Gone...

Tough week. Started with a funeral on Monday. An infant funeral. I’m pretty sue that was a first for me. I hope it’s a last. I don’t think I’ve seen anything more heartbreaking and gut wrenching than a father carrying his infant daughter’s casket. And he was pretty strong about it. I know for a fact I would have been a basket case. We met this family sometime previous to the Christmas of 2007. I know this because we’ve been blessed to help them the past two Christmases. They have 3 other young children. When we met them, they were homeless. Now? They have an apartment and they are struggling, but doing better. But this was definitely a bit of a setback. That seems so trivial to say the death of an infant daughter was a setback. I don’t know what else to call it. It was so difficult for me. I can’t imagine what it was like for them. Baby Pearl was born prematurely and was just not strong enough to make it on her own. There were complications. The parents had to make the extremely difficult decision of removing the life support. I don’t know how you make that decision. I just don’t know. She was a beautiful little girl. She is a beautiful little girl. She’s with our Father now. That much I know. But it was probably the most difficult parting service I’ve ever witnessed. At least for someone that wasn’t a part of my immediate family. This family though, has been through so much. And now this? Some things just don’t make sense to me.

And then when I got home from work Monday afternoon, we received a letter stating that a friend whom we’d been trying to help with a cataract surgery had been denied an opportunity to receive a free surgery to remove or repair his cataracts. Whatever it is they do. The thing is, they reviewed 60 or so candidates. Of those, they chose 23. We were convinced he’d be one of the 23. And so, I get home from work that day, see the letter and the hope I experience as I open the letter is overwhelming. You see, throughout this whole process, he has proclaimed to Robin and I that he is counting on us. Flaw number one. Never count on your fellow man. I mean hope that things will come out the way you’d like, but never count on it or we might be setting ourselves up for disappointment, right? I tried to explain that to him many times. So when I open the letter and find out that he has been rejected, I of course was pretty bummed. We wanted so badly for him to get this done. Well, as God would have it, He gave us a backup plan. Actually, it was probably His main plan. A family who has helped in many ways, was deciding what to do with a particular amount of money. It was the young son who had this fellow on his mind and heart. And as God would have it, this young boy really wanted to help in this situation. Now he didn’t even know that this fellow was rejected by the eye clinic. He just wanted to help. So they asked if they could help in this particular situation. Are you kidding me? Seriously? Yeah. Absolutely. So stay tuned for this one…more to come here for sure.

Sadly, we lost another friend this past week. This is the local news blurb:

"A man's body found along the Missouri River in downtown Omaha Tuesday morning has been identified as 55-year-old Robert Naeve.

A tugboat operator noticed the body on the Nebraska side of the river south of Riverfront Drive and Dodge Street shortly after 11 a.m. The area is home to a number of transients.

The cause of death is still pending results of the autopsy. Investigators do not think it's suspicious."

Now here’s the thing. I didn’t know this fellow very well. I saw him almost weekly. I know that he spent the entire winter living on the river. And survived that only to leave us just as spring is breaking. I’d like to be able to give funny analogies and stories about Bob, but like I said, I just didn’t know him that well. I tried several times to get to know him a little better, but he was just a more reserved kind of fellow and didn’t talk much. About the only thing I really remember from any of our recent encounters was helping him with a pair of boots this past winter. He was so thankful and appreciated the fact that he could get a new pair of boots without having to do anything in return. No strings. No forms to fill out. No conditions. Just a simple transaction, but to him it must have meant something because he thanked me several times over the next few weeks. And then we received word on Tuesday that a body had been found down by the river. And over the next few days, we learned who it was. It is so saddening and disheartening to hear of these things. Very, very difficult. I find myself scouring the papers and Google to see if there is any word about these types of things. And I usually find very little. These guys are just on the outer edges of our daily lives and yet when they leave us, it is with little or no fanfare. Just a 2 or 3 sentence blurb in the local paper, a mention about the fact that his last known address was probably a shelter or a place where the homeless or transients hang out and then they pretty much disappear from our view. I pray that somehow, someway Bob knew the Lord. In THAT way. I just can’t imagine our friends being so marginalized that not only are they somewhat separated from society, so to speak, but they are also separated from God. That is heartbreaking. I pray that somewhere along the way, Bob accepted Christ in his life. That the light of Christ shined on him and he is now in his eternal resting place.

And finally…our streak is over. Today the forecast was for a 65% chance of rain at noon. It rained off and on all night and pretty much all morning. It rained all the way downtown today. But you know a funny thing happened. We arrived downtown and I halfway expected a small crowd due to the nasty weather we were experiencing. But that was not the case at all. It was probably one of the larger crowds we've had so far this year. As we unloaded the trailer, the rain was spitting. Peopel were hustling to get things set up before the rains came. I asked a friend to pray that the rain would stop. he looked at me funny. I said I meant it and right now! He again looked at me funny. I again told him I meant it! Right now! And finally he complied. And it wasn’t like we didn’t pray all morning for the rain to stop. And all the way downtown! So as we got everything set up, the rain started coming down a bit harder. It never poured. That’s the upside. It did rain. That was the downside. In 2.5 years, it had never rained on us downtown. Today that streak ended. I guess it’s time to start the next streak. So while it did rain, we did not get rained out. That has never happened. I pray that it never will. And today we had a huge crowd in spite of the weather. And an amazing meal. A local girl scout troop provided the entire meal. Homemade Salisbury steak, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy. What an amazing day. What an amazing ministry. What an amazing God we serve! Even in the rain! :)

The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. ~John 1:5

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

For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. ~Psalm 72:12

…it matters to that one… :)

"I'm a beggar…"

He was there when we showed up today. He was there when we left. Actually left a few minutes before us. Large bag of bread slung over his shoulder. On his way to feed the fishes. In the lagoon that is centered in the park that we frequent every Sunday. Like I said, he was there when we got there. As I pulled the van up to the corner, I could tell he’d already been drinking. You see, he spent the last 10 days in jail. The Douglas County Corrections Center has some goofy policy that they should release people around 3 a.m. on Sunday mornings. 3 a.m.? Are you kidding me? Apparently their computer systems are down for whatever reason on Sunday mornings, so they release these guys at 3 a.m. on Sunday mornings before their system goes down. So what do you think a homeless fellow is going to do at 3 a.m. on a Sunday morning after having been cooped up for 10 days on an open container charge? Pretty easy to figure that one out. So when we saw him at noon today? He was feeling no pain. But Robin and I had a conversation with him a couple hours later and there was most certainly pain. On both sides. For us and him.

We met this fellow, to the best of my recollection, on November 12, 2006. In the Office. That concrete, walled place in the middle of the park where he and several of his buddies plied their trades. In their Office. It was a place that once had lots of activity. Not so much anymore. The city pretty much cleaned it out. Took out the benches that were once there. And the fellows have moved their "workplaces" to other confines. But that was where we first met. That first Sunday that now seems so long ago. And today we met once again in the general vicinity of that spot in the park. As soon as we pulled up, I knew it was going to be a bit of a challenging day. Because as much as I hate to admit it, I have my favorites. And he is one of them. In fact, truth be told, he’s probably one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. At least when he’s sober. No doubt about it. And as Robin and I talked with him today, we just told him how much he meant to us. And he reciprocated. There was just so much hurt. You could just feel it. You know how people get when they’ve been drinking and the truth starts coming out? Not that falling down, stumbling, food spitting kind of drunkenness. But the kind when a guy is starting to sober up a bit and the real truth begins to emerge. That kind of truth. The kind that we rarely see from our friends. At least from my perspective. But we see it often from this fellow. Now I’ve written about him many times. Many. Because he is just simply one of my favorite people.

As we got ready to leave the park today, we had a pretty decent conversation with him. With our kids poking each other in the van, and all the other peripheral activity happening around us, we talked. And at one point, he was questioning us. Why? Why do you guys care so much? Why? And he was insistent that he could never change. Ever. That’s so hard to hear. Eight years on the streets. And I’d guess that about 7.5 or more of those years have been spent in a fog. Maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I bet not. I mean, 8 years? On the streets? I don’t know but I’d be worn out. And he is. Said so himself. And I mentioned what amazing things God can do for him. I sometimes feel as though I have to be measured in what I say to some of these guys. Everyone thinks they can save these guys from themselves. It’s so easy to give the pat Christian response to a guy in this situation. ‘God can take care of you and your problems man!" "If you just give it all up to God, he’ll take all your worries away!" But to a guy who has spent 8 years living under bridges, in shelters, wherever, well, that’s a difficult concept to grasp. I mean, it’s true. He can and will take our problems. He took care of that a couple thousand years ago. But it’s so easy sometimes to spout our cute little advice to a guy who has no idea what that really means. Sometimes I’m not sure I know what it really means.

So at one point in our conversation, I simply mentioned what an amazing individual he was in God’s eyes. And he immediately went for his wallet. And buried in his wallet, was a piece of paper, folded over several times. On that piece of paper was familiar handwriting. To me anyway. It was Robin’s handwriting. And it spoke exactly of that. How this fellow was an amazing creation of Christ and how God loved him more than any of us could ever fathom. And when he read it, the tears came. And the emotions flowed. He just doesn’t understand why we care. And he doesn’t have to. But he knows we do. And that is what this is all about. Relationships that now have been formed and even though, in most cases, they are only nurtured on a weekly basis for a couple of hours, well, I have to hope that is better than nothing. We need to do more. That’s for sure. This fellow today is convinced that he can never change. Told me, in his own words, "I’m a beggar." That’s so hard to hear. Especially from this fellow. He says he wants to change, but knows he can’t. Knows it. And inside, I’m just busting to tell him that he CAN change. But he and I both know that he has to want it. And right now? He can’t do it. And through his tears and emotions, I could tell he meant it. He is convinced this is it for him. I’m not so sure.

So he was there when we arrived. And he was there when we left. Heading down to the lagoon to feed the fish. And I pray that he shows up next week. And the week after that and the week after that. I pray that he endures and perseveres. That he somehow, in some way finds hope. He’s not a beggar. I mean, we’re all beggars in a sense. But he has so much more to offer. And somehow I have to be able to convince him of that. He says we can’t change him. He’s right. But maybe we can be agents of change. God’s tools. He once told me I was God’s tool. I pray that God would just empower us to be that to this fellow and all the others. That he would somehow use us in some way to make a difference.

We also boast of our troubles, because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance brings God's approval, and his approval creates hope. This hope does not disappoint us, for God has poured out his love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit, who is God's gift to us. ~Romans 5:3-5

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

So then, my dear friends, stand firm and steady. Keep busy always in your work for the Lord, since you know that nothing you do in the Lord's service is ever useless. ~1 Corinthians 15:58

…it matters to that one… :)

Investing…

I received a response to one of my blogs this week. It came anonymously from someone I obviously do not know. It was a rather lengthy response, but one thing stood out to me. It was the following statement – "Investment in someone cannot stop at the end of the soup ladle." Often times, maybe, it would be easy for me to show up on our corner and do our thing and leave thinking we’ve done God’s work and now let’s go back to our nice comfortable suburban home. But the Lord continually reminds me otherwise. As we’ve become entangled in some of the lives of the people we’ve met in this endeavor, I’ve realized that sometimes, even though I might try to live separate lives, God will have none of it. It often seems if we make any sort of investment in the lives of others, well, it makes it extremely difficult to ignore the difficult situations our friends find themselves in.

Here are a few examples of what some investments have come to look like for us lately.

We received a call on Thursday night from someone informing us some bad news. One of the fellows we met downtown, I believe on our very first venture into this community, learned this week that his mother had died in San Diego. Now this guy is a fellow that I just really, really like a lot. Love definitely comes into play here. This is a fellow that was homeless when we first met him. He is indeed one of the hardest working gentlemen I’ve ever met. I’ve never seen a guy whose hands are more calloused, haggard and torn up than the hands of this guy. And he is full of energy, more so than probably anyone I’ve ever met. His nickname reflects that. And the one thing that he does for us when we gather downtown on Sundays is probably one of the most important things that he could do, at least for me from a father’s standpoint. He watches over our kids. It’s like God provided child care in this Church environment that springs up every Sunday. And our friend is the director of the children’s ministry. :) Now some might argue that this a "Church" environment. Whatever. I guess for me it means that whenever we gather in the presence of our Almighty God and worship in His name, well, I don’t know that it matters what we call it. Let’s just call it good. So this fellow is like the pied piper when it comes to the kids. Erin absolutely loves him. Calls him her very best friend downtown. And I agree. As I talked to him today, he spoke of his best friend. His mother. She was 92. And she’s gone now. He was most definitely hurting today. Eyes watering. Voice wavering. Erin and Abby put together a gift bag for him today. He was overwhelmed. He’s just one of the nice guys. No alcohol problems. Has his own place now. Works every day. Hard. And he made a statement to someone once. I’ll dispute the wording of his statement, but he essentially said that he is where he is today because of the people that show up on that corner. Now that is pretty absurd to me, because he is obviously where he is today because of God’s Grace. But if God were to work through us and this is what he sees, then so be it. All I ever want to be to our friends is a light. An undeniable blast of light that God uses to do His work. So he found out this week that his mother passed away. He was going to go visit with her and obviously never made it. I pray that he finds the peace and grace of God through this difficult life circumstance. He’s a great fellow and I pray that our investment never stops at the end of the soup ladle with him.

Last week, Robin came home with a carload of baby stuff. You know, a car seat, baby clothes, diapers, everything you’d need to bring a baby home from the hospital. Not for us. Not yet anyway. But a family we met on that corner a while back who are in the middle of life’s circumstances, were in the hospital having a baby. Robin, as she is so apt to do, went overboard with compassion and got all this great stuff to help them in their transition. Like I said, we met them a long time ago on that corner and they are just a family trying to make it on life’s terms. Job difficulties and just general tough circumstances probably threaten this family at most corners. But maybe not so on our corner. Because God clearly placed us in each other’s paths. Clearly. So we got word his week that they were in the hospital having their baby. Except there was a problem. The baby was premature. Now I don’t know all the details, but there were problems. Medical issues. And every time I pulled into our garage and saw the corner filled with stuff for this new baby, I wondered when it would get delivered. Literally and figuratively. Then we got word that the baby probably wasn’t going to make it. They were faced with the difficulty of making far different plans than they’d previously expected. I cannot for one minute imagine what that must feel like. We’ve been so blessed with 3 beautiful, healthy children. I cannot imagine the pain and anguish they must be feeling right now. I pray that they too find peace and some sort of contentment through this all. And I guarantee that our investment will not stop at the end of a soup ladle. And I’m so thankful that my beautiful wife has been so blessed with the single most compassionate heart that I’ve ever known. God surely knew what He was doing when He placed her in the path of this family. I’m amazed at how it all works. Because we can be nothing more than a shoulder or ear to these folks, but sometimes? That’s all a person needs in these types of situations.

And finally, Christian and I spent a few hours last Saturday helping a family get a few pieces of furniture. Now it may seem fairly mundane to some, but to the person on the receiving end, it would seem bigger than that I think. This family, as we know them consists of a "Mom", and a couple of children. Truth be known, I think Mom is actually grandma. We first met them where? You guessed it. On a downtown street corner. They weren’t regulars and I’m not even sure I remember how they found out about us. Or maybe, just maybe they had a little Direction? :) So over the course of the last 4 or 5 months, they’ve been able to move from living in their car, to living in a real house. Now it’s not a palace by any stretch, or maybe it is to them? But it is a house with all the amenities. So Christian and I drove to Glenwood, Iowa last weekend to pickup a bed, a loveseat and a few other things. The couple who were giving us the furniture is another story for another day. But let’s just say that God put them in our path and they are an amazing couple. Just amazing! So we picked up the furniture and delivered it to Plattsmouth, Nebraska. Overall, it was about a 60 mile roundtrip. Great windshield time for Christian and I, and this family was blessed with a few more pieces to the puzzle. She gave me a letter before we left. It was just an expression of thanks and gratitude for all the help she’s received from God, through those who have chosen (or God has chosen) to help out in this thing called Starfish. The letter just explained how thankful she was that God was watching over her. It was a reminder to me, as I often need, that sometimes when a seed is planted, we never know what may grow. And her faith was seemingly strengthened by a few acts of kindness. I don’t even know if she saw the soup ladle on that Sunday we met her. But the investment cannot end when the soup hits the bottom of the cup. That I know. Thank God.

And now finally, for real. We almost had our first fight today. And this one involved several people. Not sure how close we really were, or if it was just a bunch of testosterone. Looked like things might have gotten out of hand fairly quickly. My man O‘Malley almost came out of retirement today. It was a crazy few minutes that’s for sure. And on Easter Sunday of all days. I know that when evil senses God’s work happening, he wants none of it. But today? Well, there’d be no fighting on Resurrection Day. Apparently God saw to that. Because after a few different flare ups, in a few different hot spots, cooler heads prevailed.

So I’m a little wordy today. This day and time of the year that we are reminded of the investment that the Lord made for us. The sacrifice that He made when the curtain was torn and we were once and for all able to enter into the presence of God. What an amazing God we serve. I am in awe of His presence in my family’s lives and at what He’s done on a simple street corner in little old downtown Omaha, Nebraska. I pray that I never lose sight of investments in lives. And I pray that someday our investment can be full time. 24/7.

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. ~Gal. 5:6

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. ~Isaiah 53:5 NIV

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

…it matters to that one… :)

Palm Sunday Options

April 5. Now in most places that means Spring. And here in Nebraska I thought we might be heading in that direction also. But today was a brief reminder of where exactly it is that we live. Here in the Heartland, April 5 can mean sunny and 70 or we can experience what we received this morning. A cold, wet, rainy, miserable morning and the chance for snow, which did indeed turn into snow. Now the nice thing is that we know it won’t last. It’ll be like a southeastern snow day. Here one day and gone the next. But nevertheless, we still have to deal with these elements here in Omaha on occasion. The transition from winter to spring is not always as smooth as we’d like it to be. But at least we’re not in Fargo.

So we head downtown and the cold, wet snow follows us all the way down. Now one thing I always keep in mind when the weather is not exactly cooperating on a particular Sunday is the fact that we’ve never been shut out. Not once. Never been rained out. I’ve written about our experiences with weather before. The time that it absolutely poured on us as we made our way downtown. Torrential rainstorms all morning. But when we got downtown? The rain stopped. In fact, a big, blue whole opened up in the sky above us on that particular day and the rain stopped. A couple hours later, the rains came again in truckloads. But on that day and for that window, the rains stopped. And I’m absolutely convinced that was God welcoming us into the park. Today? Well, technically it didn’t rain. The funny thing is it rained all night. And I woke up to rain this morning. I (and Robin) prayed that He’d give us a window of opportunity today to serve. And of course He did. Now today there were no blue skies. The weather forecast at noon was for snow, North winds at 32 miles per hour and 32°F. So my hope was that at least the rain would turn to snow. It did. It wasn’t pretty, but technically it wasn’t rain either.

Smaller crowd today. As it turned out, a downtown Italian restaurant was offering a free meal to the homeless and impoverished folks in the downtown community. We didn’t know about it ahead of time, but someone told us after we showed up. In fact I heard a fellow telling some of the guys waiting to be served that they could head over to Vincenzo’s and have a nice spaghetti dinner. I have to tell you I felt a sense of "get the heck out of here" rise up in me. Some weird kind of stupid "ownership" deep within that wanted to tell the guy to beat it. I mean, here we are week after week you want to show up one time and take our friends away? Now stay with me here. I do have a point to make. I think. So as I hear the guy offering a fee meal in a WARM, DRY restaurant, I think to myself (as I’m scattering to try to catch all the stuff that a 32 mph wind blows off our serving tables), "Self, I’d go for the spaghetti dinner in the WARM, DRY restaurant". But you know, a funny thing happened. Obviously, lots of the people that normally frequent that corner on Sundays were doing just that. Because it was probably the smallest crowd we’ve had in a while. When we first approached the corner and I saw the few people on the corner waiting, I thought the weather was the culprit. And that was ok. As long as our friends were taken care of. And then my mind went to the great folks from St. James. The church that prepares the entire meal on the first Sunday of the month. And that would be today. And here we are with only a handful of people to serve. And the rain that was falling earlier? It had indeed transformed into frozen H2O. And we had lots of food to serve. Chili, soup, sandwiches, chips, cookies, and the list goes on. But somehow, the people started to come. And some even pulled double duty. Eating spaghetti and then showing up on our corner to partake. It was an interesting Palm Sunday. Not many palms, that’s for sure. But it was good. And the fellow who was offering a free meal in a WARM, DRY restaurant? Well, he couldn’t have picked a better Sunday to make this kind of offering. Who knew it would be cold and snowing on April 5th? Today? Our friends had a choice. And that’s always a good thing. One fellow once told me that if a guy had trouble finding food in this town, well he really wasn’t trying. Today, our friends had options. And like I said, that’s always a good thing.

Our friend, the messiah wasn’t there today. He must have been enjoying a nice plate of spaghetti. Maybe with a side of nice warm Italian bread? Who knows? But others were. And one thing that makes me swell up with a sense of Godly pride is that fact that people will show up on a downtown street corner to have a meal regardless of the weather. They still show up. I certainly hope they show up because they know Who sends us. I pray that message gets across through our actions. And our words. I wake up on mornings like this and I feel a sense of challenge. Where I can hardly wait to see what’s in store for us. Today? I guess it was a more intimate gathering. And you know, a funny thing did indeed happen. For about an hour, those 30+ mph winds did indeed die down and the horizontal snow that was swirling earlier just fell harmlessly from the sky. Water? Technically, yes. But so harmless in the big picture.

Next week is obviously Easter and the forecast is…you guessed it! Rain. Another downtown restaurant normally offers a nice big Easter meal to our friends also. And we also plan on showing up with a nice big Easter dinner. I think if a different restaurant wanted to make it competitive, we could give them a run for their money each week. And in turn, we’d give our friends options. Yeah, I think that would be a great thing. Hmmm…

The Lord says to his people, When the time comes to save you, I will show you favor and answer your cries for help. ~Isaiah 49:8

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

…it matters to that one… :)