the day. Coincidence? I think not. And the nicest thing, besides the obvious fact that our new little friend David is going to be taken care of? Opportunities exist, even amid all the chaos, for folks to jump in and help. And to think it all started with God leading a few of us down with a pot of soup and a case of water? How cool is that?! It's a wonderful God we serve. Is he offering you any opportunities? Or are you in the middle of a little chaos?

Peace and have a great and blessed week.

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