I met an amazing family today. I hope they don’t mind that I use their names here, but to tell the story, I kind of have to. I met Mom, Twin Sister, Twin Sister’s Husband, Daughter 1, Daughter 2, Daughter 3 and Son. Oh, and Granddaughter. They came from Kansas, Lincoln and Kearney I believe. And they came to see what it was all about. This thing that God orchestrates every single Sunday on a downtown street corner in Omaha, Nebraska. I hope I’m not out of line writing this here, but I believe it was also a bit about closure. To a degree anyway. At least it would be for me. If my brother or father or son or grandfather spent some of his last months, weeks, days or hours with this group that gathers here each week. I’d like to think I know why they came. But the reasons have to be so vast and different, that I’m pretty sure I’d screw it up if I tried to list the reasons. I think, if you boil it all down, they simply wanted to see. To maybe get an idea of what it was like for this person that left us way too early. Way too early. I’ve written about this deal several times. And I’ve seen it play out several times over the past couple of years. Most recently, Papa Smurf left us. I knew this fellow as well as you can get to know someone within a couple hour time span once a week. Never did get his real name. Pretty sure it wasn’t Papa Smurf. And Bobby McGee was shortly before that. Can’t write or say his name without getting the Janis Joplin song stuck in my head. And now he’s gone. And Doug Etter. And The list goes on. And these are guys that I really believe fall through the cracks. They don’t have to leave us like this. Do they? What’s the deal? And then of course, there’s Wade. Like I said, I wrote a couple of times about Wade a few months ago. Camping on the old Beach at Lake Manawa State Park. I’ve heard several different stories about what happened with Wade. But however it happened, I keep asking myself why? And of course there is absolute silence. Because I don’t think we ever really find out why. At least not in this lifetime.
So today, Fay, Wendy, Bill, Lacey, Heather, Jordon, Isaac, and beautiful little Aza (that’s AAAAAAAAAAAAAA……ZZZZZZZ…AAAAAAA for those wondering how she spells it :) came to visit. I think I got the names right and to be honest I had to go back and re-read a few of the comments they posted on a blog site that I put this on. I had to go back. And when I did, I read some of those comments through tears. It just brought it all back to the forefront for me. Because it’s like this…all these guys we see downtown for that brief time on Sunday? They all belong to someone. And they ALL have a story as unique as you can imagine. But they all belong to someone. And Wade belonged to this family. And this story, for me anyway, just keeps growing. I feel like I know Wade so much better now than I did when he was with us. An in fact I do. I’ve found out what a great chef he was. What a great son he was. What a great brother he was. What a great father he was. What a great grandfather he was. And what a great friend he was. Now I’d be remiss if I painted this rosy picture. Because it wasn’t all goodness in the end for Wade. But it was what it was. And he left quite a legacy. I saw it first hand today. 3 incredibly beautiful daughters. A great looking son. A beautiful twin sister. A wonderful mother. An amazing little granddaughter. I met them all today. As I stood on the wall to make a few quick announcements, not the least of which was that St. James Untied Methodist Church from Bellevue cooked the entire meal today, I mentioned that everyone needed to be aware of the greatness that is God’s unbelievable faithfulness. That he provides us with all this each and every week. That he is the one and only reason we are able to so this with any sustenance each week. As I mentioned these things, I also mentioned that we had a few special visitors this week. And as I looked back to where Wendy was standing and I saw her tears, I choked up. I have to tell you, this thing we do each week is in my blood now. We are coming up on an anniversary of sorts. Next week will mark year two of this journey. And in that time, some pretty amazing things have happened. And I just sense God preparing us for even bigger things yet. I have no idea what that means. But I sense it. And better yet, I see things happening each week that make it so much more than a meal. So much more than a few items of clothing and hygiene items. So much more than I could have imagined two years ago when we first set off on this thing.
And today He brought us together with a family that lost one of theirs recently. Full circle if you will. And it was an amazing meeting for me. They were so grateful that we would go down and do this. I'd be crazy not to. I am so blessed to be able to go every week. I simply cannot imagine our lives without it. It’s become a fixture. And the people we come in contact with are the reason. Look, anyone can set out a meal. But when you do it in the name of God, it becomes an event and I only hope we are doing it justice in His name. That He smiles when he sees the tables coming out of the trailer each week. I pray that none of our friends ever has to leave us in this manner again. I pray that some Sunday we’ll show up and no one will be there. I can’t imagine that happening, but maybe someday it will. That all of our friends will have their own place, with all the food they need and enough to share with others. I pray that when I meet a family like the one I met today, it will be for all the good reasons.
It’s funny. I can almost guarantee that I would never have met these folks if Wade was still here. But he’s not. And today God blessed me with the other side of homelessness. The real side. The side that tells the story. What a painful, bittersweet day it must have been for them. I felt like I just wanted to spend the entire day with them. But I also wanted to stay back and just let them kind of figure things out. That’s probably what I would have wanted. So many questions. So few answers. But the bottom line here for me is that God’s grace is sufficient. Doesn’t make it easy. But it is the only way I can reconcile things.
Thanks to Wade’s family for coming today. Thanks to Wendy for bringing enough cookies from her bake shop to feed an army. Thanks to the folks at St. James for all their incredible efforts. And to all the folks who come every single week to help. Thanks for making it a wonderful day. At least as wonderful as it could be given the circumstances. As we said our goodbyes today, I couldn’t help but think what an amazing God we serve. Wade’s family was heading home. But not before a trip to the Old Beach at Lake Manawa. One final bit of closure I suppose. A few of Wade’s friends were going with. I can’t imagine how difficult that must have been. My prayers are with them as they try to deal with this.
This is from a devotional I read recently. It obviously reminded me of the first time I heard the starfish story…
********
Too often we do not allow ourselves to be used by God in practical means. This reminds me of a story I once heard: A boy had gone down to the seashore following a great storm. There lying on the beach, washed up by the giant surf were hundreds and thousands of starfish, all of which were dying. The boy ran down to the shore and began picking them up one at a time and throwing them back into the water. A man came along and asked, "Boy, what are you doing?" The boy answered simply, "Saving starfish!" The man was shocked and responded, "You've got to be kidding, there are far too many, you can't hope to make a difference." The boy held a starfish in his hand and threw it back into the ocean as he said, "I made a difference for that one!"
********
Peace and have a great and blessed week.
Whatever you do, make a difference.
…it matters to that one… :)
So today, Fay, Wendy, Bill, Lacey, Heather, Jordon, Isaac, and beautiful little Aza (that’s AAAAAAAAAAAAAA……ZZZZZZZ…AAAAAAA for those wondering how she spells it :) came to visit. I think I got the names right and to be honest I had to go back and re-read a few of the comments they posted on a blog site that I put this on. I had to go back. And when I did, I read some of those comments through tears. It just brought it all back to the forefront for me. Because it’s like this…all these guys we see downtown for that brief time on Sunday? They all belong to someone. And they ALL have a story as unique as you can imagine. But they all belong to someone. And Wade belonged to this family. And this story, for me anyway, just keeps growing. I feel like I know Wade so much better now than I did when he was with us. An in fact I do. I’ve found out what a great chef he was. What a great son he was. What a great brother he was. What a great father he was. What a great grandfather he was. And what a great friend he was. Now I’d be remiss if I painted this rosy picture. Because it wasn’t all goodness in the end for Wade. But it was what it was. And he left quite a legacy. I saw it first hand today. 3 incredibly beautiful daughters. A great looking son. A beautiful twin sister. A wonderful mother. An amazing little granddaughter. I met them all today. As I stood on the wall to make a few quick announcements, not the least of which was that St. James Untied Methodist Church from Bellevue cooked the entire meal today, I mentioned that everyone needed to be aware of the greatness that is God’s unbelievable faithfulness. That he provides us with all this each and every week. That he is the one and only reason we are able to so this with any sustenance each week. As I mentioned these things, I also mentioned that we had a few special visitors this week. And as I looked back to where Wendy was standing and I saw her tears, I choked up. I have to tell you, this thing we do each week is in my blood now. We are coming up on an anniversary of sorts. Next week will mark year two of this journey. And in that time, some pretty amazing things have happened. And I just sense God preparing us for even bigger things yet. I have no idea what that means. But I sense it. And better yet, I see things happening each week that make it so much more than a meal. So much more than a few items of clothing and hygiene items. So much more than I could have imagined two years ago when we first set off on this thing.
And today He brought us together with a family that lost one of theirs recently. Full circle if you will. And it was an amazing meeting for me. They were so grateful that we would go down and do this. I'd be crazy not to. I am so blessed to be able to go every week. I simply cannot imagine our lives without it. It’s become a fixture. And the people we come in contact with are the reason. Look, anyone can set out a meal. But when you do it in the name of God, it becomes an event and I only hope we are doing it justice in His name. That He smiles when he sees the tables coming out of the trailer each week. I pray that none of our friends ever has to leave us in this manner again. I pray that some Sunday we’ll show up and no one will be there. I can’t imagine that happening, but maybe someday it will. That all of our friends will have their own place, with all the food they need and enough to share with others. I pray that when I meet a family like the one I met today, it will be for all the good reasons.
It’s funny. I can almost guarantee that I would never have met these folks if Wade was still here. But he’s not. And today God blessed me with the other side of homelessness. The real side. The side that tells the story. What a painful, bittersweet day it must have been for them. I felt like I just wanted to spend the entire day with them. But I also wanted to stay back and just let them kind of figure things out. That’s probably what I would have wanted. So many questions. So few answers. But the bottom line here for me is that God’s grace is sufficient. Doesn’t make it easy. But it is the only way I can reconcile things.
Thanks to Wade’s family for coming today. Thanks to Wendy for bringing enough cookies from her bake shop to feed an army. Thanks to the folks at St. James for all their incredible efforts. And to all the folks who come every single week to help. Thanks for making it a wonderful day. At least as wonderful as it could be given the circumstances. As we said our goodbyes today, I couldn’t help but think what an amazing God we serve. Wade’s family was heading home. But not before a trip to the Old Beach at Lake Manawa. One final bit of closure I suppose. A few of Wade’s friends were going with. I can’t imagine how difficult that must have been. My prayers are with them as they try to deal with this.
This is from a devotional I read recently. It obviously reminded me of the first time I heard the starfish story…
********
Too often we do not allow ourselves to be used by God in practical means. This reminds me of a story I once heard: A boy had gone down to the seashore following a great storm. There lying on the beach, washed up by the giant surf were hundreds and thousands of starfish, all of which were dying. The boy ran down to the shore and began picking them up one at a time and throwing them back into the water. A man came along and asked, "Boy, what are you doing?" The boy answered simply, "Saving starfish!" The man was shocked and responded, "You've got to be kidding, there are far too many, you can't hope to make a difference." The boy held a starfish in his hand and threw it back into the ocean as he said, "I made a difference for that one!"
********
Peace and have a great and blessed week.
Whatever you do, make a difference.
…it matters to that one… :)
1 comment:
Dave-
I'm Wade's daughter Heather to be exact. I am just blown away right now feeling just everything trying to get an idea of today.
Today we went down to Omaha to see really how my Dad lived for the last year i suppose it's been... I just am still trying to find words on whats going through my head right now.
All i know is that today was an amazing day. Today i got some closure i believe. It helps me understand more of what my Dad went through. I knew my Dad was homeless but it just didn't look the same way in my head as it did when we were in Omaha today.
My dad met so many people while he was here and they are pretty awesome i would have to say. Dave has been a blessing to our family. Him starting this blog and the other one just was a great way to start heeling process. Dave just wow! what you do for these people is amazing and how your family is involved to is just great! This trip just helped us all i think. I know it helped me some just to see. I didn't feel uncomfortable when i was there it just felt like I needed to be there, that I needed to come. I wasn't for sure if I wanted to come but i am so thankful now that I went. I wasn't sure if i was ready to face this part of my dad's life. I got to admit I was a little ashamed that my dad was homeless, it's just sad cuz I know my dad could of been something more! much much more! I am no longer ashamed that my dad was homeless. Going down there today just opened up my eyes.
I met the nicest people when i was there and am still just blown away. I felt like I could of talked to Dave all day and get to know him and more about this. I really just wanted to know how my Dad was like and how he was living this past year. I got some of those answers today. I'm so thankful to have came her.
We did go to the Lake to see the last part of the puzzle. We will never know for sure what actually did happen detail for detail. To see where it actually happened was really tough for me as i'm sure it was for my family. I just got there and we got to the spot and i starting just crying. To see where he actually drowned is just wow.. It brings a whole new different level of emotions. 2 of my dads friends came up there with us to. It was great to get to know them and talk to them also. Just to know that my dad wasn't alone was jsut so wonderful to hear. and knowing that they loved my dad also just made things better.
This day has taught me alot. I wouldnt of changed a single thing that happend today. I know that God has so much to do with this and I thank God for this day. I met wonderful people and got to help out someone in need.
Thanks again for all you've done Dave. You and all the help you get from your family just amazes me. I know we will be back again soon and I can't wait until that day comes again!
Post a Comment