Waking up in a Graveyard

Every week I have the pleasure of spending some time with Gary. Gary is a friend of mine who I see once a week at the homeless food/clothing shelter. He's a brilliant guy and before the recession, he was the manager for a parts supply company. Since I have known him we have only had a surface relationship. Usually we just swap stories about how our week went and catch up, but this particular day was going to be different:

You see, this week I saw that Gary was wearing a Dallas Cowboys hat.

I thought I would ask him to come over to watch the game with me. He seemed a bit uncomfortable with the idea and told me, "I don't think that is a good idea, your family doesn't want a bum like me hangin around".

Gary, like most homeless people, has lost most of his self-confidence. After losing your marriage, job, home, car and everything else you once called your own, you might lose confidence in yourself as well... I bugged him until we finally settled on the idea that I would pick him up at the Dallas Public Library and we would just go to a restaurant to hang out and watch the game.

I met him at the library and we walked downtown to Campisi's. The place was pretty empty and we got a table right infront of the tv. We ordered a couple of drinks and as the first quarter of the game started, so did our conversations. Gary told me about his life and how he had given up on everything once he lost his job. He said his family was dead, except for his sister, but she lived too far away and was too poor to help him out all the time. Gary doesn't smoke, he doesn't drink, he doesn't do drugs, he is not mentally ill, and he doesn't enjoy being around the majority of this population at the shelters either. So he stays outside... by himself. For three years he has lived this way. He is stuck in the homeless rutt.

After the game, I told him I would get him a place to stay for the night because it was around 25 degrees. He wouldn't have any part of that conversation. He simply said, "It is degrading enough that you took me out to eat, there is no way I can let you do anything else". I responded, "Gary, I was just hanging out and watching the game with a good friend.. nothing shameful in that!" He told me that it was one of the only times he has sat down and eaten a meal in a restaurant since becoming homeless and he couldn't even remember the last time he was able to watch the Cowboys game on a tv, he usually just reads about the game in the paper the following day.

I gave Gary a ride "home" and I will never forget this moment of my life:

As we drove to the other side of Dallas (around the Fair Park area) Gary told me that he hears gunshots on a daily basis. "I am the only white person in this area and I used to get messed with, but they don't mess with me anymore because they figured out I don't ever have any money or drugs", He said. We finally pulled over where his "spot" was... in a graveyard. This is where he sleeps every night and this is where he wakes up every morning. Day after day. He told me that this was the most dangerous area of Dallas, so he usually rides the bus around until about 1 a.m. then comes to this area to sleep and wakes up about 4 a.m. so that he avoids any contact with dangerous people.


Gary needs help getting an ID card, assistance with a resume, minutes for his Virgin Mobile phone, a job and some good friends. Contact me if you would like to get involved.

Happy Feet: INDIA

read the email from Thomas at the bottom!

Well I should be getting up in just a few hours but I woke up and can't go back to sleep. This story is on my heart so I figured I would share-

Every saturday morning for the past 4 months or so, I have been at Cornerstone's ex-liquor store spending time with my homeless friends and making sure they have a full belly... But I have not been alone.

A group of us, dubbed "Saturday Servants", have decided to completely dedicate our saturdays to serving "the least of these". We start out with a group prayer meeting at Starbucks, then head to downtown Dallas to visit with our homeless friends (about 200), and drive to an apartment complex a few miles away to an area where newly arrived Bhutanese refugees live (about 600) to teach ESL and cultural training classes. Our day is typically from about 9:30 am - 6 pm and we LOVE it. Each week we have requests for new team members who want to get involved!

For the past couple of weeks we have been missing one of our Servants. His name is Thomas. Thomas is one of a kind. We have absolutely nothing in common on this earth besides the fact that we both l-o-v-e people.

So, where is Thomas?

Well one day about 6 weeks ago he met a young pastor who had a passion for India. Thomas has been to several countries in Africa, works for an organization called "Village Medicine" and has personally raised over $60k for orphanages in Uganda, but he had never been to India. This young pastor said that they needed Thomas to join the team and, despite my doubts, he raised the money for the trip in less than 3 weeks! ::wow::

He is anything but a "doubting thomas". In fact, sometimes I think that he is overzealous simply to prove that the 'mustard seed-sized faith' theory is true and I won't be surprised if he literally sees a mountain move before his eyes while he is in India.


Here is an email I received yesterday from Thomas via Facebook, it is the middle of the afternoon right now in India.. I wonder what he is up to..

Thomas Woodall January 15 at 10:47am

Omg! Today we went to the red light area to work with the "eunuchs," some actually are and some I would label transsexual. God gave me so much peace, I was more nervious going into the childrens home than the red light area. The people they are working with, no one loves. It's such a taboo, not matter what country your in. I love that they are there and present to share God with them! I have so many thoughts, Its hard not being able to express them I words.

The childrens home is, of course, amazing! Beautiful kids, 10 have HIV/AIDS. I also have so many thoughts on this as well. There is one named songi, he is HIV positive and was found in the streets with his insides hanging out. They brought him back and nursed Jim back to "health" or the closest thing to it. He is so small and skinny, with a hard sad face. But he is so amazing, he would sit in my lap all day, but I also have to be with the other kids. He loves to just be with us, and it's so emotional on many levels.

Thanks for all your prayers!

Tell everyone I said hi!


::All with the faith of a mustard seed to get him there. Happy Feet.::

Invisible People

China

China has been on my heart lately. I returned from a "vision trip" in June and have not thought much about a return trip. About a week ago I started having dreams about China. I thought nothing of it. Two nights ago, I was driving home at 11pm and an overwhelming feeling came over me to call the President of our missions organization and tell him "China is going to happen". Even though we do not have plans for a return trip, funding, or team members, I truly felt for no other reason besides the Spirit showing me, "China WILL happen". Today I attended church. After the service I was having casual conversation with a friend about how I have felt about China. He told me he had been feeling the same way. He said he knew of several people who would like to join a mission team to China. Since that time, I have had several people contact me about this trip. Some have previously travelled to China up to 7 times, others have never been.

I am not positive on where the Spirit is leading this, but for only the second time in my short life as a Christian, I feel overwhelmed that the Spirit of God is doing something that I had absolutely no part in accomplishing on my own.

China is a very sad land of oppression and mind-control. These people are desperate for hope and understand a happiness beyond the glory this world has to offer. The area of China which has been on my heart is a remote area high in the Himalayan mountains in Tibet. This is one of the most beautiful places on earth and filled with beautiful, peaceful Tibetan people. The only problem is they have not heard the name of Jesus.

If you would like to participate in this trip you can do so by contacting me through this blog, or contacting a "To Every Nation" team member at www.toeverynation.net

Go, Send or Disobey

Hillsong United

A little while ago I found this quote but as I read it, I realized it was something that I could not walk away from unchanged. This quote demanded action. It changed my way of thinking. It transformed the way I choose to both see and treat people. It pushed me out of life as I know it and encouraged me to live bigger.



It was written by an advisor to the Roman emperor in 137AD. The man whom wrote these word was not a Christian himself but was clearly changed by the way of life Christians choose to live by.



This is what he said...



"It is the Christians, oh Emperor, Who have sought and found the truth, for they acknowledge God. They do not keep for themselves the goods entrusted to them. They do not covet what belongs to others. They show love to their neighbours. They do not do to another what they would not wish to have done to themselves. They speak gently to those who oppress them, and in this way they make them their friends. It has become their passion to do good to their enemies. They live in the awareness of their smallness. Anyone of them who has anything gives ungrudgingly to the one who has nothing. If they see a travelling stranger, they bring him under their roof. They rejoice over him as a real brother, for they do not call one another brothers out of the flesh, but they know that they are brothers in the spirit and in God. If they hear that one of them is imprisoned or oppressed for the sake of Christ, they take care of all his needs. If possible, they set him free. If anyone among them is poor or comes into want while they themselves have nothing to spare, they fast two or three days for him. In this way they can supply any poor man with the food he needs. This O Emperor, is the rule of life of the Christians, and this is their manner of life." (Aristides - 137AD)



As I read this, it made me think as to what our giving looks like today... If you were to define this generation of Christians, would that be said about our giving?



In our society it is so easy to draw back, to hold on to what we have, or even just to give a little but make sure it doesn't hurt. But that was never our mandate! We have been called to give out of a grace that first loved us. Not out of compulsion but inspired by the greatest giver of all, to do so with love and a compelling generosity.



We can so easily get caught up in the conveniences of society and forget that by living in them we are often neglecting the world at the same time. We need to grab hold of this teaching once again and run with it, allow it to become our passion and mandate.

Oh how He loves US