homeless.....

Looking forward, we have a pretty busy week coming up. It will start off tonight with me wandering over to GameStop at midnight to pick up the new Madden game. Morgan and the guys are calling me tomorrow morning to talk about it, so I will try to get in a game or two before sleeping. If not and sleep takes over, I'll just wake up early and get a game in. Tomorrow, during the day, we are heading out to Legoland. Today a new aquarium is opening next to it called Sea Life. So besides the normal park, we get some sea life education. I like Legoland, and I will be bringing my camera to take pictures of the mini cities that are set up in the park. The aquarium is new to the United States, and we always enjoy them, so it should be a good day. On the weekend, Cassie has a swim meet on both Saturday and Sunday mornings, while on Sunday night, Morgan and I will be baptized. OK, I'm tired already. :-)

Saturday night brought our last guest speaker of the summer (and maybe the best) to our church. His name was Mike Yankoski, and he has an amazing story. Mike was brought up in upper middle class Colorado, and did not start going to church with friends (mom and dad are non-believers) until high school. While in college, he was out with some friends one night and purposefully ignored a couple of homeless men, as to wish them to go away. The next day in church he remembered the incident, and how it was not the Christian way to act, and was not living in a Christ like manner. That lead him to decide to leave school for a semester (five months) to live as a homeless person in six different cities across the country. Mike had a friend join him on this journey, and for the five months he kept a journal and wrote about their experiences in Under the Overpass.

I purchased a copy of the book and was able to speak with Mike for a little while on Saturday night. In the book, he talks about their times on church grounds and with Christians, and how they did not always act in a Christian manner to these two homeless men. His message was inspiring to Morgan and myself, and has made me think a little about how I may go about encounters with those less fortunate than me/us. His message is not to go "crazy" about it, as he is not looking for all of us to house and take in those on the street, but just be compassionate to those less fortunate. Maybe a $5 Starbucks card, or a bottle of water and chewy granola bar to get them through the day. That with a "hello", may just make someones week a whole lot better.

Morgan and I talked about it, and we need to leave the cynical part of us to the side when it comes to matters like this. We have all been "burned" by a scam of some sorts in our lives, and it makes us put up a wall to not allow it to happen again. By doing that, we shut out those that really need our help. We need to believe that when those situation are presented to us, that God will put those truly in need in front of us.

- Great first 3 days of Olympic action.
- Hillary says John Edwards cost her the nomination.
- A slow and respectful changing of the New Year's Guard.

Until the next time.....