Joyful Ramblings...

Year two. Something about those two simple words just make me smile. Today we embarked on our second year of service to the good folks in the downtown community, but more importantly, to God. What a joy it’s been this past year. What a total blessing to Robin, the kids and myself. You know how weeks and months seem to get away from you at times? Well it’s getting away from me at breakneck speed these days. This past year or so has been incredibly challenging at times in so many ways. Spiritually challenging, in the sense that I have never been more challenged in my entire life that in this past year. On so many levels. It’s been a challenge also from a time aspect. As in not enough hours in a day. We all have that problem, but man does it seem to wear on me at times. It’s been a busy year. And lots of important milestones have come and gone for us. My oldest son turned 13 this year. That is indeed a milestone. And a challenge for sure. But he is a great kid. He is, however 13. Anyone with a 13 year old knows the deal. I also finished school this year. Another milestone. Never realized how much time that would take. Seems as though I might have a little "free time" on my hands. Yeah, right. :) Robin and I celebrated 16 wonderful years together this year. Time does indeed have a way of getting by us.

But one of the most important milestones for me personally, was the recent completion of our first year of service in this ministry to our Lord and Savior. Serving in this ministry has been an unbelievable mission experience and a truly humbling experience for me in so many ways. I could not begin to recount all the experiences of the past year. Thousands of meals, thousands of handshakes and hugs, hundreds of conversations, lots of prayer, and just genuine love and fellowship on a downtown street corner in Omaha, Nebraska. Who would thunk it? Not me. Not just a few short years ago. But now? He’s got us working for Him and it is nothing but Joy, with a capital J! I talked to a fellow today who asked for a pair of boots last week. Starting to get winterized here. Boots, coats and gloves are becoming the items of choice. I remember spending hours last year shopping at local Goodwill stores and various thrift stores looking for coats and winter gear. This year? Not so much. I must have a couple hundred coats in my garage. This thing is just happening now. God is blessing us with so much that I am just in disbelief at how blessed we really are. So John needed boots. Got some of those in the garage also. Been "collecting" them. Knew the time was coming. So as I meet with him on the street, he thanks me profusely. And I tell him that the thanks needs to go to the One who is responsible for all we do. And his response? He’ll do that, but he just hugged me and told me how thankful he was that we were there. He said that they talked about us coming down on Sundays. They looked forward to Sunday. Because we brought Joy down with us. Yep. Capital J. Because to me, that Joy is obviously straight from Christ. In fact, that Joy is Christ. Now this fellow is one of the nicest guys. Very soft spoken, with a bit of a southern drawl. And when he told me that we bring Joy to the park on Sundays, all I could do was smile and agree. Because we do. But it’s not from us. We absolutely love what God has us doing. But it’s all about Him. Has nothing to do with us. Heck, I can hardly manage my way through the day, much less pull something like this off. So when I tell him and all those we serve and are in fellowship with who the thanks needs to go to, they get it. Another fellow, Gary, just laughed today when I told him we are simply the legs. God’s legs. Big shoes to fill on those legs. For sure. But I love where He has us. I come home on Sundays and I feel like I’ve been in the House of the Lord. It’s good.

The boy scouts came down today. What a great troop! They cooked the entire meal, and handled most of the serving. Which gave us "regulars" even more time to fellowship with our friends. They brought tons of soup. Mexican chili, taco soup, whatever they called it, the folks in the park raved about it. What a deal! I saw some of them going around picking up trash, serving, and doing what scouts do. What a blessing to have them there today. And what a great meal they prepared. It’s nothing short of amazing to me how many people want to help. Their scout leader saw our ad at my office and volunteered his boys to come and do the deed. And they did it up right!

Here’s something that almost broke me up today. There’s a fellow who comes down pretty regularly. We’ve known him for about a year now. They call him Turbo. He goes all out all the time. I’d guess he’s in his late 40s? Early 50s? Now this guy is one hard worker. Always has a job. Has his own place. But he hangs with a lot of the homeless fellows that we know. Doesn’t have drinking problem. Just a really good guy. About my size, with the most calloused hands of any guy I’ve ever met. Every time I shake his hand, it amazes me how rough and grizzly his hands are. So he and Erin are buddies. Well, Turbo doesn’t hang around here for winter. Can’t blame him. He heads west. Arizona for a few weeks to work a trade show, a week in San Diego to visit mom and then the winter in San Francisco to work. I tell him today that he better not leave without saying goodbye. And he definitely better not leave without telling Erin goodbye. Said he didn’t know if he could do it. Got a little emotional talking about it. A bond has formed between Erin and Turbo. A bond forged by God. Because there is no way a little girl from the suburbs should even know this guy, much less be hanging out with him for a couple hours on a Sunday. But it’s happening. And what a blessing some of these guys have been to my kids. And I’m pretty sure that goes both ways. In fact, I know it does. And the way Erin runs that corner I might start calling her little Turbo!


One last thing and this was really cool. I met a guy today that wanted to come down and help. Said he’s been praying that God would lead him to something where he could be of service. He took some kids from his youth group out on Friday night. They went to some local restaurants to get food to take to anyone who might be hungry in the park. They met my friend Bill. Chance meeting? I tend to think not. So they start talking to Bill about the Bible and things. Well old, Bill reaches into his pocket and takes out his Bible and starts talking back. Blew this guy’s mind. :) And then you know what happened? Bill invites him to come down to the park on Sunday. Now this guy had been praying that God would lead him into some type of service. I think, through Bill, he got his answer. There are so many opportunities. Every week. Well over a hundred, a hundred and fifty, two hundred. Lots of opportunities to be in His service. This fellow just happened to stumble into Bill, otherwise known as Mr. opportunity. What an deal. And Bill invites him down. And today, on our corner, Bill introduces me to Robert. So now, we have guys that we serve and that we are in fellowship with inviting other people down to our corner on Sundays. Unbelievable. Who would have thunk it? Homeless guys inviting street evangelists down to fellowship with us. Too cool…

I’ll end here with a message from Bob. Bob is my buddy from Des Moines. He sent us a note last week to congratulate us on making it to year number two. Here’s his note…
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I was there a year ago when ya started. There were just a few of us that first day and we were hungry. I was one that figured us tramps would have burned ya up by now. Obviously not, so that says the mission is not of your own making - but of Our Fathers.
Just let it roll and rest in Christs mercy and graces.
Congrats.
bob
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Man, I love that guy…

Peace and have a great and blessed week.

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