Found out today that another of our friends left us this week. 47 years young. 47 years. And at the very least, the last two years that we’ve known Alan, I’d guess the majority of his time was spent in a bit of a haze. I just cannot fathom how a guy lives the way some of our friends live. I know I’ve mentioned that here before many times, but every time something like this happens, I have to wonder why? I mean that is a natural reaction. If I’m being totally honest, I was very surprised to hear of Alan’s passing, but then again I probably shouldn’t have been so surprised. I mean, every time I saw him recently, he was not in the best of shape. Very frail. Not eating. I’d guess his internal organs were a mess. You see, some of the guys we know will simply drink whatever they can get their hands on and in some cases it is a pretty bizarre and very dangerous variety. There’s your customary Vodka and whatever other "legal" liquors. And then there are those fellows that belong to the 151 club. You know what a bottle of mouthwash costs at the Family Dollar store? $1.51. One dollar and fifty one cents. See the correlation? I don’t think there is an official 151 club by any means. But someone mentioned the term to us a long time ago. And I see our friends with the big family bottles on occasion. Last week I saw a fellow in the serving line with a bottle in his trench coat pocket. I jokingly asked if I could take that for him. He jokingly said "not without a fight". I wasn’t really joking. Neither was he. You see, it pains me to see these guys like this. Alan was only 47 years old! I just don’t get it. It’s obviously not something we can solve. I don’t have any misconceived ideas that we can do anything. In fact, I know from my own experiences, a guy has to want to quit and even then, well it’s a battle.
Apparently, Alan was at a friend’s apartment and had a massive heart attack around 1:00 in the afternoon this past Tuesday. His buddy called the appropriate authorities, but nothing could be done. I know he hasn’t been eating much for a while now. I can only imagine what mouthwash and other generic hygiene items that contain varying degrees of alcohol do to a guy’s internal organs. I’m sure it isn’t good. So we knew for a while that he wasn’t eating. And frankly I can’t remember the last time I saw him. It’s been a while. But he was a good guy and we’ll miss him greatly. Yet another example of a guy who fell through the cracks. I tried to find any information I could on the internet and found nothing. No obituary. No article. Nothing. Not a word. So another one of our friends is gone. Without a trace. I pray that his family here in town was able to find peace in this situation.
On the other side of this, I ran into another fellow today that is hanging in there with 2 months of sobriety. I saw him just after we started serving. Shortly after we prayed for Alan. And for Margie. Margie’s son-in-law was killed last week in Afghanistan. Margie is one of the sweetest people you could ever meet. She’s been helping us cook downtown for quite a while now. She works with me at UP. I put a few weekly want ads on the UP electronic bulletin board weekly looking for cooks, coats, and whatever. I’ll never forget Margie calling me way back and offering to cook. She has such a great disposition and is so willing to help. God has sent some warriors to us to help in this thing and Margie fits that nicely. And her faith is so strong. I have so much admiration for her and all those that help. It has been such a blessing to get to know her. And this week we got notice that her son-in-law was involved in a tragedy. And I felt so bad for her. Again, more of those things that you just can’t make sense of. So when my friend comes to me today to tell me of his 2 month sobriety anniversary, I was so thankful. From a selfish standpoint, it was just nice to have a bit of good news. And in light of what happened with Alan, anyone celebrating a bit of sobriety is goodness.
So Christian, our 30 year old 14 year old son (that makes sense, but only if you know Christian) drops this little nugget on me this morning. He spent the night with one of his buddies last night and they went to a Saturday service at Glad Tidings Church. The pastor gave them a definition of ministry. It was this – Ministry takes place when divine resources meet human needs through loving channels to the glory of God. I think the definition came from Warren Wiersbe. The point for me was that this sums it up pretty good for this little thing we do every week. Talk about divine resources? My gosh, I’ve seen things happen in two years on that downtown street corner that have just been amazing and can only have been orchestrated by God. Are we meeting human needs? We’re surely trying. And by the grace of God, we’ll keep on trying. Are we going through loving channels? I hope so. I think so. Robin probably more so than me. She so gets the compassion thing. And she was home sick today. She was so definitely missed. Especially when we were looking for a ladle to serve the soup! :) And most importantly, are we doing it to give glory to God. Absolutely. That’s one area that I’m sure of. Because I try over and over, probably to a fault, to let our friends know that no way would any of this be possible without God. None of it.
So in all of it today, I feel like God’s presence was abundant. It always is. The kids from St. Vincent DePaul were back. And they brought hundreds of socks, coats and all kind of other stuff. Organized and gathered by them for our friends. What an amazing testimony. And the cold weather, I mean the really cold weather held off. It was cold, but it was North Carolina cold. Not even close to Nebraska cold yet. That’s coming. The Lord willing, we’ll hang in there. If you are reading this and you don’t mind doing so, could you say a prayer for Margie’s family? And for Alan’s family? And that my friend would stay the course of his sobriety? And for this crazy ministry.
Rest in peace Alan. We'll miss you buddy...
"So you also, when you have done all that is commanded you, say, `We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'" Luke 17:10
Peace and have a great and blessed week.
Make a difference.
…it matters to that one… :)
Apparently, Alan was at a friend’s apartment and had a massive heart attack around 1:00 in the afternoon this past Tuesday. His buddy called the appropriate authorities, but nothing could be done. I know he hasn’t been eating much for a while now. I can only imagine what mouthwash and other generic hygiene items that contain varying degrees of alcohol do to a guy’s internal organs. I’m sure it isn’t good. So we knew for a while that he wasn’t eating. And frankly I can’t remember the last time I saw him. It’s been a while. But he was a good guy and we’ll miss him greatly. Yet another example of a guy who fell through the cracks. I tried to find any information I could on the internet and found nothing. No obituary. No article. Nothing. Not a word. So another one of our friends is gone. Without a trace. I pray that his family here in town was able to find peace in this situation.
On the other side of this, I ran into another fellow today that is hanging in there with 2 months of sobriety. I saw him just after we started serving. Shortly after we prayed for Alan. And for Margie. Margie’s son-in-law was killed last week in Afghanistan. Margie is one of the sweetest people you could ever meet. She’s been helping us cook downtown for quite a while now. She works with me at UP. I put a few weekly want ads on the UP electronic bulletin board weekly looking for cooks, coats, and whatever. I’ll never forget Margie calling me way back and offering to cook. She has such a great disposition and is so willing to help. God has sent some warriors to us to help in this thing and Margie fits that nicely. And her faith is so strong. I have so much admiration for her and all those that help. It has been such a blessing to get to know her. And this week we got notice that her son-in-law was involved in a tragedy. And I felt so bad for her. Again, more of those things that you just can’t make sense of. So when my friend comes to me today to tell me of his 2 month sobriety anniversary, I was so thankful. From a selfish standpoint, it was just nice to have a bit of good news. And in light of what happened with Alan, anyone celebrating a bit of sobriety is goodness.
So Christian, our 30 year old 14 year old son (that makes sense, but only if you know Christian) drops this little nugget on me this morning. He spent the night with one of his buddies last night and they went to a Saturday service at Glad Tidings Church. The pastor gave them a definition of ministry. It was this – Ministry takes place when divine resources meet human needs through loving channels to the glory of God. I think the definition came from Warren Wiersbe. The point for me was that this sums it up pretty good for this little thing we do every week. Talk about divine resources? My gosh, I’ve seen things happen in two years on that downtown street corner that have just been amazing and can only have been orchestrated by God. Are we meeting human needs? We’re surely trying. And by the grace of God, we’ll keep on trying. Are we going through loving channels? I hope so. I think so. Robin probably more so than me. She so gets the compassion thing. And she was home sick today. She was so definitely missed. Especially when we were looking for a ladle to serve the soup! :) And most importantly, are we doing it to give glory to God. Absolutely. That’s one area that I’m sure of. Because I try over and over, probably to a fault, to let our friends know that no way would any of this be possible without God. None of it.
So in all of it today, I feel like God’s presence was abundant. It always is. The kids from St. Vincent DePaul were back. And they brought hundreds of socks, coats and all kind of other stuff. Organized and gathered by them for our friends. What an amazing testimony. And the cold weather, I mean the really cold weather held off. It was cold, but it was North Carolina cold. Not even close to Nebraska cold yet. That’s coming. The Lord willing, we’ll hang in there. If you are reading this and you don’t mind doing so, could you say a prayer for Margie’s family? And for Alan’s family? And that my friend would stay the course of his sobriety? And for this crazy ministry.
Rest in peace Alan. We'll miss you buddy...
"So you also, when you have done all that is commanded you, say, `We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'" Luke 17:10
Peace and have a great and blessed week.
Make a difference.
…it matters to that one… :)
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