Our Last Full Sunday

I have no idea where to even begin today. It was a day I wasn’t really sure would ever come. Especially not this soon. If 3 years is soon, then this was just short of that. And what an incredible run it’s been. Nearly 3 years of meals, socks, boots, shoes, clothing, you name it, we took it down. Some of the requests we’ve had over that time were pretty comical. I guess you have to ask. But the bottom line is, God supplied every single thing we needed to keep going. Every single thing. And more importantly, he supplied his undeniable and unbelievable Love. If I can speak for my family, and I usually do, we have been so incredibly blessed to have had this opportunity. It is my prayer that if we accomplished nothing else, I pray that our friends saw the hands and feet of our Savior on that corner each week. His Skin. That through us, they were able to witness what it looks like to serve an Awesome God. Because as much as they thought we were serving them? They were mostly wrong. We were absolutely serving an Indescribable God and they were just the blessed and fortunate ones on the receiving end. Stay with me this week. Got lots to mention…

Tireless Efforts of Those Who Helped

This is where I thank all of those that have been so incredibly faithful to His mission on that corner. Those who spent countless hours preparing meals. Standing in the ridiculous, frozen, downtown wind tunnel all those winter days, serving the most awesome soup in Omaha. But is wasn’t just soup. It was a chance for anyone who wanted to help in any way to come and do just that. There were no real rules. Just make sure that if you are cooking, that it would be something that you would prepare for the best of your friends. Because it needed to be fit for a king. For THE King. And we had so many people step up to the plate in so many ways. I’d love to be able to mention each and every one of them by name, but there is just no way I could pull that off. God sent too many to mention. He’s good like that. It’s His world and He’s pretty darn good at running it. So to all of those who contributed in any way, shape or form? Our hat is off to you. So many people wanted to look to Robin and I as the reason this thing worked as well as it did. But obviously it worked as well as it did because of the tireless efforts of each and every person who spent so many Sundays serving a great God in so many amazing ways. We simply say thank you.

Wade’s Family

Almost exactly one year ago, we lost a very good friend entirely too early. Senseless is the first word that usually comes to mind when I think of Wade’s death. No answers. None. And we’ll have to wait until that final day to know the answers to these kinds of questions. That much I know. But I’m a guy who wants answers. Now. Ain’t happening. So today, a few very special people once again drove several hours to honor one of their own. From Kansas. From outstate Nebraska. From Kansas City, Missouri. To honor a fellow that left us too soon. Again, this is a deal that I’ve written about so many times. Google “Wade Sechtem” and several of the first entries you come across are related to our downtown activities and his way too early departure. So when a couple of his family members found out that this was going to be our last full Sunday on that corner, they decided to join us. I’m so thankful. Because we are forever connected now. When we first started this thing, I’d always ask my self the question. Where are the families? These guys must have families. Where are they? I’ve met one family and God has done amazing things with this situation. And usually? The families are at their loving wits end. I’d guess in so many cases, they’d do absolutely anything in their power to change these situations. But a guy has to want to change. If he doesn’t and the substance abuse, alcohol or whatever wins out, then the families are usually left holding the proverbial bag. You can only do so much. But if the situation turns for the worse, as this one did, then maybe we can’t change the situation, but we can certainly use it for good. And let me tell you, this family has done just that. Huge Christmas bags jammed with gifts for our friends. Easter bags. Donations of all types. Amazing stuff. And last week I got an email from Kansas City. Seems a young lady there who also happens to be an attorney and has wanted to “create a homeless shelter since I was 12″, has now been instrumental in helping the homeless in a tangible way that blew my mind. I have to quote her here and I hope its ok. From ‘A’ – “Bottom line is that I wanted you to know how your ministry allowed God to speak to my heart so that I could help others. Because of the example you have set, hundreds of homeless people in KC have received legal and housing assistance.” I am overwhelmed with emotion each time I read that email. Absolutely overwhelmed. Hundreds of people in Kansas City? Are you kidding me? Because God blessed us with a pot of soup and about 10 or 15 homeless guys on a street corner in downtown Omaha on a typical November day in 2006? Seriously? Overwhelmed…

Keith’s Words of Wisdom

Robin was talking to one of our friends today, and he said something that definitely warrants mentioning. Because it speaks to the relationships that have been developed. At least I hope it does. Several of the guys that we first met on that corner told us a long time ago that we’d get overrun on that corner. We told them we didn’t think so, because we had help from a pretty high source. They’d just have to hang with us and they’d see. After the past few weeks, they might have had a point. At least somewhat. Because honestly, we have felt a little overrun the past few months or so. Just so many people and so many needs, it has been hard to keep up. But no matter how much controlled chaos we’ve seen, not matter how much the numbers have increased over the past few months, we are reminded just why God sent us in the first place. One fellow reminded us of that today. Said that when we first came down, he thought we were just do-gooders. And then after a while, he thought maybe we were just good people. And now? He thinks we are good friends. His words. Again, overwhelming.

Bill’s Tears

And I have to share this. A fellow made a promise to Robin and I last week. He promised Robin he wouldn’t share the news that today would be our last Sunday. And he promised me that he’d show up today. Sober. Well, he was 2 for 3 in the promise department. He did keep his word to Robin. Didn’t tell even his closest buddy. Although he did tease him with the fact that he had a secret. And the promises he made to me? Well, he did show up today. So by process of elimination, you know which promise he didn’t keep. And that’s ok. I’m just glad he showed up. And he was extremely emotional. With our first embrace, the tears were flowing. It was tough. I tried to convince him that we’d still be around, but he is convinced that he’s leaving town. I absolutely love this guy. Deep, heartfelt love. You just can’t put that into words and do it justice. But he knows it and I know that it’s reciprocated. No doubt. With every hug he got from my beautiful little Erin, the tears flowed. With every hug and handshake we shared, and there were many, the tears flowed. I’ll never forget the hurt in his eyes as we said our final goodbyes today. Never. My heart aches for him because I worry that I may never hear from him again. He has my number and our address memorized. So I pray that I’ll hear from him. At least a call to tell me he’s ok. I love my man Bill.

Fried Chicken and Running out of Plates and Everything Else

This morning when we were getting everything ready to go, we had a couple of last minute things to pick up from WalMart. So I made the trek with a shopping list from my boss. Needed a couple of extra boxes of forks. A few other minor things. And plates for a few hundred. Oh, and 500 pieces of fried chicken. I heard “plates for 300″. She said 3 packages of plates. Well, me in all my wisdom, and just as I’d pointed out to her last week, I felt the need to tell her that we’ve never used more than 300 plates on a Sunday. So I came back with 300 plates. Guess what we ran out of first today? Yep. Plates. And we even had about 25 take home cartons that people were cutting in half to make last longer. And we ran out of those too. And then it was fried chicken on napkins while Mike and I made a quick trek to a food mart for more plates. We absolutely ran out of everything today. That has never happened before. I mean everyone got something to eat, but man was that crowd huge today. I have to say it here. Robin was right and I was so wrong!

Dad’s Clothing and The Office…Revisited

A couple of final things here. I could go on and on of course, but I’ll try to finish up here with these final thoughts. I mentioned a few weeks ago that my sister had sent a couple of boxes of my Dad’s clothing up with her sons, who were here visiting for a few days. Well, yesterday as I was doing my clothing sorting for what was probably the final time, I finally was able to put my Dad’s stuff in the clothing bins. Just seems appropriate in some strange way to know that on our last Sunday, my Dad made one final contribution. He’d made a few contributions along the way, but this was different. This was his stuff. He died in May of 2008, and here we were finally getting around to donating his stuff. Funny, that.

And finally, one of the last things I did today was visit The Office. That place in the middle of the park where we met our friends that very first Sunday. That place where our friends used to do some of their “work”. It’s nothing more than a 20 by 20 square foot area with waist high concrete walls. Used to have benches where all sorts of shenanigans took place. It’s mostly quiet these days, but several of the guys were there, so Bill and I walked over and hung out for a few minutes, one last time. Even happened to get a call from another fellow we met on that corner that very first Sunday, as we were sitting on the wall in The Office. Coincidence? I tend to think not. I don’t believe much in coincidences. Which is why I’m so convinced that God wanted us there in that park for almost 3 years. That He definitely had a plan. I pray that we are doing the right thing here. That He has something on deck for us. That whatever is next will be as thrilling, exciting, and as honoring and glorifying to Him as I pray that this was. I pray that we followed His direction as best we could and that the work we did on that corner was indeed pleasing to Him. I pray that in the end, He will indeed say…” ‘Well done, good and faithful servant!”

What an amazing opportunity this has been to serve alongside my beautiful wife and those 3 kids God has so undeservedly entrusted to me. What an amazing ministry. What an amazing God we serve!

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ~ Matthew 11:28

Peace, have a great and blessed week and whatever you do, make a difference.

…it matters to that one…

So today was another crazy and pretty cold day in downtown Omaha. Lots of food, snowball fights and much fellowship. The kids and “big kids” were in a snowball battle the entire time we spent on that corner and I do believe the little kids came out on top. As I looked at a few of the “big kids”, that became readily apparent. There’s something about snowballs that have an equalizing effect on just about anyone. And they are so darn tempting. No way you can be outside in this weather and not pack a good one and blast someone. No way. So it was cold, a bit windy and oh, yeah pretty cold, but it was a blessed day to be sure. People were raving about the white chicken chili and there was plenty for take home. Just a great day downtown.

I spent several hours yesterday with a neighbor family sorting clothing in our garage. They were more help than they will probably ever know. We’ve been so blessed lately with clothing and other donations that we are seriously considering renting a storage shelter for seasonal stuff. We had piles as tall as me. Now I know that’s not saying much considering my height, but it was really weird to look and see my entire garage floor covered in various types of clothing. I simply cannot believe the amounts of clothing we get weekly. And there is exponentially more women’s clothing than men’s. Not sure what that tells me, but I’m sure there’s a message in there somewhere. But it was great to be able to spend time with our neighbors and it was great to have the help. I am beginning to get an idea of what thrift stores must experience with all these donations. I just pray that God keeps sending them. It’s a challenge for me because I have issues with clutter. I’ll make sure that I never let that get in the way of our friends being supplied with whatever they need or whatever God sends our way. The weird thing about some of this for me is seeing all this stuff continue to arrive in a fairly constant stream. We are definitely being supplied. No doubt about that. He just keeps making it happen so that we can focus on the important stuff. At least that’s how I see it.

I mentioned a couple weeks ago the story of Wade’s Christmas stockings. I was talking to a fellow today who was very impressed how that whole situation played out. He is a fellow that we’ve known for quite a while now and he was in great shape today. He’s just a really nice guy, but more often than not, when we’ve seen him recently he hasn’t been in the best of shape. Today however, he was in great spirits and he looked great. So we had a brief conversation and one of the things he mentioned was how impressed he was with this family. Wade’s family. He mentioned that some people would have major issues with the very people that Wade was running with. That most people would be playing the blame game. That if he wouldn’t have been running with these guys, drinking and whatever else, that maybe things would be different. But not these folks. They took it the other direction. And he kind of stumbled over his words because he said he didn’t know the word for that kind of behavior. I told him that was grace. Undeserved, unearned, unmerited grace. And he looked at me and said yeah, that’s what it was. And to see how the whole thing impacted him caused me to stop and think. Grace. Freely given. Unearned. Undeserved. Unbelievable.

One other thing happened and it was another one of those one on one interactions. Those are the ones that are hardest for me on Sundays. It seems that I get pulled in so many directions sometimes that I am thankful God blessed me with a full blown case of adult attention deficit disorder. Now I’ve never really been diagnosed as such, but I’m sure it’s real. So when I get an opportunity to force myself to slow down, literally, cool stuff usually happens. And it’s usually the quick, brief conversations. For instance, I was talking to a fellow last week who is trying to get it all together. He recently started working, but is currently living in his car. Trying to stretch out his money to last until he gets a paycheck. I think we’ve helped him get a coat and other things recently. Last week he went to his car and came back to show me his uniform. He’s working as a server at a local establishment. Today, he was going to get it for me again, but I told him I saw it last week. No need. Today he needed black dress shoes. Size 11. And dress socks. Just so happened to have both. Imagine that. Funny how that works sometimes. And he said it’d been six months since he had a place of his own. And now he was close. So close. But the thing he said that caught my attention had to do with his faith. Or lack thereof. He said, in so many words, he wasn’t a religious guy, but we were showing him something different. Not me. Not Robin. All of us. All of us that show up there week after week. With no strings attached. We were showing him something. I hope he sees Grace. And Love. And Compassion. Loads and loads of it. And not from us. Because I told him right away that it ain’t about us. But that’s what he sees. Something different. I just pray that we can be an example to him. That when he sees us, he sees a tiny sliver of God. That we would be so stinking transparent that he would see right through us. No pretenses. No strings. Only Hope. Love. And Grace. And I’m just so thankful that God has allowed us to be on that corner every week. Hopefully showing a few people a little something different. A little Love out loud.

The following is something that was part of a devotional this past week. It just spoke to me and I wanted to share:

Christianity is not a designer religion. God is serious about getting us on His agenda. One of the famous prayers that goes around today is “Jesus, come into my life and make me the person that you want me to be.” We find that the person that God wants us to be is someone who engages the world with His truth. One of the sins of this generation is to make religion a private thing. It never was meant to be private, and the discomfort of making our faith public proclaims God’s control in our lives. Do we shrink from this? Then who is in charge? You don’t have to buy a bullhorn or pass out tracts, but you do need to stand out as one who is ready to acknowledge Jesus to those around you. Jesus doesn’t hold back on this truth and neither should we.

Since God chose you to be the holy people whom He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ~ Colossians 3:12, NLT

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

…it matters to that one…

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. Romans 8:28 (The Message)

Details. I often find myself, as I’m sure lots of us do, getting caught up in details. How will we…? What if…? When “this” happens, what do we do? Often times I get so far ahead of myself that I’ve created a situation that couldn’t possibly happen, yet I’m already preparing myself for the details of some crazy, fictional situation. One that will most likely never even happen. Have to tell myself not to over think things all the time. Let God handle the details. It’s His plan anyway, right? Why in the world would I think I could manage the outcome of any given event?

A while back, I met a fellow who went by the name of Wade. Now, I’ve written about Wade a few times here because of the significant things that have happened involving Wade. Met him quite a while back. Saw him off and on, as is fairly customary with lots of the people we meet on that downtown corner. And this past summer Wade left us. Had an untimely accident in a lake in Council Bluffs, Ia. Right across the river. And when I heard the news I was shocked. It really bothered me that maybe we hadn’t done enough to try to help Wade. Again, I’m not sure what I think I could have done? But I often wondered what if? So after Wade left us, as God is apt to do, a really strange and very cool thing transpired. God began working in the details. I wrote a blog about his passing. In doing so, I had no idea what was to come. And how his death would impact so many. In so many places. Especially on our downtown street corner. Through it all, I’ve met his family. Lots of them. And they are a great family. They come from hours away to honor their son, their brother, their father, their husband. It’s not like they live right up the street and want to come help. In most cases they literally drive for hours to get here. And yesterday? They came with an abundance. You see, Wade’s niece told me some time back that she wanted to do something to honor her uncle. She wasn’t quite sure, I don’t think anyway, what exactly she wanted to do but she knew she wanted to do something. As if I am in any place to do so, I offered her a simple piece of advice. Whatever you decide to do, pray about it, take the first step or get started and let the Lord lead it. I was just sure if she did that, she’d not have to worry so much about the details. God would indeed provide, as He has for us on so many occasions. I sit back and marvel at how He provides for this ministry, His ministry, on a regular basis. I absolutely cannot believe the amount of stuff in my garage. It’s to the point anymore that I have to decide what to take and what not to take on any given Sunday.

So Wade’s niece, Mercedes, sends me an email saying that she wanted to gather Christmas stockings and distribute them in Wade’s honor. So, as I understand it, she sent out letters and used other means for gathering things to put in the stockings. And people responded. To the tune of 200 stockings. And they decide to bring Wade’s Christmas Stockings yesterday to distribute them to our friends downtown. They show up. With a trailer full of stuff. These weren’t just ordinary Christmas stockings. They had so much stuff that they had to actually make them Christmas bags! Boxes and boxes of things for our friends. For Wade’s friends. And all in the name of Christ. Want an amazing young lady. Gifts for Christ’s birthday, to honor and glorify Him, and all the while bringing it down to a level that our friends downtown could relate to. Lots of them knew Wade. Lots of them now know Wade’s family. And I met his wife yesterday for the first time. I have no idea how difficult this must have been for her? No idea the feelings she must have been experiencing? I only hope that she saw that he didn’t die in vain. I kind of know how she feels. To a degree anyway. I lost my oldest sister to cancer 10 years ago. Anyone who has lost someone close to a sudden death or an unexplained illness knows that it is literally mind numbing to try to explain it or to reason or rationalize it. There simply are no answers. And the old ‘time heals all blah blah blah…” is true to a degree. But we are always left wondering? Why? What if? Again with the details. And there simply are no real answers. Except one. God will absolutely work in the details. If we let Him. For me? My sister’s passing all those years ago brought me to a faith that I’d never known. Watching her witness, especially in the final weeks, days and hours of her life, made it clear to Robin and I that we’d better get our act together. We weren’t necessarily living a bad life. We just weren’t following Christ. We believed. We simply hadn’t taken the next step in the journey.

So yesterday, God worked in the details. Wade’s family showed up. And in doing so, they once again honored his life. But in doing so, they also honored God. This young lady made an impact in ways that probably will never be able to be measured. I think I remember her Mom being somewhat concerned when she first brought the idea to her. It was a big project. I mean 200 stockings? And if it were me, I’d wonder what exactly do we put in these things to make them significant? Again with the details. But Mercedes and the rest of Wade’s family made it happen. God blessed it for sure. I’ve seen it happen so many times on that corner. A need is presented and God meets that need. Or someone or a group of someones decides they want to help out in some way and God blesses it. It’s so simple. Yet so profound. I stood and watched the boxes come out of that trailer yesterday and was simply awed at how God does indeed care about even the smallest of details. It was an amazing thing to see. I had someone ask me a few weeks ago if we were going to bring Christmas presents downtown. One Sunday, out of the blue, this person asks me this. I remember kind of laughing and my initial thought was something along the lines of “uh, I don’t think so…how in the world would we supply gifts for that many people”. But my response to her was I guess we’d just have to see. And really that was just my safe response. Non committal. That’s me mostly. Just ask Robin. But as God continues to work on me, one thing has become profoundly evident to me in all of this. I don’t have to worry about details. I need to be aware of logistical things, obviously, but I absolutely do not have to over think things. God is so much better at it than me anyway. My feeble brain cannot begin to comprehend such things.

It was a great day and a great week. And such an eventful week. Monday Robin cooked for Mosaic’s Life on the Brick. We were able to hang out with our friends at this weekly, Monday meal. Yet another relational touch point. Tuesday we had dinner with a few friends at a shelter in Council Bluffs. It was our first time there. What an amazing job these folks do at this shelter. It’s called MOHM’s Place and it was a great evening for my family to spend some time with a few friends we first met on a downtown street corner in Omaha. And of course it was a great Christmas for our family. And we topped it all off with a Sunday afternoon gathering in the park on what turned out to be a really nice day, considering it’s late December and we are in Nebraska. Again, God working in the details. He allowed us to have great weather on a day that was set aside to honor Him and in the process, a family was able to do something to honor one of theirs. I believe this young lady made a difference yesterday and I’m quite sure her uncle looked down and smiled. I know I did. Amazing.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 (NIV)

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

…it matters to that one…