The Amazing Nancy May 19, 2007

Today we worked with New York city Relief, which is a bus that goes around to different parks in the city and hands out food, clothes, and prays with people. It is a great organization that is based out of Elizabeth, New Jersey and travels to NYC in their soup making, kitchen equipped, clothes distributing bus. I had the pleasure of talking with a lady named Nancy. Let me start by saying that she is a very special lady! She came to the bus to get some hot soup. As she was signing the sign in sheet, I asked if there was anything she needed prayer for. She replied,

“Oh, honey there are so many things I need prayer for”.

She then went on to tell me a little bit about her life. She has suffered from a drug addiction for many, many years and is in the process of detoxing. She has been clean and sober for almost a year. She then went on to explain that is through the grace of God that she was able to find her sobriety. She was able to come to know Jesus through the bus ministry. She is now in the process of helping her husband of 25 years detox.

Nancy is an incredible person because she is willing to admit there is a problem and she has the courage to do something about it. She draws her strength from God and he has proved to be faithful. She said that she cries in the mornings in the shower because things have been so tough, but God gives her the strength to face each day. She said she had to hit rock bottom until she finally cried out to God, but he was right there to meet her. She didn’t have to go anywhere fancy or do anything special. He came to her once she was ready to come to him. He wants to do that for you to, so what are you waiting for? Go to him and let him meet you,  if you haven’t already. And if you have come to him before continue to go to him daily because after all,  how can any of us get through the day without strength from the Lord?

Back in NYC! May 15, 2007

Well, this week I am back in NYC helping Center For Student Missions. It feel so great to be back. Once you are here it really is hard to not love it! I am excited for the opportunities I will have this week to serve in soup kitchens, after school programs, churches, and homeless shelters. It is interesting because as much as I want to bless people by serving them, I know and expect that I will probably be blessed more. It is funny how God works like that. He calls us to serve, but through that he blesses us. It is just another way we are able to see his amazing love. I will try my best to keep you posted this week on what is going on, but to begin, here is a poem

New York City

Filled with Diversity

From Street Corner to Street Corner you go

There are people you see that cling to hope

The world around is zooming by

People don’t realize to cherish the time

There is so much to see, so much to do

People miss it, don’t try anything new

They are stuck in a cycle that never ends

In the process losing family and friends

Until finally, one day they stop

They look around and they look up

There is the answer they have always seeked

They couldn’t find it anywhere else, not home, not work, not the busy street

A Fathers loving arms they are surrounded by

Finally there is a purpose for their busy life

No matter how magnificent or amazing a place is it is nothing, absolutely nothing without knowing the peace and joy of Christ’s Love. No matter where you are, whether it is Po-dunk town, Kansas or Brooklyn, NY people need Jesus.

A Band Shelter Community… May 2, 2007

Today I sat at my desk working away to the sounds of thunder, rain and flashes of lightening. It was a major spring rain storm and nothing could have made me happier. I love thunderstorms. When I was younger we lived in a house that had a tin roof over the back patio and my favorite thing was to fall asleep to the sound of the rain on the tin roof. Now rainstorms make me smile for another reason. They remind me of a time that myself and a dozen other strangers quickly became apart of a little community…

My first week in New York last summer I was participating in Staff training week. This week consisted of learing our way around the NY subway system and team building. My favorite day of that week happened when we were doing some training in Central Park. We were all gathered in a circle discussing the wonderful jobs of a city host when all of a sudden out of nowhere the sky opened up and started to pour. Here in Colorado there is usually some sort of warning before it starts to really pour. Usually it spinkles a little and thunders a few times giving everyone a fair chance to take shelter. This is not the case in NY. There was no warning, no time to get inside, the sky open up and poured. We all instantly grabed our things and ran as fast as we could to the first thing we saw… a band shelter. We were not the only ones who did this. Dozens of other people soon appeared from different parts of the park and were dashing for the shelter. It poured and poured for about an hour and half all we could do was sit there and watch it. Sounds boring, right. It was the best afternoon ever!

          

 The community was made up of chess players, card players, couples in love, mom’s and their kids, let’s call him an entrepenuer that tried to sell everything he could get his hands on and a saxophone player. The saxophone player serenaded us all as we sat and watched the rain. It was amazing.

For that brief hour and a half we were all brought together. We were forced to stop and take a breather from the busy hustle and bustle of NYC, of life. The rain was beautiful. We were able to take time to appreciate it. We talked to people we never even would’ve looked at and laughed becaue what else were we going to do, we were stuck. Sure we had plans that were suppose to fill that hour and keep us busy. But how great it was just to stop and relax. Just to stop and sit. Just to stop and appreciate the people around us and the creation around us. Sometimes we need to just stop more often and look around. I am probably one of the people most guilty of this, but we get so caught up in our life that we miss out on it. We are so busy thinking about what we are going to do next or how we are going to make it better for us in the future that we miss the now. I was forced to stop and it was one of the greatest hour and a half ever. Why don’t I just stop more often? Why don’t you?

“God Loves Me Too”? February 9, 2007

Today I was sitting at Starbucks (I know big surprise there) and I was remembering this past summer. Many of you know I spent the summer in New York City working with an organization called Center for Student Missions (www.csm.org). I was a city host and led high school groups that came on mission trips around the city. I loved every second of it. It was an amazing experience.

 Today, specifically, I was remembering a homeless guy that we met in Thompkin Square Park. We had just finished dinner at my favorite restaurant Sonar Gaow and did not finish all our food so the group I was hosting that week decided they want to pack it up to find someone to give it to. I thought it was a great idea and knew that at that time there were a lot of homeless that gathered in the park. For some reason though on this night there was not very many people in the park like I was expecting. We were about to give up and head to the subway to go home when we saw an older man sitting on a bench. Two of the girls from the group approached him with the food and said, “Here we want you to have this and we want you to know that God loves you”.

 The man looked up at them with tears in his eyes and said, “God loves me too? I have done so many terrible things there is no way that God loves me too”. None of us were expecting an opportunity like this, but God knew and I know that he brought us to the park on that night for a reason. The group went on to share the Gospel with him and explain that there was absolutely nothing that he could do to make God stop loving him.  He didn’t make a decision that we know of that night, but I know that the group had a big impact on him just by  saying “we want you to know God loves you”.

Remembering this story got me thinking. How many people do I come in contact with on a daily basis that doesn’t know God loves them? Who do I know that if I were to tell them “God loves you”, their response would be surprise.  The Message translation of Phillippians 4:3-5 says,

” Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean reveal in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you are on their side, working with them, not against them. Help them to see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute”!

 Who do I know that doesn’t know God loves them? Can those people see me celebrating God everyday? What happens if Jesus does come back today and I never tell those people that God loves them and has an amazing gift for them?

What about you? Who in your life needs to hear the words “God loves you”. He could come back any minute. Time is running out to tell them. Don’t let any opportunity go by without telling those people “God loves you, no matter what you’ve done, no matter what you do, no matter who you are, no matter what you look like, God loves YOU and nothing can ever, ever take that away” . Aren’t you glad that you know that. Think about what it will mean to the people who don’t know it yet.  

Chipotle and Cold Stone, mmm mmm good! January 6, 2007

Tonight as we made our way via the N train to Chipotle,  we saw something very, very interesting.  It was a large rodent of some sort that was running toward us making an awful noise that sounded like: lfkajlkjflajfo, jdflajflafouf. You’d be scared if you heard that noise, wouldn’t you? We weren’t sure what to do at first so we just started running away from it.  We ran, and ran and ran, but the rodent creature thing kept coming.  It was scary. But on with the rest of the story…we finally made it to Chiptolte where we  ate some good food. We had burritos and when we were finished we talked to a very large guy who said he couldn’t even finish a whole Chipotle burrito, but we both finished ours and had chips.  He was scary too. While talking to this big guy we purchased some yummy ice creams and ate them.  Yep, thats right we ate more food. It was all very good! But then….we saw that darned rodent again.  So…. we ran. After making it back down into the Subway we safely boarded the R train back to Brooklyn.  And walked to the church we were staying in. We didn’t have to run because we left the big scary rodent back in Manhattan. Whew!

After our long journey to find food and eat it, we were quite exhausted. So we sat down for a couple hours and thought about what to do…this is what we came up with.  This story. Some is true, some is well…. a little exaggerated. But we can’t write anymore because the stupid rodent is scratching at the window now. So, we have to run again.

THE END

Have You Ever Wondered What a Cow Feels Like….? January 1, 2007

Have you ever wondered what a cow feels like? Well, I have never really wondered that my self, but I now know! You see, last night I spent the last minutes of 2006 in a holding pen. The ranchers (police officers) told their cattle (the people)exactaly where they needed to stand and when they needed to move. Where there restrooms for us to use when we needed it the most or maybe if we were hungry could you leave to get some food? NOPE! Just like cattle we just had to sit there closed in, in a pen with thousands of other people. From this experience I have to say I am glad I am not a cow, for one thing it would be wierd to have all those stomachs, but most importantly I do not like to be “herded” and told when and where I can move. : )

If you haven’t guessed by now, I went to Times Square in NYC to bring in the New Year. A friend from school, her husband, mom and sisters and I all left Conneticut around 1:00pm and arrived to Times Square around 4:00…. and then we stood very close to other people and waited. And then we waited some more, and then we waited some more. I learned something very valuable last night. America is controlled by T.V. You see, when you are watching the ball drop on T. V., it looks like the biggest party in the world going on, but really it is the smallest party in the world because only the first 100 people right in front of the stage get streamers and balloons and get to scream in the camera, when everyone else gets to pretend to be cattle all day.

Despite the cattle experience, I had a blast! The people I was with were amazing, and we found plenty of ways to entertain ourselves while we waited for 8 hours for the countdown to midnight. Just being in Times Square, I mean come on, how cool is that? Periodically throught the night we would see toilet paper hanging from one of the hotel windows that over looked Times Square and they would shoot off a fire work or two every hour to keep us entertained. We also got to participate in a count down every hour for every New Years in every time zone. I think they just did this so we could practice the real count down so that we sounded good when they showed it on T.V. All and all, Times Square on New Years Eve is the experience of a life time! Would I do it again? Not a chance, unless I had lots of money to blow on a hotel room that overlooked Times Square, then that would really be a party!