So today, we ALL had a snow day; Laura, Hudson and myself.
We all had things we wanted/needed to do. But now we are stuck. At first I was mad. This was screwing up my plans. Then I got a new set of plans…shoveling, listening to music, reading books and magazines, and just being together under one roof. And you know what?
It’s fantastic.
Tomorrow, they will have a grip on the road, I board a plane (wheels up at 6:45!), and we will go back to the race that is called life.
But for today, Mother Nature, God, the universe (insert your understanding here) decided to slow us down, give us a break and help us hit the reset button on life…
“I can be content in all things…”
I’m tryin’…
AfterHours Denver spent Christmas doing the third annual Christmas in the Park. We joined more than half a dozen other churches handing out to the homeless toothbrushes, tooth paste, socks, gloves, hats, sleeping bags and backpacks. Denver Post covered it. Very cool. We served over 200 of the cities homeless and had over 170 volunteers.
In this day when we hear so many bad things about the church, it was kinda cool to be a part of something with other churches that, when they came together, did something amazing.
In the last few days I witnesses something extraordinary. I watched a community of normal people come together and do something that government, non profits and even the church couldn’t do.
We kept one single mom with three kids from being homeless.
We tried the other routes. We called Catholic charities, local agencies and even some mega churches with multimillion dollar budgets. There was no money anywhere. At least it looked that way. We had three days to come up with over $800.
Now the truth is, I know a few wealthy people who could have made that happen. But I wanted to try an experiment. I wanted to see regular people come together to perform a modern day miracle, and I wanted to do it in a very public way.
I went to Facebook.
I asked people to watch…and participate in a Christmas miracle.
I asked 34 people to give $25 each. If we got people to do that, we would have our money. I hit “send” and waited…
For about 2 minutes.
Then the “pledges” stared coming in…
“I’m in” said the first one. “grabbing my checkbook now” said another. One said, “thanks for letting me take part in the miracle.”
In about 3 hours we not only had her rent but enough money for groceries and a few presents under the tree.
Miracles still happen…. And not in some “magic” way. It happened because normal people care.
Always have. Always will.
Merry Christmas to all.
Thanksgiving was fantastic this year. Laura, Hudson and I spent time with some of our closes friends and had a great time. Prior to going over to there house we went to Civic Center Park and handed out thermals to the parks homeless community.
Now I’m not a fan of guilt…I think for the most part it is a useless emotion and I have seen it used as a weapon by the church for years. I suppose there are times it can be useful, but it can be misused so easily. Having said that, it was a weird vibe to one hour be handing out underwear to people that are living outdoors and trying everything in their power to stay warm on cold Denver nights and, just a few hours later, be drinking Sidecars and eating deviled eggs with caviar on top. The juxtaposition of the two moments so close together was reason to give me pause.
I don’t know much, but of these two things I’m certain: a few people slept warmer last night and I need to get back on Weight Watchers today. Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Today was just another day of learning from my friends without homes. I honestly, didn’t feel like going down to the park. We got a big snow, I didn’t know what the roads were like and honestly, it was cold out. But I jumped in the car, grabbed some burgers and socks and headed down. When I got there, they were standing in the cold…smiling. They were so thankful for a McDonalds cheeseburger and a pair of athletic socks. One of our friends said, “You need to know my wife and survive on the food you hand out. Can’t thank you all enough.”
So if you are keeping score at home…the homeless have taught me generosity and gratitude….all in about the last 10 days….
Didn’t learn that much in seminary…
