For probably the first time in 2 ½ years I have no idea where to begin. I mean, a million things happened today. I talked to one guy who is convinced that when his "work" is done here, probably in the next four years or so, the new world will begin. I talked to the messiah. Again. Several times. I think one time he was telling me how he "made" fruit and vegetables. We left the downtown area with so much stuff in the trailer I literally had to stand and hold it all in while someone else closed the door so everything wouldn’t come crashing down like it does in the bad sitcoms when someone is trying to close the junk closet door. We spent three hours on that corner today and could have stayed longer. Easily. The weather cooperated. In a huge way. It was sunny, barely a breeze and just a picture perfect day in this transition from winter to spring. And I had the trailer packed and ready to go in record time this morning. I don’t know why it was so easy, but what usually takes me until 9:30 or 10:00 was completed by 8:30 at the latest. It was just an easy morning for some reason. And the time we spent on the corner was pretty smooth today. Especially considering the spike we experineced in the number of meals we served. And we were doing some fishes and loaves stuff today. As Robin was getting her part of the meal ready this morning, there was a slight bit of worry that we wouldn’t have enough today. But the great thing about that is that God has never and will never let us down in that area. Not once since November of 2006 have we run out of food before everyone has had a chance to get a meal. Not once. That is so crazy to me. Now if a guy shows up at 2:00? Well, that’s a different story. But today our line stretched as far down the block as I’ve seen in some time. So I know I’m rambling here but I just don’t know where to begin. There was so much going on down there today, it’s hard to get a grasp on all that happened.

I guess I’ll start with the Easter bags. I know it’s a little early for Easter, but we kind of went there today anyway. A young lady, one who has done some pretty tremendous things for this ministry recently, organized an Easter bag project for our friends. It wasn’t so much what was in the bags, because that was cool enough on its own. It’s the fact that this was organized in a town 4 hours from Omaha. This young lady, with some help from her family and fellow community members, has taken it upon herself to do some pretty amazing things for some people she barely knows. Imagine what we could all learn from this type of wonderful selflessness. Her uncle was a friend of ours. I’ve written about him too many times to count. He left us last summer. But his legacy lives on. That these folks from a small farm community of 600 people in western Nebraska would venture down I-80 and show up in Omaha to do the things they’ve done speaks volumes. To bring bags and bags of clothing and various supplies, so much that I can barely close the door on the trailer was an amazing thing to see. What an amazing family. And all to honor a family member and in doing so, honoring God and giving Him the glory He so richly deserves.

Honestly, it was a pretty typical day. Whatever that looks like when that community sprouts up on that corner for a few hours each Sunday. One thing that I’m completely blown away by lately is the people coming to help. It just seems that the number of people wanting to help grows all the time. We had so many people helping today. And we usually get good help. Today was no exception. One fellow and his son showed up today. We get folks who need hours to complete community service obligations. This was one of those cases. And this guy and his son were all about helping. We get lots of situations where these guys come to help because they have to. It’s mandated by the courts. And lots of them say they are going to come back, even when their obligation is complete, only to never be seen again. That may be the case with this fellow and his son, but at least they were able to come and be a part of what God is doing on that corner. You just never know what seed is being planted. Never know.

As we were wrapping things up, I saw a fellow walking towards me out of the corner of my eye. As we made eye contact, I knew he looked familiar, but I couldn’t quite place the face. And then it dawned on me. I recognized this guy. He showed up on that corner late last summer. Needed help getting into a treatment program. A little something to help get into the program and a bus ticket to get there. So a couple who have been so very helpful in so many ways offered to help this guy get there and get going in his treatment program. Over the past several months, I’ve often wondered how this guy was managing. Did he make it through his program? And if so, how was he managing the whole life thing now with a different outlook? Did he make it? Is he still making it? Any relapses? You know, all the usual questions. Well, as of today, he has 7 months of sobriety and he was there today with his wife and two beautiful little girls. What a blessing to see him. And what a blessing to see him there, spending quality time with his family on a beautiful day in downtown Omaha. And a contributing factor to his being there today was the result of a selfless act by a family who simply saw a need and decided to help. And because God offers us that chance. So often. We see the guy on the side of the road. Holding the sign. Or the guy in the park. "Sleeping" on a bench. Or on the sidewalk. Or making a public nuisance of himself. We don’t have to start a website called pimpthisbum.com, but that is a darn good idea. I wish I would have thought of it. But we can take an interest in helping those that have fallen. Because when it comes down to it, we’ve all fallen at one time or another. And wasn’t it nice to have someone there to help us pick up the pieces?

So it was great to see our friend back today. I pray that his journey is a long and successful one. One that leads him to much prosperity in the name of Christ. One that he always looks back on and remembers that God blessed him with a second chance and a helping hand from a couple he didn’t even know. And that he didn’t know them is really not that important. What matters is that he was down and God placed them in his path. On a downtown street corner in Omaha, Nebraska. And then on to treatment center in Des Moines, Iowa. And now? The journey continues. For him and us. I can only imagine where it will take us next. I have so many ideas in my feeble brain. I don’t even know where to begin.

If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! ~Ecclesiastes 4:10 NIV

Peace, have a great and blessed week and make a difference.

…it matters to that one… :)

Give me Your Eyes…

Late last year, a friend of ours whom we met in our downtown endeavors, came to Robin and I with a need. He’s an older Nigerian fellow who is in our country presumably looking for a better life. To date, I’d argue that he’s not found it. But a funny thing happened on his way to a better life. God placed him in our path. So we’ve not gotten to know him on a deeply personal basis, yet. Hopefully that will come. What has happened, just as God allows, is that we have indeed gotten to know him. Hopefully this someday will lead to a deeper relationship. He’s a wonderful individual with much insight. A very grandfatherly fellow with a big, huge smile and a soft spoken way about him. So back to his need. Obviously, his needs are great. He left his homeland and wound up, through a series of circumstances, in a shelter in Omaha. After talking to lots of people in similar situations over the past couple of years, the stories are all vastly different, but for some reason, they’ve ended up here. And lots of times they end up on our corner. This fellow did just that. To look at him, you might not even know of his homelessness. Very well dressed. Very well spoken. Seemingly, a very educated man.

So late last year, he came to us with a request. He wanted to continue his studies here in the United States. I believe he has some formal education, but as my feeble mind is apt to do, it fails me now as to what that actually consists of. But in order to begin his studies again, he must first do something about his clouded vision. Now in some cases, that might be as much metaphoric as it is a real condition. How many of us miss so much around us because our vision is clouded by something? So his vision is pretty bad. If I remember correctly, he’s in his early 60s. I should know that. I’ve seen his birth date on various forms. You see, someone mentioned to Robin last year that there was a program that helped people in these situations. Midwest Eye Care, here in Omaha, participates in a program called Mission Cataract USA. It’s a national program that provides free cataract surgery to persons with limited financial resources and is open to individuals who do not have insurance coverage through Medicare, Medicaid or a private insurer. In mid-March each year, Midwest Eye Care begins screening applicants to determine if they meet the medical and financial guidelines for the program. If so, the applicant is scheduled for a free exam on a dedicated screening day in April. Several days after the screening exams are completed, the applicants selected for free surgery are notified. We assisted our friend in completing various applications and received word last week that he’d been selected for an eye exam. This only means that the possibility still exists that he may be selected for the free surgery. When I say free, the cost of this surgery is in the $5000 dollar range, so this is a huge thing for our friend. When we received word that he’d been selected, which was via voice mail, we thought he’d been selected for the actual surgery. And that may still be the case. But as I’ve researched this program further, it may be that he is still in the selection process.

I pray that God will make this happen. That it would be His will for our friend to receive this wonderful blessing. You see, for most of our friends who receive anything through us, we simply tell them to give thanks and praise to God. Not us. Because that is obviously where it all comes from. Lots of these guys tell me, as much as I tell them not to thank me, that they have to thank us because we’re the ones that show up. Fair enough. But I always have to make sure they know we are simply a conduit. Tools used by the Father to do His work. That’s all any of us are, right? But this fellow, even though his faith is strong, we just have agreed to disagree on some of these issues. I always tell him to thank God for the gifts he receives through us. He always tells me that’s not how it works in his world. I could go into great detail here, but suffice it to say he has different ideas than I do.

So my hope and my prayer is that this will happen for him. I want this so badly for him. And I know how badly he wants it. If for no other reason than to begin to see clearly again. Figuratively and literally. So as I’m so apt to do at times, I’ve got a song stuck in my head. Our family went to Winter Jam '09 a couple of weeks ago. Brandon Heath was one of the artists performing. I’m guessing lots and lots of people have probably heard his most current hit song.

"Give me your eyes for just one second. Give me your eyes so I can see. Everything that I keep missing. Give me your love for humanity."

I know that like any other popular song, it is grossly overplayed on radio stations. But the message is definitely there. Lord, give me YOUR eyes so I can see others the way You’ve seen them all along. Please. Help me to see them through Your filter. Through Your compassionate, unbelievable Graceful eyes. And even though I can’t even begin to fathom how great it must be, give me Your eyes to see how You love. For just one second, because that’s probably all I could stand. I sometimes feel as though I could use a little surgery myself to remove the clouded vision I have at times. If I could just see the way He sees for just one second…

I simply praise God today for the opportunity to be involved in situations like this one. I pray that whatever His will is in this particular situation, we all come away with a deeper and more profound understanding of what it means to see through a filter such as His. If that is even possible.

Peace, have a great and blessed week and make a difference.

…it matters to that one… :)

Face to Face with the messiah or the Messiah?

So today was amazing and crazy. Amazing because the weather was unbelievable. It’s that time of year again where people are coming out of hibernation after a long winter. Crazy because I had 2 different people tell me they were either the messiah or they were an integral part of the second coming. The weather was so unbelievably nice today. Probably around 60 degrees and breezy. Got a little cool as we were loading up to leave, but it was so nice to go down and not even have to wear a jacket. Love those days, especially in this climate. And people are just happier when the weather changes. You can just sense a good feeling in the air. Apparently so much so that it even brings out a few guys who maybe aren't quite sure of their lot in life?

So I met a fellow named Steven today for the first time. As I was unloading the trailer, he approached me and wanted me to listen to his headphones. It’s a little chaotic when we are unloading, with lots of people trying to help and all, so it’s tough for me to stop and listen to a guy’s headphones. I listened for a minute through one ear, but he was insisting that I put the headphones on both ears and really listen. I had to decline for the moment, but promised I’d get back to him. And then when we were praying, he was making some sort of noise or disturbance. I didn’t think too much of it until a bit later. I’d just met the guy for the first time, so I wasn’t real sure of his state of mind. After we’d finished praying and I was visiting people in the serving line, he stopped me and that’s when things got a bit interesting. You see, Steven has some pretty grand ideas about who he is and his place here on earth. He asked me the following question and I have to paraphrase – "Why is it that Adam and Eve were separated from God, yet Moses was able to speak directly to God via a burning bush and the Jews were able to speak directly to God?" Huh? I had to think about that one, because I wasn’t sure where that was going. So my response, obviously is that we all can go directly to God. Steven’s response? Oh no we can’t. In his mind and emphatically, not one "Christian leader" in the whole city could answer that question correctly and you know why? Because in his words…"He is the messiah". Now that one definitely threw me. So I kind of ended that portion of the conversation and moved on through the line.

And then a bit later, he found me and continued more of the same conversation. He was going on about how he was God and how he was gong to sue us for copyright infringement. What? Well apparently we didn't get permission to distribute the Bibles we were giving out. Oh and on top of all that? He is going to run for president because President Obama is trouble for our country. He even has a website called obamaisahonkeydonkey.com. Whatever that means. So yeah, when I got home? I checked it out. Yep. I did. It doesn’t exist. It really was just a bunch of crazy conversation. And it was tough not to laugh at the guy, because the stuff he was saying was so off the wall, I couldn’t tell if he was being serious, if he was a comedian or if he was just out there. I mean, after talking to him a couple of different times, in his mind he was serious. And he was very well spoken. Oh, and he was also getting ready to launch an internet startup company. He was going to be much wealthier than Gates or Buffet. He’d forced himself to be poor for a period of time, but now it was time to get serious. Just some really bizarre moments.

Bu the thing that stuck with me through all of it was what if? What if Christ were to show up on that corner? What if? When he said he was the messiah, it just kind of stopped me in my tracks for just a minute. I had to look and think, what if? How would He be treated? If the Messiah were to grace us with His presence, what would that look like? Like Steven? Or the other fellow that proclaimed to me that once his mission here was complete, the devil would no longer be able to make people sin? I mean, these situations were really confounding to me today. How do both of these conversations happen independently of each other on the same Sunday? I really believe they both believed it. But again, what if He showed up? And you know, He does. Every single week, He shows up. Every single Sunday, He shows up. And every single Sunday, we are blessed to be in His presence. I know that for a fact.

So another fellow hands me two somewhat crumpled, torn pieces of paper last week. They contained the following bits of wisdom:

If you want God to hear your prayers, hear the voice of the poor. If you wish God to anticipate your wants, provide those of the needy without waiting for them to ask you. Especially anticipate the needs of those who are ashamed to beg. To make them ask for alms is to make them buy it.– St. Thomas of Villanova

"Charity begins today. Today somebody is suffering, today somebody is in the street, today somebody is hungry. Our work is for today, yesterday has gone, tomorrow has not yet come - today, we have only today to make Jesus known, loved, served, fed, clothed, sheltered, etc. Today - do not to wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow might not come. Tomorrow we will not have them if we do not feed them today." (Mother Teresa 1991).

These two things kind of hung with all week. I read them and reread them several times. They just seemed profound to me. Maybe it’s just my state of mind these days? Who knows? Maybe I could ask Steven?

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. ~1 Peter 4:10

Peace, have a great and blessed week and make a difference.

…it matters to that one… :)

God's Amazing Providence

I wish sometimes that I had Christian’s memory bank. I have such a hard time remembering every thing that happens on Sundays. I have a hard time remembering what I had for breakfast this morning, so when I’m in a crowd of people and conversations are happening all over the place and people are being fed and feeding others, well I just have a hard time remembering some of the things that happen on a given Sunday. I try to mentally remind myself of certain conversations and happenings, but I often find myself getting in the van as we depart from the downtown area on Sundays trying to get my head around the events that just took place. Now if I had Christian’s brain, well first of all I’m not sure if I could handle that thing, but for sure I could have a sort of instant recall. The kid is amazing in that regard. As long as it doesn’t have anything to do with remembering to clean his room or do the dishes. For some reason, the recall on household chores isn’t quite as instantaneous. But I digress. It’s just that so much happens on that corner in the couple of hours we are down there. For instance, I had one fellow asking today for help with medication. I was in the process of loading the trailer as we were winding down. He has a broken foot or ankle, because he had a boot on and was walking with a crutch. He told me of his need as I was loading and I asked him if he could give me a few minutes to finish loading and we could figure out what we might be able to do to help. The next thing I know, a pastor for a church that helps out down there on occasion is making some type of arrangements with this fellow. I asked him a few minutes later if he still needed help. Nope. Taken care of. Seems as though that’s how it works sometimes. All we have to do is show up and watch God work. Simple things but not to the fellow in need of medication. Or to the fellow who would just like a pair of warm socks. Or warm gloves. Or a warm winter coat. Or clean underwear. Or maybe an avenue for conversation. Just someone to listen.

Terry was back today. And he was feeling no pain. But deep inside? I’d guess he was in great pain. One of his buddies passed away in Council Bluffs on Friday. So my buddy Terry, a fellow railroader, or former railroader was a little loud and boisterous today. At one point just after he’d finished eating and I mean there was still food in his mouth, he felt the need to tell Robin and I how much he loved us. Well, as is often the case with people in Terry’s condition, hygiene, manners and etiquette are not necessarily focus points. I mean at one point in his near one sided conversation, I could have fed a small nation with the amount of food that was spewing forth from my buddy. Where was all this food coming from? Swallow man! It was really hard to focus as I dodged the chunks of food flying. But I hung in there and listened. As long as I could. All the while looking for an exit strategy! Man I’ve never seen so much food flying. But the point is Terry was hurting. Obviously. Now Terry is an interesting dude. The guy is my size, so he’s pretty doggone short. But he’s probably got the strongest handshake of any of the guys I’ve come across down there. I don’t know him well enough yet to know a lot of his story, but I intend to find out more about him. After we hugged and he shuffled off, I knocked the half eaten groceries off my jacket and wondered why? Why do guys have to live like that?

Another couple was back today that we haven’t seen in a while. He’s dying. Literally. Liver is shot. He skin color was almost as yellow as the yellow hoodie he was wearing. As we talked and he told me of his need for a liver, he didn’t seem to have a whole lot of hope. I mean, what do you say to a guy that knows he’s dying. He was in pretty good spirits, but that has to be impossibly difficult. I joked and told him that he could have mine. It’s a little damaged from my years of abusing it, but he was welcome to it, or at least a portion of it. I mean, it’s not really mine anyway, right? And you know, I was halfway serious. I did give him a pair of my shoes. A pair of my running shoes. But a part of my liver? Hmmm….

And I got word this morning that a high school in Kansas is going to use us as a national service project. I really have no idea what that means or what it will end up looking like. And I really don’t have to worry about that. Because after all I’ve seen over the course of the last couple of years, I’ve been humbled to the point that I know as long as God wants us to continue doing this thing, he’ll continue to supply all of our needs. Of that I’m sure. I’ve seen it too many times. That a group of high school kids in Clyde, Kansas would choose to help our homeless friends in Omaha, well that just speaks to God’s amazing providence. I often wonder how God can keep up with all the minutia? How in the world does he do it all? And then I’m reminded of a line from a friend. He said something once and it stuck with me. "God, I’ve never run a universe, so I’ll just leave that one in your hands…". Or something to that effect. Anyway, I’m just amazed at how God works. For instance, last Saturday, I was in the garage finishing up the sorting for the following Sunday. As I was closing the clothing bins, I noticed that we had barely any men’s clothing. Now I’m not one to get to hung up on that stuff anymore because I figure we usually have just what we need. But we were rally short on warm clothing for our friends. Plenty for the ladies, just not much for the fellows. So I finish up, walk into the kitchen and Robin mentions that Margie is on her way over with two big bags of men’s clothing. Just like that. God provided. Anyone that might want to call that a coincidence, well I would seriously beg to differ. I’ve just seen that happen far too often to know otherwise.

And finally, one last thing. As I was making my way through the line today, I happened upon a group of younger folks that I’d not seen before. Not that unusual, but they just looked different for some reason. Turns out they were students from Creighton University. They were on some sort of "homeless for a week" mission. I had the chance to speak with a few of them for a while. They were basically spending a week homeless. Sleeping in shelters and such and experiencing what that looked like. Felt like. Lived like. One girl said the tortilla soup we were serving was the highlight of her homeless week so far. Imagine that. A cup of soup was the best thing she’s seen so far. Now they were just getting started. But they said they’d come back next week. I hope they do because I’d love to hear how it goes for them. I’ve often thought of taking a week off from work and doing something like that. Maybe I need to stop thinking and start doing.

Peace, have a great and blessed week and make a difference.

…it matters to that one… :)

40 Names

I attended a memorial service this past week for some friends. It was a memorial service recognizing those who died homeless in 2008. Celebrating their lives. They all left us this past year for various reasons and by various means. Some died as a direct result of their addictions. Others for other reasons. I don’t even pretend to know why or how or anything else. I just know that for some reason, they all left us. 40 people. Some we knew. Others, not so much. Some we knew well. Again, others, not so.

The service itself was held this year in an old Catholic church in north Omaha. Holy Family Catholic Church. The service was conducted by a Methodist pastor. So it was really an interfaith offering. One of the interesting things I noticed was that unlike most Catholic churches I’ve been in, this one did not have a crucifix with Christ hanging behind the altar. It’s an older church in a poorer section of town. In fact, it’s only a block or so south and west of the Sienna Francis House Shelter. So no crucifix. I don’t believe I’ve ever been in a Catholic church that didn’t have one. There was a simple statue of Christ in the back area of the altar with welcoming hands. It was very cool.

So when I walked in, there was a fellow playing a cedar wind flute. He seemed to be playing some kind of American Indian type songs on the flute. Really set the mood and ambiance in the old church. Just an observation. On the altar, there was a list of names. 40 of them. 40 people who died homeless. Maybe even needlessly? In one of, if not the richest country in the world. What does that say about our state of affairs? How people can be homeless in this country is beyond me, but how they die homeless is another story altogether. I mean, can’t we at least give them a bit of dignity before they go on?

As the pastor led the service, I looked around for family members. And honestly, of the 30 or so people in the church, I believe more were service oriented people as opposed to family members. I know some were there to grieve the loss of loved ones, but more were folks who dedicate their time to serving the less fortunate. And I wondered what it would look like if the place was filled with hundreds of people? Hundreds who had the Godly desire to help and love the less fortunate. What would that have looked like? It too would have been very cool.

At one point during the service, the names were read aloud by those in attendance. In a bit of a popcorn-ish manner, the names were simply read aloud. And with each name, I wondered what more could have been done. Especially he names of those friends that we knew from our activities. What more could we have done. And I especially thought of a friend who is still with us but seems hell bent on destroying his life. I even envisioned his name on the list of names. And thought how painful that would be to see his name there. I love this guy and can’t seem to figure out how to help in a more tangible way. And maybe I can’t. But man, I sure wish I could…

Towards the end of the service, a young lady stood at the front of the church with a picture of her father. He couldn’t have been more than 30. Now this guy died from cancer. And his name wasn’t on the list of names. So I’m not even sure of his circumstances. But the pain that radiated from her as she held his 8x10 picture in front of her was so very real. She mentioned he was her hero. And she was so young. A teenager. It was so painful to see.

And then the haunting echoes of Amazing Grace on the cedar wind flute...that’s how it ended. So extremely sobering. And I kept wondering how we could do more to help some of these guys at least not have to be a name on the list. At least have a proper burial and an obituary like "normal" people. How can we do more? I’m sure that will be revealed when the time is right…

Give and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full-pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back. ~ Luke 6:38, NLT

Peace, have a great and blessed week and make a difference.

…it matters to that one… :)