A Thanksgiving Worth Remembering

"When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and repayment come to you. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
-Luke 14:12-14

Yet another passage from the bible that speaks for itself and yet is rarely followed. In our American society it actually seems foreign for a Christian to do something like this. And yet straight from the words of Jesus, it's right there in black and white (or in some cases, red).

This year my friend Steph decided to actually invite a few homeless people to her Thanksgiving dinner. Steph's motivation probably had less to do with following the passage in Luke, and more to do with the simple fact that she has formed some close friendships within Raleigh's homeless circle. It just made sense to invite a few of them over. Sure enough, everyone had a great time and one of the guys even commented that it was the best Thanksgiving he ever had. None of this was a shock, but it was the reaction from Steph's parents that surprised me.

Not at all knowing that homeless people were invited to dinner, or that their daughter even had homeless friends, we were a little concerned how Steph's parents were going to react to the arrival of Ricky and Michael at the house. But for whatever reason they just immediately connected with these two, her mother with Michael and her stepfather with Ricky. If you knew these four people, you would have hardly expected this. But there was no interrupting them as they talked back and forth throughout the afternoon. After Ricky and Michael went back to the shelter, Steph's parents commented that talking to them was such a treat and the highlight of their Thanksgiving.

The lesson for me was that relationships with the less fortunate are anything but one sided. Steph's parents came to Raleigh looking for a memorable holiday celebration with their two children. What they went home with was an unforgettable experience sharing stories with two men they had never met before. No need to wait around for the resurrection of the righteous, their repayment was immediate. I might go as far as to say that this strange social experiment was more impacting on Steph's parents than it was on Ricky and Michael, but isn't it always that way when we serve the poor.

I talked to Ricky today and he told me that Steph's mom had been sending Michael emails. I think I may have witnessed the beginning of a long friendship, not to mention a Thanksgiving worth remembering.

International Festival

A few weeks back, Garner Magnet High School hosted it's 3rd annual International Festival. Since I actively participated in setting up 3 different booths, I thought it warranted a blog post. So here are the booths:

Booth 1:
Beleza/Fair Trade

Sorry about the blurry picture, these pictures were taken by students, so what are you going to do?

The paintings were done by my friend Eddie Bbira in Uganda. They're painted on bark cloth and they sell them at Beleza in Cameron Village.



Booth 2:
Invisible Children

Welcome to Gulu, Uganda. This grass roof was a pain in the ptootie to build. But it looks pretty bad-a, right?

Booth 3:
Painting Lemonade
Guatemala City, Guatemala

I'm most proud of this one. I put together the Painting Lemonade project back in August. Wake County high school students paint portraits of children in La Limonada. I'll be delivering some of these 250 pictures to the children in April, during my spring break. Not bad, huh?

Yesterday's Bible Lesson

Yesterday, instead of church I went down to Moore Square for a free bacon and egg biscuit and some fellowship with the local homeless crowd. Afterwards, I went to a coffee shop and actually read my bible. I read Ecclesiastes and came across this gem of a passage:

And I discovered more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her.

-Ecclesiastes 7:26

I'd like to say that this passage is the reason I am still single, but I have been "the sinner", or in my case "the fool", quite a few times in my life. I wish I could say I wasn't at all "bitter" as the passage reads. Maybe someday I'll find that special lady who is not a net and chains.

Sometimes I just can't believe the things I come across in that crazy book.

Lady's and Gentlemen, Ricky Caldwell

I'd like to introduce you all to my good friend, Ricky Caldwell. I met Ricky down at Moore Square Park back in August. We have been great friends ever since. Ricky has a lot of noticeable differences from myself, but the most noteworthy would have to be the fact that Ricky is homeless.



Over the last few months Ricky has shared with me so many interesting stories about his life on the streets. So very often I would hear him say, "Man, Chris, you wouldn't even believe the stuff I've seen. But I tell ya, I'm going to write a book about it some day." Every time I would hear Ricky say that, the little voice in my head would say, "Yeah, right. This high school drop out is never going to actually sit down and write anything." Well, instead of being cynical, like usual, I decided to actually do something. I proudly give you rickycaldwell.blogspot.com

Ricky has worse computer skills than my Ugandan friends, so he is going to write down his thoughts on paper, and we will get together every week and try to post a blog. This is a very interesting project that I am extremely excited about being a part of. I hope it sparks some interest and maybe, some day, Ricky will fulfill his dream of writing a book.

The Gathering

So, for about a month now we've been experimenting with a nameless church group, for the moment we will call, The Gathering. The goal of the gathering is to promote a Christian support group amongst the homeless and formerly homeless people of Raleigh. This is a picture from our first ever meeting, just a few weeks ago. I am very excited to be a part of this movement and I am excited to see where goes. When people ask me, "what is the gathering?" I usually get frustrated at my inability to share Hugh's vision with just about anybody. But here's a story that I think explains what it is we are trying to accomplish.

Week 2 of the gathering.

My friend Stephanie showed up 5 minutes late, and found herself locked out of the building. As she is about to bang on the door, she sees Ronnie coming down the sidewalk. They greet each other, and when the question of, "how's it going?" comes up, Ronnie explains that he is extremely frustrated. Ronnie spens the next 45 minutes talking out of control about losing jobs and people not supporting him and his large distaste for how he was treated at church earlier that morning. Stephanie, was at loss for how to respond to all of this, but is somewhat successful at calming Ronnie down at least somewhat before they decide to join the rest of the group.

At this point, Stephanie and Ronnie had missed almost all of the discussion, but there was a moment at the end where it was asked if there were any concerns we should know about that we could be praying for. Ronnie immediately jumped in with his story from church that morning, having to do with the loss of his job and his need for money and work. Before Ronnie could get anywhere in his story, another homeless guy named Everit jumped in and said something along the lines of, "Man Ronnie, at some point you just have to look at your situation and say, 'is it everybody around me, or is it something that I'm doing?' Listen, you've lost 4 jobs in the last 2 months. I used to go through the same cycle all the time, and I finally thought to myself, 'is it the world that's messin up my life, or is it something that I'm doing that's causing this?' Nothings going to change unless you start taking some responsibility for yourself"

A few of the other guys off the street chimed in and talked about the situation for a little bit. Stephanie realized that she was in no position to give Ronnie the advice that Everit had given him, but it was exactly what Ronnie needed. I think this story embodies the whole purpose of our little group. I'm looking forward to hearing more discussions like this in the future and to building a strong community in downtown Raleigh.