Dear Community,
The New Year brings with it the inspiration for change. We see it in commercials, newspaper articles, personal conversations, new gym memberships and Facebook posts.
I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions. After years of never attaining any of them I gave myself permission to stop making promises I can’t keep…Matthew 5:12 tells us to let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one…so I guess this is a wise choice of obedience.
That doesn’t mean I don’t set goals. Years ago I decided I wanted to let Jesus remove as much of my old man as He wanted to before I get to heaven. Following that revelation, I realized that I hated my naturally melancholy and loner personality and made a choice to be at more community events and with the help of my best friend and Living Ministries’ President, Karen Gidderon, I look for the positive in all situations and try to focus on them…of course this also helps me honor another commandment:
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Philippians 4:4
Somewhere in my journey it became so clear to me, that part of being the best ‘Summer in Jesus’ I could be, that loved to find the good in everything and spend time with God’s people was actually loving people…
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”Mark 12:29-31
Everything Jesus did was to restore relationship between God and people. He is God in the flesh reaching out for His people. God loves people. He made them in His image for His own good pleasure. I don’t understand how anyone can think that a God-led ministry doesn’t start first with a love for people. A God-led ministry not founded on loving people may see people turn to Christ but it will never maintain the growth required to see people realize the vastness of their fullness in Christ.
The heart and mission statement of Living Ministries has evolved to something that we can stand on forever: Building Relationships and Filling Needs in Our Community. This is the reason why we have so many community events each year. Why we maintain our Community Resource Database. Why we pray for people every day. Why we serve our Affiliate Ministries that have outgrown their churches. Why no one takes a paycheck at Living Ministries so we can truly pour donations back into the community. People are our reason. People are important. Without them, we are not needed.
There is a part of our community that has a special place in my heart. They have caused my self-imposed morph into God’s version of ‘Summer in Jesus’ to move faster…God would have done it anyway…I just try to stay out of His way while He works…It began when my friend, Chuck Hendrickson, Executive Director of Love Overwhelming, needed some volunteers for a Daily Living Essential Cafe and later an Extreme Weather Center, now referred to as the Overnight Low Barrier Shelter. Living Ministries had recently been born, but as with any parent, I only knew its name and what I thought I wanted it to be when it grew up, and I was so inexperienced. I was glad to help, knowing that I knew nothing about helping homeless people…I told Chuck that too and he was still comfortable with me hanging around.
I walked into Love Overwhelming with ideas that these people had chose this lifestyle. That if they tried hard enough they could overcome. They should stop doing drugs and drinking alcohol and pull themselves up by their bootstraps. They smelled bad too. Ugh, why didn’t they bathe?
The one thing that saved me from my negative and small-minded thoughts was that I know that if you don’t have a reason to change, you probably won’t. Relationship spawns reasons to change…and then I met Kevin and Brian, Lisa and Ted, David and Janice, Rebecca and Dave, Rene and Phil and many more. I started to see how wonderful they are. Even though they may have addictions, they may have many shortcomings but Jesus loves them. He loves them like He loves me, even when I am gossiping or eating too much, holding onto my anger and choosing not to forgive, driving too fast and not sharing or any other sin I may be committing, even in my good intention to serve God. These wonderful people, who are the most generous and considerate and thankful people I have ever met, helped me with my lifetime resolution.
It has been 3 years and as 2013 came to a close I was so excited to know that we were closer to a Low Barrier Overnight Shelter than we have been ever! I woke up on December 31, 2013 (which happened to be my 38th birthday) to a text from Melisa Linden, who’s job it is to organize the Low Barrier Overnight Shelter at two different churches, because Love Overwhelming hasn’t successfully found a permanent home for the Daily Living Essential Cafe and the Low Barrier Overnight Shelter. She was sad to say that at no fault to anyone serving or being served at Love Overwhelming, we had lost permission from the building owner to facilitate overnight guests at one of our churches and that now we could only serve overnight guests on the weekends. I have to say, I still cry about it.
Just days before, when I had volunteered there, out of the 25 guests we had, 5 were women and 3 of them were pregnant. What are they going to do?
I want to tell you that I am truly thankful for other service organizations that help people. Without Lower Columbia CAP, The Salvation Army, Community House on Broadway, Emergency Support Shelter and other organizations that help with housing, the plight of our homeless community would be the abyss I might not be able to think happy thoughts out of…but Love Overwhelming is special. They take the ones that would be lost because they are not eligible for services anywhere else. These people don’t have what I have: Family and friends that won’t let me go without and faith in God, who keeps me going.
What staff and volunteers does at Love Overwhelming is not always safe. Many of the people Love Overwhelming serves have child-like souls. Being homeless causes mental instability and if these precious people were unstable to begin with, it is made worse by living on the streets and having no stability. There are times all we can do is pray until God tells us what to do or say and all of it must happen is only seconds. The work changes you. It has to. The world seems a stupid, petty place when you hang out with these wonderful and misunderstood people. It is emotionally exhausting work but mixed with so many blessings if you are willing to get your hands dirty. Most people are not cut out for this work, but more workers are needed because the harvest is ready!
What is my prayer for January 2014? That Love Overwhelming finds it easy to find a permanent structure where they can offer all services under one roof instead of 3 or 4. In this building people will be blessed. Just during the month of December 5% of guests were helped to get housing, even if it is temporary, due to relationships between Love Overwhelming, CAP and Community House. People are given a place to take showers and have laundry services available to them. They are offered resource case management to help them get into permanent housing where they will live happier and healthier lives that actually costs tax payers less than if we let them live on the street and use the ER for health care assistance.
Love Overwhelming was able to obtain a grant but that only covers admin costs, rent and staffing. These dollars may cover part of other services but not all. Donations are so important to the cause. I invite you to go to LoveOverwhelming.org to learn how you can help. You can download a needs list and learn how to volunteer or get the address to mail them a check. Love Overwhelming is a 501(c)3 organization so your donations are tax deductible.
If you don’t believe me, I know that Chuck would love to talk with you. You may give him a call at 360-560-3913. You may also call Michael Salinas, DLE Cafe Program Coordinator at 360-431-8326 or Melisa Linden, Low Barrier Shelter Program Coordinator at 360-261-2058.
If all you can do is pray please do so. I would like to also suggest you pray for people that are ignorant and afraid of homeless people. Jesus told us that when we love the least of these we are loving Him. He also made different people with different gifts because He is the only person that can do everything.
I wish you well with your resolutions. Thank you for helping.
Sincerely,
