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| 11/08/08 BBQ |
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Kids, Cookies and Canadians
We recently hosted a team from Stanley Park Church in Canada. They hosted a great day with our kids club with great games, food and activities. Here's some from the cookie decorating...
Friday, October 10, 2008
Some more phone pictures...
Each week we spend time on South 9th Street in Modesto at a corridor of residential motels. Almost every meaningful change we've seen has come from spending time in this most notorious place in our city. Here's a few snap shots from around S. 9th St.
This is James. He's a friend officially still on 9th Street but (thank God) off South 9th Street...out of the motels and into a studio apartment. James loves to be with people and was just happy to come out and sit a while.
This is Arlene. She has had multiple strokes and is 71 years old. She doesn't remember much and has ended up in the motels on South 9th Street. She has no contactable family, no connection and no memory. She is stuck. She is funny, ornery, can't hear well so she speaks really loud and has had a life with a house and children and something just went wrong along the way. If by some miracle you happen to know her, please comment in this blog with your contact info so we can help get her connected. We've tried most of what we know how to do.
This is Ken. Ken is sick and lives alone. He has about 20% lung capacity. The team we just hosted from Stanley Park Church in Canada met Ken and heard about his not being able to patch the roof in his 5th wheel and the rainy season coming on. They moved with compassion and determination to help him get the drip bucket from out of the center of his bed. Ken is a quiet, proud, compassionate man who has been a truck driver, a bohemian musician, a diesel engineer and a husband and father. It is a pleasure getting to know him. He lives just off South 9th Street.
This is what it looks like to drive someone off 9th St. This is a friend that we have been getting to know for a couple of years. On this day (a couple of weeks ago now) she ran up to our van as we were leaving a motel and let us know she had gotten a spot at the recovery center. She was so excited to get out of there. Due to some technical things she is back out near 9th St. but working and determined to get things cleared up so she can go back in. Good things are coming.
All of these kids we met living in a S. 9th St. motel. They are all out and while still not in a great living situation, their lives are getting better and more hopeful and healthy all the time. We pick them up every Saturday for a snack, fun play time in a nice park and a Bible lesson.
There's hope for people in hopeless places. God is always there. He moves us to be there too.
This is James. He's a friend officially still on 9th Street but (thank God) off South 9th Street...out of the motels and into a studio apartment. James loves to be with people and was just happy to come out and sit a while.
This is Arlene. She has had multiple strokes and is 71 years old. She doesn't remember much and has ended up in the motels on South 9th Street. She has no contactable family, no connection and no memory. She is stuck. She is funny, ornery, can't hear well so she speaks really loud and has had a life with a house and children and something just went wrong along the way. If by some miracle you happen to know her, please comment in this blog with your contact info so we can help get her connected. We've tried most of what we know how to do.
This is Ken. Ken is sick and lives alone. He has about 20% lung capacity. The team we just hosted from Stanley Park Church in Canada met Ken and heard about his not being able to patch the roof in his 5th wheel and the rainy season coming on. They moved with compassion and determination to help him get the drip bucket from out of the center of his bed. Ken is a quiet, proud, compassionate man who has been a truck driver, a bohemian musician, a diesel engineer and a husband and father. It is a pleasure getting to know him. He lives just off South 9th Street.
This is what it looks like to drive someone off 9th St. This is a friend that we have been getting to know for a couple of years. On this day (a couple of weeks ago now) she ran up to our van as we were leaving a motel and let us know she had gotten a spot at the recovery center. She was so excited to get out of there. Due to some technical things she is back out near 9th St. but working and determined to get things cleared up so she can go back in. Good things are coming.
All of these kids we met living in a S. 9th St. motel. They are all out and while still not in a great living situation, their lives are getting better and more hopeful and healthy all the time. We pick them up every Saturday for a snack, fun play time in a nice park and a Bible lesson.
There's hope for people in hopeless places. God is always there. He moves us to be there too.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Pictures from my day...by Chris
Originally posted at cwhitler.blogspot.com
This is the inside of Viva Taco...it is a bus that is a Mexican restaurant. This is (left to right) Arlie, Jimmy's Dad, Pastor Sustar, Sylvester (owner and proprietor and cooking at the moment), John and Jimmy. We love the bus. The bus is good. The bus is here. It was good to be at the bus again. I would suggest the chicken burrito supreme...hot, freshly made and a quality like no other taco truck I've encountered (for my non-Californian readers, we get the best tacos from establishments that have 4 wheels and motors). This is an good picture from my day. Here's another taken by Joseph, the "super" at the Budget Inn on S. 9th St...
These were pretty fun and easy to be in. There are others.
There was the intense warfare of getting relationships right. There was prayer at the 9th street bridge. There was the picture of friends walking into one of the darkest, most depraved places I know of and calling for God's Kingdom to come and His will to be done. A picture of mercy as I saw people giving dignity to a broken man. I was in a picture of a family wracked by sickness and sadness. My mind took a snap shot of merciful hands asking for healing. A picture of hope super-imposed. Now an image of woundedness and grief...of a life never affirmed by a mother or father and even now a greater Father weighing in, filling up, setting free. On to, a circle of friends handing the dead parts over to Jesus. It is harder than it looks in the pictures. Next a scene of obligations fulfilled and letting go. Finally, my family with ice cream and laughter.
And in all of these pictures from today, there is a theme, a thread that links them all together. I don't know how these all fit into the same album but I close the cover on my day and the simple label on the front says, "Joy".
This is the inside of Viva Taco...it is a bus that is a Mexican restaurant. This is (left to right) Arlie, Jimmy's Dad, Pastor Sustar, Sylvester (owner and proprietor and cooking at the moment), John and Jimmy. We love the bus. The bus is good. The bus is here. It was good to be at the bus again. I would suggest the chicken burrito supreme...hot, freshly made and a quality like no other taco truck I've encountered (for my non-Californian readers, we get the best tacos from establishments that have 4 wheels and motors). This is an good picture from my day. Here's another taken by Joseph, the "super" at the Budget Inn on S. 9th St...
These were pretty fun and easy to be in. There are others.
There was the intense warfare of getting relationships right. There was prayer at the 9th street bridge. There was the picture of friends walking into one of the darkest, most depraved places I know of and calling for God's Kingdom to come and His will to be done. A picture of mercy as I saw people giving dignity to a broken man. I was in a picture of a family wracked by sickness and sadness. My mind took a snap shot of merciful hands asking for healing. A picture of hope super-imposed. Now an image of woundedness and grief...of a life never affirmed by a mother or father and even now a greater Father weighing in, filling up, setting free. On to, a circle of friends handing the dead parts over to Jesus. It is harder than it looks in the pictures. Next a scene of obligations fulfilled and letting go. Finally, my family with ice cream and laughter.
And in all of these pictures from today, there is a theme, a thread that links them all together. I don't know how these all fit into the same album but I close the cover on my day and the simple label on the front says, "Joy".
Friday, July 25, 2008
Aaron's Thai videos
Aaron from our community has spent July in Thailand working with our friends at Compasio. Here's some videos from his time...
Monday, June 23, 2008
A new message from Chris
Listen to a new message from Chris about ministry opportunity and how you can activate and get involved...Glonk here.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Thailand audio report
Hey everybody, for an audio report from Jimmy and Aaron about their recent trip to Thailand...Glonk here!
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