Redonkulous?

Redonkulous (Adjective) Significantly more absurd than ridiculous to an almost impossible extreme; without possibility of serious consideration.

So I picked this word up from Christian this week. I think it came from some movie he saw recently. I’ve heard it about 1000 times or more, give or take 100. But for some reason it stuck with me. Especially this morning. When I went outside and realized exactly how cold it was and just exactly what we were in for today. Redonkulously cold. The weather forecast was for temps hovering just below zero. That’s the dreaded negative range. And with the howling winds out of the northwest, the “feel like” temp was around 25 or 30 below. Say again? 25 or 30 below? Now I’ve mentioned before what freezes in this kind of weather, so I won’t go there again. But I will tell you this. I’m pretty sure that it was so cold today that flatulence froze. Now I don’t have first hand knowledge…or do I? :) No I don’t. But I’m sure it does. Good grief it was cold. And there were people without gloves. I swear I’m going to figure out a way to tie a string to the gloves and run the string up the sleeves of our friends’ coats. Just like Mom did when we were kids. There must be a lost glove convention happening as I write in some corner of the Sienna Francis House.

St. Vincent DePaul’s Youth Group was back to help today. What troopers! Man they brought enough homemade Christmas cookies to feed a small army! What an amazing group. We are so blessed to have them come and help. I mentioned that the home school group helped last week. It’s so cool to see people help. Especially the young folks. What a blessing they are and we’ve been blessed to have them come often. A couple of kids from the home school group were assigned to write about their experience last week. With their permission, here’s what they saw:

*******************************
On Sunday, December 14th, 2008, at 12:00 p.m. we drove to down town Omaha, Nebraska to feed the hungry. The name of the ministry is Starfish Ministry. You can bring food or help serve food. There were various foods and drinks for the hungry to choose from. Lesley and I had a challenging task, separating paper plates with gloves on! We finally braved the freezing cold weather and took our gloves off; one second later we decided we should put our gloves back on and keep trying to get the plates apart. My Mom and Dad poured the turkey noodle soup into cups and handed the soup to the line of hungry people. Four or five buckets were sitting out on the cold cement ground, filled to the brim with clothing, shoes, coats, and other items. Seeing how hungry and cold these people were made me think how blessed I am. I live in a warm house while others are living in the cold on the streets or under bridges. After seeing how blessed it makes the people feel, I want to help serve the people every weekend.
Ashley age 11


The bitter wind stung our cheeks as we stood behind a row of tables at Gene Lahey Mall. Downtown near 14th and Douglas, every Sunday at noon, no matter what the weather, Starfish Ministry serves the people gathered there. Handing out paper plates and spoons, we helped serve the hungry people on this frigid, Sunday afternoon. Every so often a volunteer would go running after a stray plate or cup as it was carried away by the wind. On this exceptionally cold day we could see our breath in the air. We shifted trying to keep warm while people shuffled by to receive soup, bread, clothing, and many other items. As a result of the freezing temperature, fewer people than normal were gathered to obtain a warm meal. Although it was a cold day the people were cheerful and extremely grateful. Everyone had a smile on their face and was quick to say ‘thank you’ upon receiving their items. Even though my family didn’t stay long, our cheeks were red and we were shivering by the time we got into the car. I am extremely grateful to have a roof over my head and a warm house to live in, instead of having to live outside. I am also thankful for a car so that I don’t have to walk everywhere. I enjoyed being able to serve the hungry people, and look forward t doing it again.
Lesley age 15
*******************************

I got a Christmas card from one of our friends last week. Pat is a fellow I just recently met. He needed a coat a few weeks ago and a pair of boots. So I happened to have just what he needed that particular week. We’ve handed out literally hundreds of pairs of boots and too many coats to count. So sometimes I forget how much a pair of new boots and a warm coat means to someone. When I gave Pat his a few weeks ago, I was reminded how much it means. And sometimes I think it’s just that simple act of kindness and love. That someone would have just what a fellow needed at just the right time. That’s how God so often works in this thing. All in his time. Just in time. His amazing time. So Pat hands me a homemade Christmas card last week, written on a plain white sheet of paper. The front simply said Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Inside were the following words. “Aren’t you glad it only comes once a year? So bless us all while we are here. Still wish you the best of luck. And Hope that 2009 doesn’t suck. Signed, Pat.” :) I just laughed. I did again when I reread it just now. But I think in some strange sort of way, he really meant it.

So it was redonkulously cold today. I mean, stuff just doesn’t work in that kind of weather. Exposed skin will be frostbitten in minutes. Mechanical stuff just fails. But people? They are able to work through it. We saw that today. We showed up on the corner and there were only a couple of people waiting. But as we got things set up, people started showing up. And before we were done, we’d prayed together, meals were served, new coats were passed out, lots of new gloves were distributed and God once again showed up. He always does. Doesn’t matter how redonkulously cold it gets. He sends us. And He shows up. And we were blessed today to be in His presence. I’d guess He wasn’t quite as cold as us. But He was there. And we were able to share. And I tell you there’s a little satisfaction in hearing people say thanks for showing up no matter the weather. I tell them we have to. If He’s going to be there, we’ll be there.

Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

Peace and have a great and blessed week.

Make a difference.

…it matters to that one… :)