Boundaries

Crazy windy day today. And the temps are starting to drop. It’s Nebraska. It’s October. It’s expected. Poor Robin absolutely is not ready for the change that is coming. And it’s coming. I can feel it in the air. And in the trailer. Starting to fill that crazy thing with coats every week. As many as I can get in there and still have room for everything else. Ever wonder what it would be like to not have a winter coat? In a place like this where winter can be really brutal? I’ve been blessed to not have to worry about such things pretty much. But some of our friends showed up today without a coat on. And it’s not even winter yet. Barely fall. And did I mention that it was pretty darn windy today? And cold? Poor Margie was trying to deal out the chili and I think as much was blowing on the front of her shirt as was getting in the bowls. Now obviously I’m exaggerating, because Margie is a trooper and is such a warrior in this thing, but the wind was winning the battle today.

I got a call yesterday that caused me a bit of stress. Self inflicted of course. The call had as much to do with boundaries and self imposed limitations as anything else. I’ve mentioned before how I sometimes struggle with doing the right thing in certain situations. Don’t we all? Well our friend Doug called yesterday around noon. I was of course watching my Cornhuskers struggle with the mighty Baylor Bears at the time, so my stress level was already a bit up there. That’s another story for another day. So anyway, Doug calls and he has a problem. First of all, Doug "lives" down on the river. In a tent. Now he’s attempting to build some kind of temporary shelter, but as it stands now and has for well over a year now, his "home" is a tent. On the river. He managed to make it through an entire winter last year and I have no idea how he did it. His sole source of heat last year was candles. Imagine living in a two or three man tent in this climate and your only source of heat is candles? I can’t imagine. So anyway, it seems as though there is a bit of a ruckus in his "neighborhood" Friday. Some fellow decided to attack Doug a couple of different times. He manages to get out of the area and find a different place to stay on Friday night. He is afraid to go back because of the threat he perceives to still be there. He comes right out and asks if he can stay at our house for a night. No beating around the bush with Doug. I stammer and try to figure out how I’m going to answer this one. I can come up with a hundred different reasons for not letting this thing go any farther. And they might all sound pretty lame. But the one thing that always stays at the forefront of my mind is the fact that I’m the provider for my family. I’ve been entrusted to provide for, take care of and do all those things that a husband/father is supposed to do. But biblically, I wrestle with the fact that we are supposed to open our homes to strangers. However, I have a wife and a beautiful daughter. Not to mention my boys. I simply cannot bring someone into my house and risk the potential problems? Or can I? Or should I? And at what point do we do something like that? Or do we at all? Do we do it after we’ve known a friend for a couple of months? A year? Two years? I obviously have no answers here.

Robin and I have had this conversation on various other occasions. Do we open our house to so and so and help them out? Do we let Joe the Homeless Plumber into our house and pray that it will be the right thing? We’ve not done that to date. We’ve probably had a couple of different occasions where this very opportunity might have arisen. But I’m always the one that puts the kibosh on it right away. Because there is a strong sense of protectionism within me that rises immediately and squelches any desire to help in this manner. I’m just not there yet. It’s as much a sense having boundaries as anything for me. I’m just not there. I sincerely hope that it is just that and not some other silly selfish reason.

Had another great conversation with my friend Magundat today. He is just an amazingly genuine fellow. And our conversation tied right into my issues from yesterday. And today. How far do we go in our quest to help? How much do we do? My guess is more than we are currently doing. As Magundat asked me today – What would Christ do? Why do people have to ask such hard questions? Especially when already know the answer. The easy answer.

So Doug didn’t stay at our house. And probably won’t anytime soon. He managed to hook up with another fellow that was once homeless and now has a weekly room. Probably better for all. But what kind of message did we send Doug? I have several things I want to sit down and talk about with Doug. Like how in the world he thinks he can make it through another winter on the river. Like how can we help him get out of this situation and into a place of his own. But most of all, to let him know that we really do care. I’m just not there yet. I’m trying. I’m working on it. Just not quite to that place in this crazy journey.

Romans 12:9-21 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Peace and have a great and blessed week.

Make a difference.

…it matters to that one… :)

An Amazing Incarnational Opportunity? (how's that for a title?)

So I didn’t write a blog last week. I was a little under the weather. Woke up last Saturday feeling a little rough and it carried over for several days. So last Sunday was my first sick day. Unpaid. The main thing I was concerned about was having something like strep throat and bringing it down and spreading it around to our friends. Last thing they need is to have a nasty case of something like that running rampant in the shelter. We like taking stuff down to help, but strep throat really isn’t something that we want to be so free with. But a pretty cool thing happened. We decided to take only the van and not the trailer. Robin has never pulled the trailer and it’s not like she couldn’t do it, but we decided to go light last Sunday so they wouldn’t have to pick up too much slack for my sick butt. I helped Christian get the van in order and get it ready to go. And he and Robin led the charge. As they were leaving to go, I was going to mention to Christian that maybe he could lead the prayer in my absence. But I didn’t want Robin to feel as though I was micromanaging and if I’m not there and she is, she normally leads. So I didn’t say anything. When they returned from the day’s activities, Robin told me something that made me even prouder yet to be Christian’s dad. He actually took it upon himself to stand in my place and lead the brief announcements and prayer. Robin said he did a great job. Of that I have no doubt. It’s amazing to see your kids do that sort of thing. Sometimes we just do our thing as parents and we hope our kids get it. We tell them some things over and over and over, hoping that it will sink in. Other times? We have to simply do those things that God leads us to do and hope that our kids get it. He does. And I could not have been more proud as a father to know that.

So here I sit early on Sunday morning trying to get my head in the game for the day. I have to catch a flight out of town this afternoon for work, so my goal is to get out of the downtown area maybe a little early today. Not too early though. Because we have some really cool things happening. Seems the youth group at St. Vincent DePaul Catholic Church is coming back again today. They are bringing all the desserts for the meal today. More importantly, they are bringing a heart for service. They’ve been down before, as a group. And several of the young ladies in the group have been down on their own. It’s been amazing for me to watch this thing over the couple of years that we’ve been at it. We’ve seen people from all denominations, people with no faith background, and many in between. But the nice thing is we’ve seen God continue to send people to help. They might come once. They might come every week. And he’s sent us some warriors who stick it out through all sorts of weather and whatever else. But the coolest thing is He keeps sending them. I’ll never forget when we first started going down there how I used to wonder where the people and the resources would come from. Now don’t get me wrong, I always knew Who was in charge and He’s proved it countless times to this thick headed individual. I was talking to a fellow the other day who s involved with Metro Marketplace Ministry in the downtown Omaha area. We were just talking about things and he reiterated something that I’ve learned over the last few years. We simply have to show up and try not to get in the way and let Him lead. It’s what He does. When I try to do things my way? I usually end up pulling myself out of a ditch wondering where I made the wrong turn. When I get out of the way and let God lead, amazing things happen. River of Life Church is coming back down today also. Great people. And I’d guess some of the great folks from Papio Creek Church will be there. They usually show up also. I think that is also one of the cooler things that has manifested itself here. I was talking to someone yesterday and we were talking about how people get involved. It’s pretty simple. All they have to do is show up. No bureaucracy, no real rules to speak of. Just have to come down. There are some obvious logistical concerns from time to time, like making sure we have enough meals, but that is the main concern. All the rest is fair game. Especially from a relational standpoint. Our friends usually outnumber us, so the more people we can get to come down who simply want to help build relationships the better. That is the biggest need as I see it.

Here’s another great thing that’s happened just in the last week. A few weeks ago, I think I wrote about a church that came down once a month and handed out sack lunches on Sundays. St. James Untied Methodist Church is the church responsible for doing this. They have a ministry called Break the Bread and they pack a few hundred lunches once a month and deliver them to various places. We got an email from the youth director at St. James recently and they want to partner with us once a month and provide the entire meal. That is amazing. I literally pray all the time that God will continue to send resources and man does He come through. Constantly. So beginning on November 1, they will be supplying a hot meal to our friends once a month. That is way cool.

I’m going to steal something from a pastor here in town. I read this recently and it struck me as so true. It’s from a fellow by the name of Kip Mickelson and I believe it was a part of a recent sermon. "There is a Chinese proverb which says: Go to the people, live with them, love them, learn from them, start with what they know and build on what they have. This is incarnational ministry. This is what Jesus did. He was the Word who became flesh. He came to dwell among us full of grace and truth. This is the model these missionaries follow. However, it is not just for missionaries, it is a model for all of us as we live our lives in our communities. We may not be called to cross the ocean, but we may be asked to cross the street. We become "the Word made flesh" as we reach out in love, full of grace and truth." What this tells me is that when we are called to "cross the street", we need to make sure we hear and follow. Amazing things can and do happen when we do so. When we feel that urge to do something in the name of our Lord, we should probably do it. Probably not hearing voices. It’s probably the Spirit nudging us to follow through on part of the bigger picture. The Plan. Gotta hear it. Gotta do it. And when we do, look out. Because the ride can be pretty unbelievable at times. Yet so totally believable.

*** A note….

As I mentioned earlier, I wrote most of this early this morning as I have to catch a flight this afternoon. Just wanted to post a quick update. This was an amazing day. There must have been 200 or more people there today. Lots of need. But lots of others stepping up to help. River of Life Church? Check. St. Vincent DePaul Church? Check. Papio Creek Church? Check. What an amazing opportunity to help. And all it takes is a little effort, a little time and a desire to serve. I am nothing short of amazed that God has opened this opportunity. I certainly wish we’d show up and the corner would be empty. That would maybe mean that homelessness and poverty would be over. Or the food suddenly became bad! That probably ain’t happening anytime soon. So here we are. Almost two years into this thing and we get to do it every week. With all sorts of different people from all walks of life. None of it is coincidental. Of that I’m sure.

1 John 3:17-18
If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

Peace and have a great and blessed week.

Make a difference.

…it matters to that one… :)

Discernment or Paralysis by Analysis?`

Last Sunday I met a young lady who was stuck here in Omaha, living under a bridge on . I believe she told me she was from Cedar Rapids, IA. Apparently she came here with a boyfriend, things didn’t work out and now she’s stranded here. She met a another guy and wanted to go to Lincoln with him. Problem was neither one of them had the funds to get there. She’d done her homework though. The bus tickets for the both of them was, I believe $37. Could we help her get there? I have to tell you, I struggle with these kinds of requests. I always wonder if the person asking is being totally square with me. And I think if I was on the other end, I’d maybe do whatever was necessary to get where I needed to go. Now this girl was clearly new to the area. Or at least new to our area. I’d never seen her before to be sure. But she needed help and word gets out quick that maybe a person could get a little help on that corner on Sunday. So I get all the information I can from her last Sunday. All she has for contact information is an email address. I won’t put her email address here for obvious reasons, but she was raised in an admittedly very pagan environment and part of her email address is wytch and there’s a 666 in it also. Now that is just bizarre to me, but whatever. So I get home and look up the price for a bus ticket to Lincoln and I try to figure out what to do. I mean it’s cheap enough that if a person got temp work for a few days, that person would have enough to get there on her own. Right? So I email her and tell her to call me. She does. On Tuesday. And this time she tells me that the tickets are now $22. Now I don’t know but I’m thinking that I’d find a way to get $22 if I really wanted to go somewhere. But that’s just me. So I ask her a million questions on the phone…"can’t you get a little temp work, can’t a family member send you the money"…all the usual questions a person thinks of I guess. I’ll be real honest. I really didn’t think we should help her. As if I should be the one making that kind of judgment. I mean, who am I to make this kind of decision for her? Sometimes I wonder about myself… So at this point I can tell she is getting a little flustered with me and I still can’t make a stinking decision. Apparently when she called, she was at some type of shelter and she was looking for some dinner. I tell her to get something to eat and call me back. She never does.

So Robin and I head out to our Tuesday group with our friends at the Vine. And as "luck" would have it, they are talking about this young lady. Seems she’d been there the week before and was looking for help from them also. So now I’m really not sure what to do. I mean it’s what I’d spend on a couple of large pizzas for my family and for some reason I’m suffering from paralysis by analysis. Good grief. So she shows up again today. And I tell her like usual to hang around and we’d talk after the meal was served and all the clothing was put out and all that stuff. I never want that stuff to get in the way of an important situation, but it’s hard to have any kind of a meaningful conversation while we are trying to get everything set up and served. Soooooo, as we are wrapping things up, someone comes up to me with a couple of bags of stuff to donate. This person has come down today for the first time to help out and she also brought some clothing and stuff to donate. And she also happened to hand me a twenty dollar bill for whatever. So guess what whatever that twenty went to? I guess her generosity answered any questions I may have had. You see the thing is, I seem to have a hard time in the discernment department. I struggle with who to help, when to help, when to try to understand if it’s in our best interests and the other person’s best interest. Sometimes I just don’t know. So after stumbling with this for a week, and while this young lady continued to sleep wherever she could lay her head, God hit’s me upside my rather large melon today and answered the question for me. Like I’ve said before, I could screw up a one man funeral. Thank God He’s there to give me guidance.

I had a long conversation with a friend of ours today. Seems this fellow is angry with God and wanted to talk to someone about it. The details of why he is angry are personal, but some things have happened to him over the course of his life that have made him a bit angry. And he wants to know if Robin and I can help in that department. I don’t know…can we? I mean, I tried to explain to him some things I’ve come to know over the years. But this fellow has had some crazy things happen to him and he wants to know why God lets these things happen. That’s always a tough one for me. I mean there are tons of different answers you could get from different people regarding "why God lets bad things happen to good people". I obviously don’t know where this will go, but one thing he said stuck out to me. He said he’s gone to churches and asked for help. Now I don’t know what churches and I don’t know what help. But he said he was tired of asking for help from people who go to church on Sunday and don’t live the rest of the week like they do on Sunday. He had a few choice words for sure, and there was some pent up anger. But it’s the first time I’ve had a real conversation with him and it was real. He was angry and it was a real emotion. Justified? I have no idea. I guess I’ll find out in the coming weeks.

And today we had another amazing meal. But the amazing thing I see in this is God continually sending people to help. Amazing people. People who bring ice cream and homemade apple crisp for around 200 people. That is amazing. I am simply blown away that someone would go out of their way to bring something like that for our friends. And I saw some folks with bowls that were busting out with the good stuff. Amazing. God does so many amazing things in this ministry and sometimes it’s easy to miss some of them. A young lady needs money to go to Lincoln. Another person just "happens" to show up with the same amount today for a donation? And I’m struggling to make a decision around this thing. Coincidence? I don’t think so. Look, we don’t preach to our friends. Not in so many ways. But for the most part, I’m convinced that they clearly understand why we come. Another gentleman that I’ve come to really enjoy talking with, came up to me and handed me a sheet of paper that contained a devotional. He gave it to me because he said it reminded him of Robin and me. He’s an older fellow from Africa and he’s one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. Ever. He just happens to be homeless. Part of that devotional, which was written by John Henry Newman, contained the following – ‘Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but by example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears for You". That’s been our deal from day 1. That our actions would speak loudly, but that they would definitely be evident. That our friends would clearly, and without a doubt know, that we are there because God sends us. It really is that simple. We are truly blessed to be there. It’s stressful, it’s tiring and sometimes I wonder how in the world we can keep going. But then I spend a Sunday afternoon down on that corner and I am able to quit wondering for at least a day or so. God truly carries the burden and I can simply be the person he created me to be for now. John Adams said, "The duty is ours, the results are God’s." I’ll go with that.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2

Peace and have a great and blessed week.

Make a difference.

…it matters to that one… :)

An old friend is being "redesigned"...

So today was a little different for us as our normal spot in the park has been destroyed and looks more like a war zone than our normal Sunday gathering spot. Seems the city of Omaha has begun the process of removing the trees from and redesigning that corner. They moved pretty quickly to get this going. My guess is they moved so swiftly so as to avoid any kind of obstruction to the project. I mean, anyone who knows how a city government operates knows that this kind of thing doesn’t happen overnight. Yet in this case, they did almost that. The funny thing about it is they did it under the guise of allowing downtown business people the opportunity of having "lunch alfresco" in the park. Now I work downtown. Not sure I remember the last time anyone in my office mentioned the phrase "lunch alfresco". In fact, I’ve never heard that phrase. The fact of the matter is that our homeless friends are unsightly to some and they’d probably just as soon push them to another part of the city. Now maybe that’s not the case and maybe it is. I don’t know. I do know that one of the other reasons mentioned was the colossal amount of bird poop in the park and on the sidewalks from the starlings in the park. And it was a lot. But I’m not sure that’s the best reason to hack down 20 or 30 mature trees and kick ‘em to the curb. Maybe a good power washing would be more cost effective? Those trees provided so much shelter from the sweltering summer sun. So often during the summer, Id comment to anyone who’d listen as to how much shade they provided. At any rate, we had to shift our whole operation today about a half a block south and do His thing a little differently. The main thing for us though was to remember that we have a distinct reason for being there. One of the things that got us down to that corner in the first place was the fact that doing something like this would get us out of our comfort zone. Well guess what’s kind of happened for us over the past couple of years? We’d perhaps fallen into a bit of a comfort zone on that very corner. How bizarre is that? And now we had to remove ourselves from that comfort zone, that place that we’ve been able to call home for a few hours each week for the past couple of years and rethink how we were going to do it. Funny, that. So today I made a point of not over thinking it. Oh we had lots of different opinions on what we should do. How we should set things up. Where we should set things up. One individual was fairly persistent in voicing his opinion. I’ll leave that for another day. Anyway, we got going right about our normal time and things went very well. Funny how that happens when we don’t try to over think things. I mean, it’s not like we have any control over this stuff. We simply need to be the hands and feet. Definitely not the brain. Not my strong suit for sure.

So it was a pretty normal Sunday. If anything associated with this thing qualifies as normal. I mean, what is normal? Pretty ambiguous term really. Here’s the thing. I’ve gotten to know about a couple hundred or more people over the past couple of years. People I definitely would not have become acquainted with otherwise. And it all happened under a stand of trees in a park in downtown Omaha. Right across the street from the office I where I work. And in the same vicinity where literally tens of millions of dollars are being spent tearing down existing buildings so tens and sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars can be spent erecting brand new condo and office towers. Yet each and every Sunday I have people, adults mind you, asking me for help acquiring new shoes. Needing a winter coat. Winter boots. Socks. And there are probably tons of things we haven’t even thought of yet. The dichotomy is bizarre to me. I mean this thing we do can be so simple. I used a young lady’s report a few weeks ago to display what others see in this thing we do every week. She came today with the most amazing poster board presentation. And on the outside, around the edges of the tri-fold poster that she’d constructed were the following lyrics to a popular song…"If everyone cared and nobody cried, If everyone loved and nobody lied, If everyone shared and swallowed their pride, Then we'd see the day when nobody died…". I guess I look around and wonder what this crazy world would look like if everyone maybe cared just a little more. Even back to the doggone trees. As I read her presentation, and I have to tell you she did an amazing job on this thing, I was amazed at what she was able to capture with just a few well placed pictures and a few well written words. And the fact that we’ve gathered under those trees weekly for almost two years without fail had me feeling a little sad about the fact that our weekly gatherings were now going to be different. No more shade in the summer when the sun is beating us down. And more importantly, no more shade for our friends. Now I’ve seen artist renderings of what the corner will look like when it’s completed and I’m actually mildly excited about the prospects. But do we really need to spend a truckload of money on something that was fine to begin with when there is so much need right here in our city? I simply hope that they don’t attempt to move us to a different part of the city like they do our homeless friends. Because I don’t think we’re going anywhere. And I pray that they don’t ask us to leave. We’ll cross that bridge when and if necessary, but needless to say, we are in for the long haul. I had to make sure our friends knew that today. Seems that someone told them last week we wouldn’t be there. So I made sure to reiterate that unless they hear it directly from Robin or myself, or they happen to catch Gabriel steppin’ out on a cloud blowin’ that sweet, sweet sound, then they should be there. Because, the Lord willing, we’ll be there.

So it feels almost like an old friend is gone today. Not to be overly dramatic, but it just seemed odd as I looked at Mickaela’s presentation and looked at the pictures and just thought back to all the crazy things that have happened on that corner. And that is strictly from a selfish standpoint. That doesn’t even take into account the feelings I get when thinking about how our friends have now lost yet another place to escape from the heat and whatever other weather is thrown at them. I guess what it boils down to for me is I really don’t like change. Especially change that I have no say in. As if I have any say so in anything anyway. I’m sure this will turn out well. I even said as much to several people today. In fact I can’t wait to see what changes they have in store for us on that corner. But since it was the place where we made our first attempt at this sort of thing, the place where we first felt led to do His work and the place where we now have so many memories, I’ll always have a soft spot for it. Thankfully, we have lots of pictures. And now we’ll have to make new memories. With our friends and family. On 14 and Douglas. Every Sunday at noon.

And my friend Eric asked me a strange question today. The question went something like this…"Dave, you know how when someone thanks you for something and you point upward? What do people in Australia do in that case?" And I think he was mildly serious. I had no answer…I just laughed.

Peace and have a great and blessed week.

Make a difference.

…it matters to that one… :)

Just gotta do something?

So today was another spectacular day to be downtown in the park. Hanging out with our friends. Weather was great. Food was great. A couple hundred services or more of enchiladas, Spanish rice, and all the fixings that go along with a meal like that. And the Youth Group from St. Vincent DePaul Church came down and brought enough deserts to choke a stable of horses! Amazing how that works. They were great to have down there too. Something about young kids and a desire to help and their desire to be on fire for His causes. I talked to one young lady who expressed her amazement at what was going on down there. She mentioned that her youth group was going to try to do something monthly. I’m not sure if she meant they were going to come and serve with us monthly or not. But she was so convinced that she needed to come down more often. It’s so cool to see younger folks who get it. There is a huge problem in our city and I don’t k now how to address the issue as it relates to solving the problem. But I know that we can all do a little something to show we care. If everyone did a little something…

There was another couple who came down today and I believe they were with the youth group. I believe the lady works at Creighton University here in Omaha. Her words, and I have to paraphrase, were that she simply could not believe something like this could be happening in our own city. That there was a homelessness problem of this proportion right here in our city. Creighton is in the middle of spending millions of dollars purchasing buildings in the area north of downtown and east of their campus. She said she couldn’t believe that they were spending all that money and what are we doing for the people of our city? Now this conversation was relayed to me, but I have to believe that’s not an uncommon perception. I just don’t think people realize the extent of the problem in this city as it relates to homelessness and poverty. Again, if everyone just did a little something…

Last Thursday, Robin and I had a change to share the story of what God is doing in His ministry work, through us, in the downtown community. We had the opportunity to share with a group called Metro Marketplace Ministry. It’s a group who works to connect others in the business community to share Christ in the workplace. So we were able to share what God is doing in our lives and in the downtown community as we see it. One of the more interesting things that came of this meeting, at least to me, was the following story that was shared with us. After we spoke, a younger fellow shared a story with us. He mentioned that he knew one of the fellows that was in our video. Has known him for a few years now. And I wrote of this guy, unknowingly, a few weeks ago. Seems this guy comes over into Omaha from Council Bluffs every Sunday morning and gives our friend John a small donation. 5 bucks. 10 bucks. 20 bucks. Whatever he can spare I suppose. A few weeks ago, he had to navigate a field to find John. Seems John had overslept. I wrote about this already, so I’ll spare the details. The point of it all? Well, first of all, John is agnostic. So he doesn’t quite share our views on Christianity. Yet his friend that comes over every week is Christian. As are we. And John knows that. Not because we beat him up with the Gospel every week. Not because we hold our friends captive each week as we preach a message. That just doesn’t happen. We pray together. And even our agnostic friends respect that. At least outwardly. Now I like John a lot and we’ve had a couple of conversations around this whole thing. But even though our views are different when it comes to what we believe, John definitely knows what we believe. And he respects it. So at our meeting last week, this fellow speaks of John and we now know who John’s Sunday friend is. This is the guy that John has told us about. The guy that shows up each week with a bit of help for John. And John has told him about us. And said that we needed to hook up. This just struck me because Robin and I both knew who he was talking about without a name being mentioned. So in all of it, some things become a little clearer to me. The simple fact that His Word never goes out void. I know that might be the pat answer from a Christian perspective, but I believe it with all I know. And when our actions are His actions, that speaks pretty loudly also. So even though we preach no message to our friends on Sundays, they know where it all comes from, and it certainly ain’t from us. So it was interesting to say the least, that this guy would relate this story to us and confirm what God is always impressing upon us. If we will simply go out and attempt to be a bit of His light in a dark spot, He will indeed shine through us to the point that people will maybe see a glimpse of Him. Now don’t get me wrong. I could screw up a one man funeral if given the right opportunity. But that’s the great thing about working for the Big Guy Himself. We don’t have to worry about the small stuff. He takes care of it. And give us confirmation if we are only willing to listen. We just have to do something. It doesn’t have to be this huge "outreach" project. It simply has to be something from the heart and something that is done to glorify and honor God. We know if our hearts are right, He’ll lead it and in a way that will constantly and consistently blow our doors in. That’s just how He works. Just gotta do a little something…

Finally, I met a couple fellows from the University of Nebraska at Omaha today. They are from Campus Crusade for Christ. I think they just happened upon us today. But they were amazed at what they saw. They were talking to a few of our friends and they told them to come over and introduce themselves to me. We had a great conversation and of course I asked them to do a coat drive for us. Or a sock drive. Or a whatever drive. Just do something. I think they will. Because this isn’t our thing. It’s His thing. And everyone can get involved and help out in someway. It’s not about the socks or the coats or the meal. I know I’ve mentioned that on several occasions, but I mean it. It’s not about that stuff. It’s about His stuff. And it’s about us taking ownership of a problem in our city that isn’t going away anytime soon if we don’t all chip in a do a little something. For instance we learned this week that the city is considering removing all the trees from the park to alleviate a growing problem. I know I’m going off on a tangent here, but hang with me. So they are trying to rid this park of a growing problem. You want to know what the problem is? Bird poop. Yep, bird poop. That’s the official explanation. But you know what those trees provide? Cover from the heat in the summer for our friends. But they are also a nesting place for starlings. Lots of them. So instead of addressing that problem, let’s just remove the trees from the park. Wouldn’t want "trees" in a "park" now would we? Or maybe they don’t want our friends to have a place to go to get out of the summer heat. Look, I know it’s a problem. But how about addressing the real problem here? So we remove the trees and the homeless guys are just going to disappear? Probably not. So I’m talking to the guys from Campus Crusade and they are in. They want to help in some tangible way. They say they’ll contact us at some point. I wonder if they know any tree huggers? :) We might need to enlist a group to help. I don’t think Robin is going to go down without a fight on this one. We both kind of laughed at the description in the paper the other day. Seems with all the bird poop, the local business community can’t enjoy a "lunch alfresco" in the park because of the stench. I don’t know. We enjoy a "lunch alfresco" (whatever that is) every Sunday at noon. Along with 150 or so of our friends. Doesn’t seem to bother any of us...

Peace and have a great and blessed week.

Go out and make a difference.

…it matters to that one… :)

Mickaela's Report

Occasionally I get the great opportunity to actually see or hear the perspective of another individual as to what they see when they experience this thing that happens for us each week. This thing that becomes a Sunday event for us and that is an absolute blessing to my family and many others. It’s easy to take it for granted, this weekly ordeal that we are blessed to be a small part of. I spend a few hours each Sunday morning in the garage getting stuff ready. Robin spends a few hours preparing her part of the meal, while others do the same in their own kitchen to prepare a meal for 200 or so of our friends. The kids all help out in various ways. We show up on a downtown street corner and spend a few hours doing what He leads us to do. It all works. And after doing this thing for almost two years now, you sort of get in a groove. Needs change as the seasons change. But one thing that will never change for me is the Reason. To serve and to offer the opportunity for others to do the same. That is and always has been one of the primary reasons we do this thing. We get the most amazing opportunity each and every week to show up and serve an amazing God and some pretty amazing people. One of the cool things that happens on occasion is the opportunity to hear from someone else. What does a person see and feel as they experience a Sunday at 14th and Douglas?

Recently a young lady and her family began serving with us each Sunday. She initially joined us as a requirement for service hours related to her upcoming confirmation. One of the requirements was a report on her service. One thing I’d like to state - she mentions that it was "by chance" that she came across Starfish Ministry. I’d like to think it was not "by chance" at all. :) This young lady was kind enough to allow me to use her report this week in my blog. Enough words from me. This is Mickaela's Report…

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I had been thinking about switching my community service hours to another organization. The one I started my hours at was really not that great. I didn’t feel like I was helping that much. Sure, I did the stocking and sorting they asked me to; but the people who worked there were not very friendly. It was by chance I came across Starfish Ministry. I read a post on a home school information board by a group that fed the homeless people in downtown Omaha and they needed some help. It has always made me sad that some people are homeless. I thought it would be a more hands-on way of helping so I decided to give it a try. And, I’m so glad I did!

Starfish Ministry’s mission is to "work to provide a hand-up for people in the Omaha area. By meeting some basic physical needs, building relationships, and imitating the love of Christ, we seek to provide hope in otherwise hopeless situations." The ministry basically runs out of founders, Dave and Robin Laney’s, Papillion home. They can be contacted at the website: starfishministry.com. The best way to get involved with Starfish Ministry would be to contact the Laney’s to see what is most needed that week. Perhaps you could donate food or help serve the meal downtown. If you only wanted to donate there is a list of items to donate on their website. Any help big or little is appreciated and goes directly to the homeless who need it most.

The Laney’s are fabulous people. Over the last month while I worked my Confirmation service hours it has been so interesting to watch them interact and help their Sunday Friends. They clearly are examples of people who live their faith. Their trust in God, no matter what their Sunday Friends throw at them is unyielding.

Two years ago, after moving to Omaha from Charlotte, North Carolina, The Laney’s were searching for a church or a faith community to belong to. They felt the call to do God’s work but not the right place to do it yet. They remembered back to their days in Charlotte where they were part of a group who fed the homeless in downtown Charlotte. They wondered if something like they did there would work here. So two years ago one cold November day the Laney’s took a pot of soup, a small table, and their warm hearts to the corner of 14th & Douglas to share a meal with those who needed one.

Inspired by God’s Will, the Laney’s truly believed this idea would work here. They could reach out to the homeless regardless of the person’s problems and provide them a home cooked meal, a caring ear to simply listen to them, and to share God’s grace and love in their life.

There were some struggles in the beginning. Keeping a meal warm- outside- in Nebraska’s cold winters is very challenging. Another struggle they faced in the beginning was getting the homeless, or "Sunday Friends," (as they call them) to trust them. It took time to get to know their new friends and their stories. The Laney’s knew this was so much bigger then themselves and God would provide for their needs to help these people.

Over the last two years of serving their Sunday Friends every weekend, the Laney’s had some good and bad memories to share. The saddest memories they deal with is death. The death of any of their Sunday Friends deeply affects them. I know they realize God has a plan for everyone and that even in death His Will will be done. But being human, one can’t help but second guess or wonder "What if…"

Mr. Laney shared with me one of his best memories. As he was preparing for the day and driving downtown, he kept praying to God that he needed a miracle today; he needed something really good to happen- he needed a miracle. When they arrived downtown the day went like they usually do. As they were packing up to go home, one of their Sunday Friends came up to him. This particular friend had just graduated from an alcohol rehabilitation program. He was hollering at Mr. Laney that he had to show him something. He came over and showed Mr. Laney a coin he received when he graduated from rehab. On the coin it said, "I’m a miracle!"

Serving the homeless with Starfish Ministry was a great experience for my confirmation service hours. This experience required me to get out of my "comfort zone" and learn to appreciate a group of people in our community who really just need a hand-up. I enjoyed serving the meals and drinks to all of them. They definitely are colorful characters. They are thankful for a warm, home cooked meal and a friendly face. I know they have all arrived on the corner of 14th & Douglas for different reasons. Whatever their choices are that have brought them there today is not really important. It’s the fact that they simply are there.

It was a little uncomfortable at first. I could not really relate to their situation. I have a home; I have food to eat whenever I want to; I have a family- but, I could listen to them. And often, that is all they need. I can serve them a good home-cooked meal. And, that always brightens their mood! I can learn to care for them. Because that, is what Jesus calls us to do.

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Thanks Mickaela. And I thank God for you and your family because without Him and families like yours, none of this is possible. It does indeed make a difference.

Matthew 25:37-40 Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Peace and have a great and blessed week.

Go out and make a difference.

…it matters to that one… :)

Don’t thank me…

"Thanks Dave". Seems like I hear those words about a hundred times or more every Sunday. Thanks Dave. Thanks for the socks. Thanks for the shoes. Thanks for the meal. Thanks for the…whatever. The thing is I try to emphasize that it isn’t me. It isn’t us. And the funnier thing is I’m starting to get the same responses from different people. "Thank both of you". Now that’s one I like. I don’t want, for one second, anyone giving me thanks for anything I do on Sunday or any other day for that matter. I certainly don’t deserve thanks. I most especially don’t want it. I simply wish for our friends to know from where it all comes. Whenever anyone thanks me for anything? I simply tell them to not. Please. I’m simply the one that does a little of the leg work. The tool as my friend Bill once said. Others have called me much worse. A tool? In some places that has a pretty negative connotation. In this case? I’ll take it. I’ll be an instrument of the Lord any day. Because there is no one I’d rather serve. And each time I get the opportunity to give someone a pair of socks or pray with someone on that corner I’m reminded just how blessed I really am.

Here’s yet another crazy story, to me anyway. I met a couple today. Richard and Miranda. Never seen them before. As it turns out, I’m guessing I’ll never see them again. They show up on our corner today. After sleeping in some bushes last night. Hey, they found some cardboard to make things a little more comfortable. For whatever reason, it’s getting cooler here a little early this year. We actually had long sleeves on yesterday at Nick’s football game. So I’m guessing sleeping under the bushes by the Omaha Children’s Museum last night was a little frosty. Now these guys don’t know this city. How they got there last night I have no idea. What happens when you get off a bus in a strange city? Do you go looking for the most comfortable bushes you can find? Not in this case. The came in from Sioux City yesterday. Seems a church there was able to help them get as far as Omaha. I guess it costs a little more to get to Austin than to Omaha? Obviously. But let me back up a bit. This couple was visiting family in South Dakota. They had driven up with friends from Austin, Texas. On the way back, the friends were arrested in Sioux City, Iowa. Now why the friends would even go through Sioux City when they had outstanding warrants in that city is for another time, but they did. So they get arrested, therefore stranding this couple there. So they get a little help and show up in Omaha yesterday. They try their luck at the shelter, but it seems they forgot to pack there marriage certificate for this trip. I do that all the time! Doggone marriage certificate. I wouldn’t know where ours is. And the shelter needs a marriage certificate to put them up together. Rules. So the shelter offers them separate quarters. Only thing is they can only give her an upper bunk. And it seems Miranda has a medical condition which causes her to have seizures. Not a good combination. Seizures and an upper bunk. Bad combo. Oh and someone from the shelter, who shall go unnamed, offered to help with bus tickets. Told them to wait out front and she’d get back to them. After about an hour and a half, said person left for the day out the back door. No explanation or anything. Seems she was going to try to get a local church to pay for the tickets. The church turned them down for some reason. So they weren’t having much luck. Somehow, they showed up on our corner today. I met them in the line. They asked if we could help. We? Oh, you mean the both of us? Well, get a bite to eat and we’ll chat after things settle down a little. That’s a pretty pat answer for me. Lots of people seem to need to talk. To both of us. :) So they mentioned their situation and I told them to give me some time and "we’d" see if we could do anything. So, after we got the trailer loaded up, I spent a bit of time talking to Richard and Miranda. I sometimes wonder, when people I’ve never met before, begin to tell me of their circumstances if they are really being square with me. It’s so hard not to be cynical sometimes. But if "we" have the money, and we’ve been blessed with various donations, how can we not help. But I have to admit, it’s a real struggle for me sometimes. So anyway we make arrangements to get the bus tickets for them and get them on their way. They leave Omaha at 7:45 tonight and get to Austin tomorrow afternoon. Now I wouldn’t wish that bus trip on anyone, but I’m guessing this couple will take it. Look, I can’t imagine being stranded in a strange city. Sleeping under a bush. On a piece of cardboard. And wondering if I’d ever get back and how? I cannot imagine.

I had a fellow come up to me today and tell me the funniest thing, yet it was pretty awesome at the same time. Robert is an older fellow who had started coming down in recent months. I’m really not sure how long he’s been coming down and I think he has an apartment nearby. He stopped me today to tell me some news. He pulls me close and tells me he joined the Lord today. Joined the Lord? That’s the first time I’ve heard it described quite like that. He said he had to. I told him he was absolutely right. He did have to. And I fully intend on joining up with him in coming weeks to hear how his "joining" is going! Joined the Lord! I like that one.

And finally, and this has absolutely nothing to do with anything, but it was a moment we’ll be talking about in our family for a while, no doubt. We leave the downtown area today and we’re heading south. We’d stopped at my Mom’s house for a few minutes on the way home and were leaving South Omaha. Heading down 13th Street. As we passed through an intersection, I noticed a flock of birds clearing the road and thought I might hit one of them. Guess I should have thought differently. As they flew close to the front of the van, I was very suddenly aware of the fact that something had come in through the window of the van and grazed the top of my rather large melon. A baby bird had flown right smack in the window, took a glancing blow off my head and landed inside on the back window of the van. Now it all happened rather quickly, and by the time I turned around to see exactly what the heck had just grazed me, the neighbor girl who made the trip with us downtown today was standing in her seat, screaming in a vain attempt to avoid this crazy bird. She was terrified! And the bird flies across to Christian’s side and bounces of his window. I’m looking back, trying to figure this all out and of course I’m driving the van. While looking back. And did I mention we are in the middle of a construction zone? One lane either direction. So I might have crossed a front, left tire into the oncoming lane for a second or two. I did get notice from the truck that was coming from the other direction that this game of chicken was going to end pretty quickly if one of us didn’t do something differently. So I get back into my lane and the bird finds a place in the back of the van. We are able to stop a ways up the road once we’d cleared all the pylons and construction cones and free this crazy bird. Don’t know the moral of this one, just a crazy moment and one we’ll be talking about for a while.

So, aside from the bird incident, it was a great day. Another opportunity to be the wall-less, door-less, roof-less open air "building" that this thing has become. And when I got a call from Richard and Miranda a few minutes ago thanking me for the chance to get home? Well, I simply told them not to thank me.

Thank God.

Peace and have a great and blessed week.

Go out and make a difference.

…it matters to that one… :)