RAOK Experiment!

What the heck is RAOK?

Let me see if you can figure it out.

Last week as I was driving through the hood and I noticed a guy carrying a bag of cans.

I wrote about this collection process last fall.

It occurred to me one day that we collect a lot of cans at the Church.

I thought to myself what would happen if I took the bag of cans from the church and gave them to someone who was collecting cans on the street.

So last week when I stopped on the street and asked the man if he was collecting cans he said "yes" of coarse.

Just so you know I asked another guy the same question, but he thought I was crazy! Be careful. I mistook what was in his bag!

So back to the story I stopped and open up my trunk and gave him a large trash bag of cans.

His response was one of expletives that I dare not share, but he was VERY enthusiastic!

My next experiment came this past Saturday.

I saw a woman raking up some clippings from her cut shrubs.

I walked on by thinking about helping her. 

I would try to convince myself not to and keep on walking home.

This time I caught myself turning around and went up to her and asked if she needed help bagging the clippings.

She accepted the offer and we had a great time getting to know each other.

If you haven't figured it out yet RAOK stands for Random Acts of Kindness.

I want to see if RAOK will translate into opportunities of sharing the gospel.

At the minimum I will be planting seeds.

In Young Life Ministries they have a saying that "You have to earn the right to be heard".

You must first build trust.

This is not about how it makes me feel, but about how I can serve others.

I found a great website with all sorts of ideas for RAOK.

I am going to continue the RAOK experiment and see what happens.

I Know It To Be True

One week after the move, and I KNOW that I am where I'm supposed to be!

Living in the Hood!

God has a way of confirming things for me.

Sometimes it's in the smallest of things.

This past Friday God had a way of showing me that I was on the right path.

It happened in a blink of an eye, when I could sense that he had blessed this move to the Northside.

I can't explain it in words as much as I can in my spirit.

In that moment I knew it to be true!

Mutual Exchange

Yesterday was very productive.

Yes it was a Holiday, but there was way too much to do with the move and all.

Earlier in the week I had received an email from a gentleman requesting money to fix his car.

I thought about it and decided to give him an opportunity to earn some money instead of basically asking for a donation.

He lives at Caritas the local shelter and is looking to get back on his feet.

I sent him an email asking if he wanted to do some landscape work.

He replied right away with a yes.

We had a great time working alongside each other and getting to know one another.

I asked about his stay at Caritas and how he had become homeless.

He was very open and honest.

I then asked if he was open to this idea of mutual exchange where he does a job for which he gets paid vs asking for money flat out.

He agreed that the idea of getting paid for a job is much better.

As a matter of fact he was going to stop asking for money in his emails and start suggesting that he could do odd jobs to earn some income.

I look forward to seeing him at church on Sunday!

There is pride and dignity in this idea of mutual exchange instead of just giving out handouts.

Very Challenging Day, but God is in Control!

Today started very early in the morning with the thought that I might have to put David back out on the street.

It's a very real struggle to do the very thing you are working so hard to prevent!

Ironic that I would have to put someone back where he came from.

I wrestled with the idea all morning long!

So at 5:45am I called Charles.

True definition of a friend is one that you can call at all hours and they will be there for you.

Charles is that friend.

We went to breakfast and discussed the situation.

We came away knowing what had to be done, due to the circumstances that had taken place.

I choose not to go into details.

I told Charles that it needed to wait a couple hours while I spent some time praying about it.

I went on my walk and sure enough God met me there!

There were a number of ways that He assured me of what I needed to do.

The greatest of all came from my friend, Geraldine (My Angel).

I hadn't seen her in months, but she showed up out of the blue.

There she was and we had an awesome time together in prayer.

My next steps were obvious and well planned by God.

Charles and I drove to my house and spoke with David.

We told him that we needed to take him to a hotel until he could find an alternate place to stay.

He was agreeable and thus we drove out to the airport to a hotel he recommended.

In the mean time several agencies are working to find him a place to stay.

He also has a disability check that came in the mail today.

It's enough for him to get his own place.

I never knew it would end this way, but I know God is in control and not me.

I was scared to death of how it was going to go down, but it couldn't have gone any better all things considered.

David is fine and is looking forward to meeting with some of the contacts we gave him.

It was a very challenging meeting, but it ended well and I know that God is in control.

Hoping For The Best, While Struggling Through It.

Things don't always go the way you would like them to.

I struggle with unmet expectations of others.

In the struggle people don't always act the way you might want them to.

It's not up to me to change a person's behavior or attitude.

I need to stay true to who God wants me to be and allow God do what He wants to do.

I just need to make myself available, but there must be boundaries that are set for myself and the other person.

Sometimes it gets very difficult, but I can't let that stop me from moving forward.

Nobody ever said this journey would be easy.

I have to keep my eye on the prize that God has set before me.

I need to push on through and see what God would have me learn through this experience.

It doesn't make it any easier, but it does allow me to move forward hoping for the best.