dudes…you guys are awesome!
you have made lots of people on the streets know that someone does care about them.  it will only get better in the new year…. i thank you all for your hard work and commitment to stay the course … it has helped me to get back on track …. thank you for letting me be a part of it.
just a couple of short stories from the past few weeks… first……..Christmas eve was great.  lots of gifts and food…. we were at little five points community center serving the meals and giving out the gift bags and clothes… a man appeared and wanted to know who was in charge. karen pointed to me and said “that’s him over there”… he asked me what was going on. well, i told him…. he asked if we had a permit to gather such a large crowd (35 people) and give away food. i said “we don’t need no stinkin badges” -not really-.  he informed me that we were in INMAN PARK and they don’t like what we were doing, and we needed to leave. and he had called the law!!! (not the first time this has happened)… he continued to be a real horses behind…. he wanted to know when and where all the people were going after we left..? i told him to his house for coffee!! (no sense of humor)
after telling me a few reasons why we were in the wrong, he left. we cleaned the area and left. then, on saturday, while we were passing out sack lunches, he calls me, telling me the home owners association was taking steps to insure we never, ever, no way come back in his neighborhood and cause such a disturbance again…(we were only two blocks up the street).  also he said during the melee someone keyed his car… all i could do was wish him a good day.
next story… today, sunday, 28 dec, we went to little five points in the church van… picked up 7 guys… brought them back to douglasville for church and golden corral buffet. had a great time. took them back to drop them off, and the last man did not want to get out. (we had not met before today.) he’s an older black man, in his 70’s, very run down looking and tired. he didn’t speak very well or loud… he was mumbling about not being home for 3 or 4 days… i am thinking “ok, where would that be?” he said “by the bridge, you know”… we started riding around looking aimlessly for his bridge… he can’t remember how he got to little five points… then he pulls a key ring out of his pocket and hands it to me… it’s from lakewood christian towers off sylvan rd… i knew of the place… pretty nice retirement home. i helped him inside. the people there said he had been missing for three days! thank you lord for sending me to little five points, and helping me find this man!
looking foward to the coming year and more great stories of lives changed and salvations………………………………..rusty