Dude! Share The Food!

wow!  what a great year!

on july 21, 2007, rick & kelly, jeff and barbara, and sweet betty, made up 50-60 sack lunches, and i took them to the streets of atlanta.

over the next weeks and months, more and more people offered to help.  many have donated items, time, money, and prayers.  together, we’ve been able to share over 17,ooo meals!

i want to say “amazing!”, but, really, it’s not.  it’s just some of God’s people helping some of God’s people.

let’s not forget; GOD IS THE GIVER

eh

i’m struck by the disobedience mentioned in Mark 1 and Luke 5.

Jesus had healed a man, then strongly commanded him to not tell anyone; yet he, understandably, went and told many. . . . as i think we all would. healed of a death-disease..?? come on, please, you really don’t want me to tell anyone???

maybe i’d try to obey for awhile. then someone would ask me “hey, you, weren’t you sick/crippled/blind/cozmockomous yesterday? how’d you get better?” i might hem-haw a little bit, beat around the bush a little more. . . . and then i’d EXPLODE and all the words would go flying all over everyone in the vicinity!!!!

is this ‘acceptable disobedience’ ? was that a sin? was Jesus angry with him?? or disgusted?? did Jesus think or say “man, what’s with that guy? i told him not to tell anyone. is that so hard to understand!!?? what part of ‘tell no one’ don’t you understand??”.

maybe it’s reverse psychology. maybe we should try that: for the next 7 days, tell NO ONE how great God is.

that’s an order.

eh

while i was delivering meals downtown saturday, a lady named carolyn took a couple of sack-lunches and some ice water, then stayed near the truck, and dug right in.

she was sweet and soft-spoken. when she found a peach in the bag, i thought she was going to cry. she was so happy. then she found a banana in the second sack. again, very happy. then she told me “i was moving around this morning, and i was praying for some fruit!”

cool, huh?

i laughed, because, sometimes God just cracks me up.

eh

Rid the Yard of Sticks
By David Crowder

It is a Saturday afternoon in Waco, Texas and I am at home sitting on the couch with my wife. The television is on and it is displaying a golf tournament and we are observing this through half-opened heavy eyelids. It’s rather lovely.

I feel the need to point out that I live in one of the more economically depressed sections of town, as in, seriously, two of our neighbors call themselves the Rockstars because, they sell “rock,” (as in crack cocaine) – they do a brisk business. So, again, this time with context, my wife and I are sitting on our couch on a Saturday afternoon watching the “sport” of golf with lots and lots of Fidelity and Buick commercials.

Abruptly, I am jarred from this, my privileged slumber, as, “David! David!” is yelled at loud volume from somewhere behind me. I now feel the need to point out that we do not have any curtains on our windows. We’ve been in our house 6 years and curtains have held only occasional importance, like now, with, “David! David!” being shouted from the street at the window located directly behind my head, which is again causing me to think, “Seriously, we’ve been here 6 years? We need some curtains.” I turn and peek over the couch. It’s John. I say this to my wife, “Oh, man. It’s John.”

John is an elderly black man who has no home. He is one of Waco’s homeless. He is my neighbor. He comes around and wants to pick up the sticks in my yard. He says, “David, I’ll just get these sticks out of your yard if you can spare a few dollars.” We do this often, rid the yard of sticks. It’s really helpful – you can imagine – the ability to move about your yard without the obstruction of sticks. So, here is John, standing in the street outside of my window, watching us watch golf, when he decides he needs to tell me something. Peering over the couch, my eyes meet with John’s and I am left with no choice outside of meeting John at my back door.

“Hey John.”

“Now, David. I don’t mean to disturb you. I see you and your wife in there just relaxing, watching the TV, the golf I see, my apologies.”

“That’s quite all right. What’s going on John?”

“Well, like I said, I don’t mean to disturb you, I just wanted to say congratulations.”

I pause. I’m not sure what my line is supposed to be. I had all of my lines ready. I had formulated them on my walk from the couch to the door. I have no idea what he’s talking about. I think to myself, John is genius. This is a new angle. I’m trying to anticipate his next move and I’m forming fantastic pieces of discussion that will totally make John get a real job and stop living on the street and asking me if he can pick up my sticks. I respond, “Uh, thanks.”

“Yep. You’re gonna do it. We’ve all talked and we know you’re gonna bring ‘em home. Just like last time. Yep, congratulations. We’re all pulling for you.”

“Uh, OK. Now what might this be regarding?”

“Those Dove awards. You’re gonna win ‘em! We all prayed and we know you’re gonna do it, you’re gonna bring ‘em home you hear me?”

I pause. I have no idea where to put this. John has basically told me that the homeless population near my house is 1) aware that there are such things as “Dove Awards” and 2) that my band and I have been nominated for some, and, 3) seriously? (!) The homeless had some type of meeting, or assembly, or whatever, and are praying we win? What on earth! That is the most ridiculous thing ever, and – what, seriously? Thoughts like this are in my head: David, you make assumptions that are wrong. You need to repent. You are evil.

Social or civil justice issues are incredibly difficult objects to get my head around. It is a given that most of us desire to live in a just society; the awkwardness lies in agreeing upon just how exactly we arrive there. It’s easy to become pessimistic and passive even when attempting to effect change, i.e. after hearing Red Campaign marketing costs, or reports that mosquito nets I sent contributed to a water shortage crisis due to the nets actually working and people surviving malaria. Thus, obviously, it resulted in a rising population and a rise in water consumption, thus resulting in a water shortage, which now those same people are dying from.

To carry the story of God in a way that makes a real, tangible difference to those we live among can be really frustrating at times. I think the only way to not become paralyzed by the task, is, to get close enough to these issues for them to turn into names and faces that walk up to your fence on a Saturday; who lean in and yell your name and give you something that leaves you smiling and tearful and repentant and a little more in love with the people God has made.

David Crowder recently won four 2008 Dove Awards, including Worship Album of the Year for REMEDY , and Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year for “Everything Glorious.” David co-founded University Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, where he lives with his wife Toni.

what a great day we had sharin’ hot dogs, slaw, beans, cobbler, ice cream, cake, water, candy, and, hopefully, a little bit of Jesus!

13 people went downtown to help serve, and we took tables and chairs, and cooked the dogs on-site.  all went well, except one little idiot stirred things up…..

that idiot was me.  surprised??  here’s what went down…

i had stepped in for lynn at the beginning of the line, and we’re cruising along nicely.  rusty informs the crowd that we’re going to start serving just one dog to those who have already been through the line.  one guy starts rantin’ and ravin’ about how we’re doing it wrong, and, after listening to him bust on rusty for a minute, i told him “we’re doing our best.  thank you, we’ve heard your input”.  he was loud, then he got louder.  then i got louder, and i felt those ‘fight’ muscles charging up.

i calmed down and kept on dishing the dogs, and we were civil by the time he came through.  but, the opportunity was gone.  i’d had the chance to be a peacemaker, and i’d blown it.  i thought i was ‘protecting my people’, but, the fact is, he was just getting on my nerves.

he came through later, and we talked, and i apologized, and it’s cool.  but, how many people saw me earlier, not being Christ-like???

sorry, y’all, for mis-representing you.

but, all in all, a super day!

love y’all.  thanks for your patience with me.

eh

btw, it has become quite fun again!!  gigatt!!

remember the eyeglasses, vimh, and my initial failure to share? (read “glasses for pierre” nov. ‘07)

well, on the streets sunday, it was pouring down rain, and robert, chris, and i had stopped under a bridge. the word spread, and people were coming for meals. (btw, you should have seen chris, 6ft-4, climbing into the ultra-tiny back seat of my nissan pickup. funny. but, cool, too, to have humble people with me. i like humble people.)

so, anyway, i was wearing one of my favorite shirts, and a guy comes by totally soaked. vimh says “give him your shirt. someone is going to leave here wet and miserable. who’s it going to be?” i acted busy, and even dug in the truck for a hat, but, “doggone it, NO, i’m not giving away my favorite shirt!!”

then he was gone. and i’m standing there feeling stupid. i know that if i continue to ignore god’s voice, i won’t hear it anymore, and i really don’t want that to happen.

so, wouldn’t you know it, the very next guy to walk up says “i need a shirt”!! cool! another chance! so, i say “here, you want this one” but, he didn’t want it (maybe because it had flowers on it….) i even tried to insist, but, no, he didn’t want it. musta been a test… one of these days, i’m going to pass the test on the first try!!

man, it’s fun out there!

eh