Dude! Share The Food!

tomorrow, we’ll share our 70,000th meal!!  in less than 3 yrs!!

i really, really, really hope that doesn’t sound like bragging… it’s just that the consistancy, the hard work, the supplies coming in from so many places, and the obvious BLESSINGS OF GOD really just  HAVE TO BE MENTIONED!!!

GOD IS SUCH A GIVER!!!

too many people to mention, and they probably wouldn’t want to be mentioned, anyway.

but, thanks so much to all y’all!

btw, tomorrow we’re sharing a picnic type meal- if you wanna join us or bring something, bring hot dogs or cole slaw or chips to New Life Christian Church in Douglasville at 11am!

ain’t it super fun to give!!??!!

eh

hey, erik here.

i sure haven’t posted much for a few months, have i?  if i annoy you, you’re happy about that!  if you like my stories from the street, forgive me, i’ve let you down… .. .

we’ve been sharing food all along, though.  just without stories on the blog page.

as the so called “leader” of this food-sharing group, forgive me for not leading well.

please pray for 2 things; 1. the leadership and direction of Dude! Share the Food!  and 2. FreeWater.

FreeWater is a project some friends and i are launching.  it’s bottled water, sold in retail locations, with $0.50 from each bottle going to help those in third world countries get clean water.  10,000+ die each day from bad water.

please pray, and continue to share food!

love y’all!

eh

Thanks to the group from Young Harris College and House of Prayer Church that went downtown Sunday. How inspiring! It was great seeing Bo, Matt and Sylvia interact with the guys at Bankhead Village. I wish we could have stayed a while longer, but Rico started singing so we had to go.  

Love you guys and hope to see you again.

wil

last saturday, we had another great day, sharing downtown together.

our friend, cheri, and her son, clay, were able to join us from the NE side of atlanta!  that was super cool!

they met a man named roger, and later, cheri posted this on her facebook status;

“Saturday afternoon someone told me that I teach my son to love but I can’t teach him how to be a man; he then tapped Clay on the chest and said that comes from inside his heart…Roger will never read this but he touched both of our hearts…”

thanks, roger.  thanks, God, for touching our hearts so many times, from those who “seem” less fortunate.

and, thanks to everyone who helped out saturday, and sunday, and tuesday, and thursday, and friday!!

He’s the Giver!

eh

it's a chevy trailblazer... or was...

wow!  we sure haven’t had many posts for the last 3 months, have we..??

i guess i just quit looking for stories.  or i was too lazy to type them up.  or, maybe my fingers fell off.  or, maybe i’ve been distracted by my new phone.  or, maybe i didn’t have access to a computer.  or, maybe i did write some things, and the dog ate them….

(just kidding. . . there are still so many great stories to be told!)

well, in case you haven’t heard, i, erik, have been given NEW LIFE!!!

yep!  on feb. 23, i was in a serious car accident, but came out of the hospital that very same night!  sore, cracked sternum, banged up, bruised, and in a daze for a couple weeks, but ALIVE!!!  (and, i just looked at a state-farm diagnosis-code report; i was apparently suffering from dizziness AND giddiness!  code 780.4!!)

so, here we are, all still together, with “sharing food in the name of Christ” remaining as our goal!

thanks for your prayers for me!  and to the young man, joseph, who ran from his front yard to my crashed-up-t-boned-no-airbag-deployed truck saying “don’t let him be dead!  don’t let him be dead!” … thanks for your prayers and quick actions!

and Thank You, Heavenly Father, for saving me.. .. ..

eh

This past Saturday I knew that several of our “regulars” (and no, I don’t take you for granted) would not be able to be at our food prep.  I asked God to go before and provide workers.  When Erik showed up, I was the only one there and he was thinking we should not make as much as usual.  I told him God was sending people so no changes.  As each new person showed up it nearly brought tears to my eyes.  New people, young people, and people who hadn’t been in a while….awesome.  And Erik managed to stay in one place the whole time and was even concerned about quality contol. lol  (For those that don’t know, Erik has a tendency to be easily distracted.)

And now my thanks to everyone who does or has done  anything for Dude:  the people who come every week, the people who have come just a few times, the people who donate money and food,  to everyone who has followed God’s call in anyway to help share with those who are in need. 

Lynn

(some notes from a young man, Ben, who loves to go share food with the homeless and needy.)

“One of the men who have shelters in a plot of woods in the city has been welcoming of me for this past year that I have known him. He is a reserved older man who collects every soda can he finds and keeps them all in garbage bags on the ground by his hut. Assembled on the ground surrounding his hut are old things that no one but him has seen for a long time. A fire hose, an office chair, barrels, carts, pallets, tires, and remnants of furniture cluster around a tree near which he built the hut where he sleeps. He flings carpets over some of the wooden refuse. Once I was following him out of the bushes and into the clearing. He saw some leaves that had collected on the carpet-covered broken furniture. He brushed them off before walking past.

He recently had about ten bags worth of soda cans. He estimated their sale would bring him near $100. They form black mounds on the ground outside his hut. He woke up one recent morning and the valuable mounds were gone. Though in seclusion he felt he was protected from this kind of blatant theft, he told me, after angrily telling me what had happened, “This is what I put up with. But it’s happened before. It’ll be fine.”

It’s very cold this week. It’s supposed to snow tomorrow. He has enough wood to keep a fire going in a barrel at the foot of the tree. He can ward off the cold until it’s time to sleep in the hut. Maybe he’ll keep the space inside warm with a candle. In his mind he cannot escape knowing that his work in amassing the cans came to nothing. He will have to start again, slowly and picking up each can, and postpone any plans he had for the money.”

As any of you other athritis suffers know, we are able to predict the change in climate better than any weather man.  So it is understandable that for the last few days my joints have been making themselves know to me.  We are making tuna noodle casserole to share on Saturday; and as you know it requires many cans of tuna.  I stood there looking at the almost 30 cans of tuna and began to pray that I would be able to open all of those cans with my manual can opener.  Quite honestly in wet times like these, one can be a challenge.  I began opening the cans and I began to realize that not only did the joints in my hand not hurt any longer—all of my joint pain was gone. 

I love the way He always gives us more than we ask. 

Lynn

yesterday, Christmas eve, was great.

we had the great blessing of being able to share so much; 13 big pots of stew, some bread and sweets, bottled water, 150+ gifts, and most importantly, time.

time might just be the hardest thing to share, don’t you think?

but, 20+ people made time in their schedule to give and share and just “be” with our friends on the streets.  and many more prepped things for us to take.

glory to God!  i think we spread His fame a little bit!

eh

hey y’all!

this friday evening, dec. 18, 6:30pm, we’ll be getting together to wrap up some gifts that we’ll share on the streets.

come and join us! bring some soup, and we’ll share that with each other.  bring some long-johns, and we’ll put those in the gift bags.

(and bring a smile, or we’ll call you “grumpy-pants”…..)

anyone reading this that is too far away to join us; send us some cash, or grocery store gift cards, and we’ll pass it on to the cause.

and everyone reading this, please pray for us, that we’ll continue to shine the light of Jesus right back on Jesus! for HE’S the giver of all good things…!!!

He’s blessed us, every one.

Merry Christmas to you all!

eh