I think we are long overdue for an update. I hope you all are well and enjoying the hot summer months. We are hoping to close on our house on Monday and then expecting Caden to come within the next two weeks. We have been enjoying our Adair Park (AP) neighborhood and neighbors. I have been learning a lot about trusting God for everything and letting go of my desire to fix and control things. He has also been teaching me much about love. I thought I would share a few stories and insights to where our hearts have been this past week.
Our neighborhood desperately longs for lasting love. From the dealers on the corners, the homeless on our streets and under our bridges, the women selling themselves, the kids riding their bikes around, the kids stealing from their neighbors, on and on and on. We are all searching and longing for Christs everlasting love. I can do nothing for our neighborhood but love them as Jesus loves me.
We feel ready to be the hands and feet of Gods ministry in AP. I have realized that I have been going at things alone, and that is not God's intent for us in doing ministry - so I long to share with you our lives, stories of God moving in our neighbors, and our needs. I know you guys are behind our ministry, sharing in the joys and burdens that we face. That's why God put you in my life and called on you to join in His ministry in AP.
Tuesday night at about 10:15 there was a knock on the door. A man named Curt is standing on our door with a sullen look on his face and hands on his head. He says he needs someone to talk to. He shares his grandmother has just died. The matriarch of his family, the woman who taught him everything, the woman who raised him. He wants to cry but his eyes wont let him. Here's a little bit of a back story on how I've gotten to know Curt: He lives and has grown up in the neighborhood. I first met him in one of the houses being renovated by the investor who owns our house. A couple months ago I was in our front porch, we had just moved in, and he was walking by towards the blue store. I holler at him to say hi and he stops. He needs to talk. His mom (who him and his girlfriend live with) called the cops in a drunk and belligerent rage. She wanted him out of her house, but the cops said she needed to sober up and then make that decision. Curt made the decision for her and decided at 30 years old it was time to move out. He moved into one of the houses they had renovated and is for sale. He has nothing. I give him a hug, a toaster and some homemade jam. I tell him I am here for him and he goes on his way. Last week I took him and his girlfriend to Walmart to find an air mattress and some other things. I had some things to get myself anyways, and really didn't think I was doing anything spectacular, Curt thought otherwise.
Back to Tuesday night. We talked for about 30 minutes about his grandmother, the anger and frustration he was feeling, and his battle scars, both physical and emotional, from the streets. He tells me he is out of money, is trying to move to another house down the street, and has no food. He asks for some food and I inform him we had tacos for dinner and I could make him a plate. He accepts, says hes off to talk to his uncle, and will return for the food in a little bit. I placed some things on the front porch including a crockpot (we have 2 for some reason) half hoping he takes the food and goes home without knocking on the door. God has different, bigger plans. 11ish there is a knock at the door. Curt has returned. His eyes welling with tears, i step on to our front porch close the door and the flood gates open. I am tightly hugging a 30 year old homeless man. I am filled with the Truth that God loves this man in his brokenness and is calling him back towards himself. We talked till around 1230. He spilled his guts to me. He shared with me all about his childhood, the ways he has made money on the streets (he calls the underground), and how he desires to rise above and escape the grip of the streets that are calling for his return.
I wont share the gory details, but he grew up in a churched home and has a lot of bible knowledge. The streets have skewed some of the Truths of the Gospel, but we will talk through that. Finally, before he left he said the most amazing thing to me. He said "Adam you are my brother and I know you love me and care about me. You drove me to Walmart and didnt let me give you gas money. Nobody here has treated me the way you have." I cleaned up his words a little bit, but the Truth came out. Even through my weak, misguided attempts to do it on my own, God was working in the cracks. Tonight he will be joining us for dinner. I am excited to share our lives with our neighbors, even if there has to be a predinner talk about things we dont need to say, and words not to use in front of our youngest family members.
Pray for Curt, for his grieving, for that feeling in his heart to be set free, for our friendship to grow.
Also, we have been praying for a pregnant 15 year old girl that we have been working with for years now, and trying to figure out how we can best help her. God has been leading us, and is calling us to take her into our home for a few weeks while we have an extra bedroom (until our other new roommate moved in). Yes, it seems crazy. We will be having our second baby within a week, closing on our house, and starting to get the ministry rolling. For us it seems crazier for her to stay in a home where she is not wanted. Her mother is done with her. She is hard headed and tough to talk with, but Gods timing is perfect. We have been blessed with the opportunity to teach, first hand, a pregnant 15 year old how to care for and raise her child. We would love to see her give her boy up for adoption, but that is not necessarily how God is writing her story. Please join us in praying for her. Pray for God to give her wisdom and maturity to make difficult decisions about her life and her unborn baby's life. Pray for our patience with her and our opportunity to teach her to raise a child that will not just survive but flourish.
Pray for our family. That we would let God lead in our ministry and life, trust him with everything, and love on our neighbors with the love of Jesus. For Becca and Caden's health during his birth, and a quick recovery.
Thank you so much for your prayers, love, and encouragement. You are all an encouragement to me and stretch me in my walk with God. I would truly love to join you in praying for things in your life, so shoot me an email, text, or phone call.
Love you guys!
Adam
Our neighborhood desperately longs for lasting love. From the dealers on the corners, the homeless on our streets and under our bridges, the women selling themselves, the kids riding their bikes around, the kids stealing from their neighbors, on and on and on. We are all searching and longing for Christs everlasting love. I can do nothing for our neighborhood but love them as Jesus loves me.
We feel ready to be the hands and feet of Gods ministry in AP. I have realized that I have been going at things alone, and that is not God's intent for us in doing ministry - so I long to share with you our lives, stories of God moving in our neighbors, and our needs. I know you guys are behind our ministry, sharing in the joys and burdens that we face. That's why God put you in my life and called on you to join in His ministry in AP.
Tuesday night at about 10:15 there was a knock on the door. A man named Curt is standing on our door with a sullen look on his face and hands on his head. He says he needs someone to talk to. He shares his grandmother has just died. The matriarch of his family, the woman who taught him everything, the woman who raised him. He wants to cry but his eyes wont let him. Here's a little bit of a back story on how I've gotten to know Curt: He lives and has grown up in the neighborhood. I first met him in one of the houses being renovated by the investor who owns our house. A couple months ago I was in our front porch, we had just moved in, and he was walking by towards the blue store. I holler at him to say hi and he stops. He needs to talk. His mom (who him and his girlfriend live with) called the cops in a drunk and belligerent rage. She wanted him out of her house, but the cops said she needed to sober up and then make that decision. Curt made the decision for her and decided at 30 years old it was time to move out. He moved into one of the houses they had renovated and is for sale. He has nothing. I give him a hug, a toaster and some homemade jam. I tell him I am here for him and he goes on his way. Last week I took him and his girlfriend to Walmart to find an air mattress and some other things. I had some things to get myself anyways, and really didn't think I was doing anything spectacular, Curt thought otherwise.
Back to Tuesday night. We talked for about 30 minutes about his grandmother, the anger and frustration he was feeling, and his battle scars, both physical and emotional, from the streets. He tells me he is out of money, is trying to move to another house down the street, and has no food. He asks for some food and I inform him we had tacos for dinner and I could make him a plate. He accepts, says hes off to talk to his uncle, and will return for the food in a little bit. I placed some things on the front porch including a crockpot (we have 2 for some reason) half hoping he takes the food and goes home without knocking on the door. God has different, bigger plans. 11ish there is a knock at the door. Curt has returned. His eyes welling with tears, i step on to our front porch close the door and the flood gates open. I am tightly hugging a 30 year old homeless man. I am filled with the Truth that God loves this man in his brokenness and is calling him back towards himself. We talked till around 1230. He spilled his guts to me. He shared with me all about his childhood, the ways he has made money on the streets (he calls the underground), and how he desires to rise above and escape the grip of the streets that are calling for his return.
I wont share the gory details, but he grew up in a churched home and has a lot of bible knowledge. The streets have skewed some of the Truths of the Gospel, but we will talk through that. Finally, before he left he said the most amazing thing to me. He said "Adam you are my brother and I know you love me and care about me. You drove me to Walmart and didnt let me give you gas money. Nobody here has treated me the way you have." I cleaned up his words a little bit, but the Truth came out. Even through my weak, misguided attempts to do it on my own, God was working in the cracks. Tonight he will be joining us for dinner. I am excited to share our lives with our neighbors, even if there has to be a predinner talk about things we dont need to say, and words not to use in front of our youngest family members.
Pray for Curt, for his grieving, for that feeling in his heart to be set free, for our friendship to grow.
Also, we have been praying for a pregnant 15 year old girl that we have been working with for years now, and trying to figure out how we can best help her. God has been leading us, and is calling us to take her into our home for a few weeks while we have an extra bedroom (until our other new roommate moved in). Yes, it seems crazy. We will be having our second baby within a week, closing on our house, and starting to get the ministry rolling. For us it seems crazier for her to stay in a home where she is not wanted. Her mother is done with her. She is hard headed and tough to talk with, but Gods timing is perfect. We have been blessed with the opportunity to teach, first hand, a pregnant 15 year old how to care for and raise her child. We would love to see her give her boy up for adoption, but that is not necessarily how God is writing her story. Please join us in praying for her. Pray for God to give her wisdom and maturity to make difficult decisions about her life and her unborn baby's life. Pray for our patience with her and our opportunity to teach her to raise a child that will not just survive but flourish.
Pray for our family. That we would let God lead in our ministry and life, trust him with everything, and love on our neighbors with the love of Jesus. For Becca and Caden's health during his birth, and a quick recovery.
Thank you so much for your prayers, love, and encouragement. You are all an encouragement to me and stretch me in my walk with God. I would truly love to join you in praying for things in your life, so shoot me an email, text, or phone call.
Love you guys!
Adam
