bring on Christmas week!

it was october 2nd.  i was inspired and full of intention.  i had just visited lisa quick’s blog, and read her post about sewing with her daughter mckenzie.  zz, as they call her, shared her sewing expertise about handmade pillowcases.  i was amazed by her talent, and i was instantly inspired.  a handmade travel pillowcase, i thought.  one that i can pull out and take with me every time we travel.  that would be sweet!  i left an instant comment on lisa’s post, and promised to go out shopping that weekend for my fabric.  well, i followed through on my promise to purchase the fabric.  that was complete before monday came again.  however, the making part got a bit delayed.

as part of our intentional holiday activities, kristyn and i set the date for pillowcase making.  and today was the day!  kristyn got her sewing machine out, pressed our fabric, and it was time to begin.  just a minute more for a bit of bobbin winding, and we started on my travel pillow.  there is someone else’s talent that i am amazed with, and that is my sweet’s.  she would be quick to call herself a sewing novice, but she was a master in my eyes, as she cut, pinned and sewed.  we followed z’s directions to the letter, and in about 20-30 minutes my travel pillowcase was done.  you couldn’t smack the smiles off of either of our faces.  there is amazing joy in making something with your hands.  and to see an intention come to life, is totally sweet!

what i didn’t share earlier, was that i also bought some Christmas pillowcase fabric during our visit to joann’s.  if there is a more “pinch me” reality than my very own travel pillowcase, it is laying my head down on santa’s face all Christmas week, and new year’s week!  or whenever the feeling hits me throughout the year (oh yeah, you know i’ll be pulling that bad boy out at random times all year long!).

with kristyn’s expert help, i took the lead on my very own Christmas pillowcase.  she trimmed and pinned, i sat at the machine, pressed the pedal and guided the fabric.  although i was a bit crooked at times, with kristyn’s encouragement, i finished all of the sewing myself.  and when she brought the finished product upstairs after pressing it, a rush of crazy joy came over me.  another can’t-slap-it-off smile!

thank you z for the inspiration that is your amazing creative talent, lisa for posting and sharing, and my sweet for cutting and pinning and encouraging.  i can’t wait to begin Christmas week tomorrow night laying my head on my fresh and crisp new Christmas pillowcase!

new sound of the season

i risk getting in trouble by sharing this post tonight.  my mom and dad are regular readers, and i am going to have to beg my mom’s forgiveness for what i am about to share (not really, my mom is way more forgiving than that).  you see, a couple years ago i intended to take up the mantle and carry on a favorite family tradition for the holidays.  one of my most vivid memories is the joy that my aunt gerrie brought to my mom’s heart each holiday she visited and brought her Christmas pudding.  she was a treasured part of our family’s holiday celebrations, made even more so by the pot of Christmas joy she brought with her.  i am not sure exactly when, but aunt gerrie had picked up a tradition of her’s as a child when her mother made Christmas pudding.  my mom would have a bit of fun with aunt gerrie each year, and threaten to turn her away at the door if she couldn’t show proof that she had brought the pudding.

although i enjoyed it vicariously for the majority of my adolescent life, i came to sample and then enjoy this holiday steamed goodness only a few years before aunt gerrie was unable to spend every year with us.  and then the tradition paused altogether when my parents moved to florida.  several years had passed when i decided one Christmas that i wanted to personally revive the tradition and learn to make, and begin bringing the pudding each year we shared either Christmas or Thanksgiving with my family.  i was miraculously able to find a vintage waterless cooker similar to the brand and model that aunt gerrie used that very same  year on ebay.  but it would be another two before i followed through on my intentions and made a visit to aunt gerrie’s to learn how to make the pudding.  i cannot adequately describe the joy that the day turned out to be.  it was only a few hours, a blip in the context of a lifetime, but it generated a lifetime of memories, and an extra special punctuation mark on my plans to carry on the tradition.  i made the pudding again that next holiday, but as with many of my intentions, the past two years have seen the cooker nestled snuggly in it’s “bed”, rather than on its proper perch on the stove top.

i am making pudding tonight.  making it to take on a special holiday visit we scheduled with our great friends, the yankees.  mrs. yankee is another person whose promise for pudding has gone unfulfilled.  so tonight, i am making good on that promise, and reuniting with the joy of a treasured family tradition.  and just so that it gets done, tonight i asked kristyn to please help me ensure this never happens again.  to never let another Thanksgiving or Christmas holiday pass without making pudding.

as i pen my last words, i hear the fluttering or light tamping sound of the steam release valve on the lid of my waterless cooker.  it is the confirmation that the pudding is “steeping” correctly.  it’s my new “sound of the season”.  my desire is that it becomes as familiar as the “White Christmas”, “Holiday Inn” and “Going My Way” movies that i watch each holiday season.  and joins the chorus of my favorite Christmas crooners.

i just made my final call (of 6) to aunt gerrie a few minutes ago.  i have been pestering her all evening, trying to blow away the cobwebs of her lesson a few years ago.  there was the call to ask when to begin boiling the water (before or after the pudding batter was in the colander inside the waterless cooker) — yes, you heard that right, steaming in a waterless cooker  there was the call to report in at the half way point, and her suggestion to check the water level (a dry aluminum pot will be short for ruin).  a check again to find out how she determines when it is time to take the pudding off the heat.

during the final call, i decided to ask the question that had been lingering in my mind since the closing sentences of the first paragraph.  namely, when did she take up the tradition for herself, and do i remember correctly that it was her mom that made the pudding, and did she make it each year?

her words were priceless answers to those questions, and validation to the larger ambition of carrying the tradition forward within our family.  she confirmed that it was her mother that made pudding each year.  and she shared her lament over never finding out where her mom got the recipe for the pudding (she passed before the thought crossed anyone’s mind).  she shared that her mom made pudding both for Thanksgiving and Christmas — the only two times a year that it was made.  and that her oldest brother (my grandfather) never really liked the pudding.  his reason?  there were raisins in it.  and also that her nephew (my dad) didn’t like it either … because it had raisins in it.  and how a great-nephew (that would be me) didn’t like it growing up … yep, you guessed it, because it had raisins in it.  and she reminded me that it was the first year my brother-in-law joined us for the holidays, and gladly tried it, when she issued the challenge to me … “hey mark, tony’s eating it!”

the sweetest moment, however, would come in the retelling of how she came to take up the tradition.  in her words … “mom died on november 10th, and my brother clifford said to me, “gerrie, i guess you’ll have to start making pudding.”  i began that Thanksgiving.  on my first attempt, my brother said, “it’s … almost.”  but it wasn’t long, about the third or fourth time i made it, when he told me that it was “just like mum’s.”

i realize that this life is not really about us, and that it’s only temporal.  but this is why it was so important to me to take up the tradition and carry it forward.  the mixing, and the pouring, and the steeping are just steps.  but the connection to a treasured extended member of our family’s holiday celebrations, and her connection to her mom, and brothers and family’s holiday celebrations , and their connection to those that came before them, is something worth immeasurably more than the mixing, and the pouring, and the steeping.  the proof is truly “in the pudding”.

tonight, i hear the echoes of ours, and their holiday gatherings.  they join the fluttering of the steam valve, as new, and sweet sounds of the season.

taking stock

well, it has happened.  i walked out of the church in the wee hours of saturday morning, and likely walked out of the lives of some pretty amazing people who i will not soon forget.  ChristNet is over, and it finds me in the purest of possible bittersweet moments.  it pains me to know that i will likely never see or communicate with any of the true and lasting friends i made this week.  but the experience has once again generated in me, an unspeakable joy that causes a spontaneous smile whenever the thought of it drifts into my mind.  and so i sit here compelled to journal the moments from this week.  in search, perhaps, of the one that has impacted me the most.  what character, story, or moment has moved me the most?  and where in the world would i begin?  i guess i’ll just start …

> standing in the cold with josh on a smoke break, telling me that he only sleeps a couple of hours a night.  the images of his brother haunt him.
> daniel walking in the night after connor offered to carry his bag for him, bag slung over his shoulder, determined to find me and show me the bag connor offered to carry.
> daniel gifting two of his handwritten scripture memory cards to me
> ms. elaine asking me if i was going to eat with them
> gifting my Bible to winston
> sam’s story about the bright light.  and asking him each subsequent night, if he had seen the light that day.  and then hearing on my final night that he had seen the woman who inspired the thought of the “bright light” that same morning at the warming center (they were celebrating an anniversary of the program).
> ms darlene and her name badges.  she added one each successive night, specifically because i had mentioned the first night i saw her that she had two.  she ended up with four on my last night.  later that night i found a quiet moment to give her a name badge that i had written my name on.  and i asked if she would wear it saturday because i would not be there.
> getting a midnight pudding snack for sheila – street name sheba, and sharing several rich minutes of conversation
> william and his official salvation army name tag, and his three sugar, two creamer cups of coffee.  i told him every cup subsequent to the first i served him, about the trauma he put me through putting that third sugar packet into what i didn’t think could still qualify as coffee.
> verna’s banana pudding!
> my first handshake and greet.  wade, who was actually at last year’s ChristNet.  he took his normal seat, first seat closest to the front, in the farthest row against the wall, and i served him his first cup of coffee.  he looked genuinely surprised when i asked him if he had ever found that class 2 driving job he was looking for last year.  i credit the Holy Spirit in bringing that out of the memory vault.
> cleaning up jon’s linens and personal things, knowing that he didn’t check in on friday night, meaning that he was officially out of the program.  my heart was heavy hearing that the same was true of frank, and knowing from our experience this week what that likely meant.
> seeing brian nichols and joe finger-point wrestling.  i have no idea what it is officially called, but it is this bizarre greco-roman looking match, where the two “combatants” lock individuals hands with index fingers extended, and then on “go”, try to poke the other person with one of the fingers.  half the time, it ends up looking like a game of full combat twister.
> the size of harold’s eyes and his animated expression when on tuesday night, lori maltby announced that meatloaf sandwiches would be available for the next day’s lunch, but in limited supply.
> sharing some God time with sam and daniel
> chip’s stories
> the sinking feeling of cold ham, with 15 minutes to go until the dinner bell “rings”
> emily norton – “i just love helping people”
> the site of connor and kaylee gathering up, and distributing bed linens
> spencer slicing oranges, and his determined and enthusiastic request to sign up for next year
> serving matthew coffee, and after introducing myself, hearing him say, “well, i guess we just need to go find luke and john!”
> sharing venus’ discouragement and worry of losing her place in the program because of the timing of a planned shutdown for the Christmas break and a delay in a hearing that would affect her finding employment.  and in that same conversation, discovering her genuine desire to find work serving and caring for children.
>hearing that katie maltby had been serving at ChristNet with her parents since she was 10 years old (in her 20’s now).  and that she took week’s vacation and flew up from florida to be here this week.  unbelievably inspiring.
> the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat (all experienced within the span of about 15 minutes) at the foosball table.
>the reminder from sam, that it’s not about “fixing” things for them, but rather just being present
> greeting, and having even just a brief conversation with every single one of the 30 or so treasured souls that stayed with us this week
> catching james looking at his name tag when someone asked him his name.  now, in fairness to james, the look was inadvertent.  but we had a great big laugh when i pointed it out, and he realized what he did.
> finding william’s pocket knife, when he was sure it was lost.
> having some laugh’s with craiiprana, after he returned with a delicious looking dessert of sherbet and cookies, and not thinking to get ms. darlene some.

not long after i started this list, i realized that it stopped being a post.  and i apologize that if you made it through the entire list, much of it would likely have not made much sense to you, having not “been there, done that.”  but i can assure you that this list will be an invaluable at times in the future when i refer back, and am reminded of the rich blessing that this week was in my life.  before serving this week, i read my posts from last year.  what an amazing salve and primer that my heart so desperately needed.  and what perfect preparation for the exponential blessings i was about to receive.

to the men and women i served with this week, i thank you for you friendship and your ordinary lives that were transformed into extraordinary service because of, and in the name of, Jesus.  and to the beautiful men and women who i was privileged to serve, and that i have come to love.  i sought only to show you Jesus this week.  and in return, you showed him to me in ways that i could never have imagined, and that, i am sure, i will continue to discover for some time.  i promise to pray for you, as the Spirit bring you to memory.  i love you deeply, and you have changed me profoundly.  to God be the glory.

taller and closer

the blog train is running a bit behind schedule.  because of a packed personal and professional schedule, i literally had no time yesterday to pen anything about the pinch-me night that was thursday.  i would say that i was hopeful all throughout the day.  i knew my own heart for the people and program of ChristNet, but that does not mean that it will resonate the same with others, even those closest to you.  i was pretty certain that kristyn, spencer and connor were feeling anywhere on the sliding scale from curious to fearful.  i know where i was last year, that first night, driving to church.  i was a nervous wreck.  but i was also not trying to transfer that onto them.  kids are usually way more resilient and free than adults, and there was no evidence of any apprehension in kristyn, so with a little debrief on the overall schedule of the evening, we were off just before 6:30 to join our great friends, the nortons, to serve the men and women of ChristNet.

the nortons were waiting for us there, and it did not take long to get moving on meal prep.  connor joined the norton girls, emily and kaylee in the dining area, doodling and coloring, while spencer went right to the kitchen with the “adults”.  it did not take long for a plan to be devised, and for everyone to break off and begin a prep task.  lori began preparing the scalloped potatoes, don and i grabbed the hams out of the refrigerator (how appropriately redundant is that?!  two hams grabbing two hams), and kristyn began prepping vegetables for a salad.  spencer also got right to work, and his job was of paramount importance.  ”disappearing” into the landscape of adults and prep tasks, spencer began cleaning up some of the packaging being discarded.  and it was not long until his meaningful role was on display.  i think i heard lori laugh first, and begin making recommendations to spencer on how to “wear” something.  i turned to find spencer wearing the black netting that had minutes ago encased one of the hams, on his head, mimicking a hairnet.  it was just the perfect creative and jovial jolt we needed.

we love our friends the nortons.  they are incredibly genuine, humble, giving and fun.  they are the kind of people who you feel at home with.  no airs, no expectations, just good people.  we were excited to be able to serve with them, and it was a great deal of fun from start to finish. i would be woefully remiss if i forgot to also mention the father/daughter duo of terry and rebecca, and the sweet couple verna and eugene.  terry and rebecca arrived at just around the same time as us.  they attend a neighboring church, and volunteered to come in and serve with us.  terry is a natural in the kitchen, and wielded a knife like a food network chef.  his daughter rebecca was not so shabby herself, and added a heaping portion of personality that fit in just perfectly with the jocular crowd.  verna was our kitchen coordinator for the evening, and eugene turned out to be a master apple peeler.  the kitchen was abuzz, and the sweet smells and sounds of service was in the air.  before i leave the scene of the kitchen, i have to say that i was most impressed with spencer.  he jumped right in, cutting up the oranges that don and i were peeling, and after a little instruction from mom, performed his duties well.

at one point in the prep, i floated out to the dining area to check on our younger crowd.  mrs. maltby suggested silverware servings were needed, and norton girls, and connor were quick to join the task.  all four of us began to wrap (yo-yo … wait, not that kind of wrap) a single service of fork, spoon and knife in a napkin.  the girls took a minute to get their technique down, in fact, emily had become a little frustrated and gave up at one point.  but in foreshadowing the depth and genuineness of her service, she soon returned and found the perfect technique for her.  by that time, the younger one’s had floated away, and emily and i finished the last of the 40 or so that we needed to wrap.  i had the best time wrapping silverware and talking with emily.  she is a beautiful young girl, but it’s what flows out from her heart that is the most inspiring.  she was genuinely enjoying the task, and after we finished, volunteered to make a sign to put next to the silverware discard container, so that people knew that’s what it was for.

i returned to the kitchen, and began helping again.  not long after, i looked out one of the kitchen window openings and saw connor out in the men’s sleeping area, crawling around on one of the beds.  the dining area and the men’s sleeping area share the overall fellowship hall, and are separated by a partition of rolling chalkboards.  i could see connor’s legs and butt from where i was standing, and i was concerned that he was over there playing around.  i called out to him, and asked him to please get out of there and come back over into the dining area.  don heard me and noticed kaylee out the other window, and called out to her as well.  but what neither of us saw, or were aware of, was mrs. maltby had recruited them to help with bedding.  and they were both enthusiastically honoring her request.  a fact she made us both well aware of, and that we quickly apologized for, hanging our heads in shame.

i found it very hard to be in the kitchen as the men and women arrived from the warming center.  i felt the draw to slip out of the kitchen and go out and greet my friends.  but, i was there to serve dinner tonight with my family and great friends.  there were others to perform the role that i had the previous couple of nights, and conversation would surely come later.  with only the minor crisis of cold ham that don quickly devised a strategy to resolve, team “thursday dinner” did a great job preparing a delicious meal for our guests.  we took our places at the serving stations, and dinner began.  emily served salad, connor handed out rolls.  kristyn served ham, i was on green beans.  spencer manned the three varieties of cheesy potatoes, and kaylee had fruit salad.  it was so awesome serving food, talking with everyone who came through the line, mentioning them each by name.  and watching kristyn, spencer and connor, emily and kaylee beam as they expertly served.  don and lori had the critical task of manning the kitchen and refilling items that needed warmed or replenished.

after all had been served, we got plates of our own, and joined our guests.  we had as much, or more fun sharing the meal, as we did serving it.  both the boys and kristyn engaged with the guests, and it felt like the boundaries of family just stretched out to encompass everyone there.  i had made the comment to ms. venus the night before, that it just felt like family sitting with them and sharing the meal.  and that came into full focus and reality on thursday night.  the entire group that was there that night was added into the family roll.  all are incredibly special to us, although some made specific impressions.  earlier in the evening, as i was going to fetch connor to come serve for dinner, i bumped into daniel.  you will certainly remember daniel from earlier posts.  as i talked briefly with daniel, i saw connor out of the corner of my eye, and called him over.  ”daniel, this is my son connor”, i said.  ”you know, connor and i have already met.  he was the young man who greeted me at the door earlier, and offered to carry my bag for me.  my bag was bigger than he was!  i thanked him, but i didn’t know his name.  connor, it is great to meet you again, and to know your name.”  he extended his hand, and i teared up.  connor gave him that trademark grin and head shake.  ”nice to meet you, too daniel”, he said.  i was humbled and overwhelmed.

i got to know my girl emily a bit better thursday night.  from our silverware wrapping to the serving line, i saw a more mature girl than i had noticed before.  as the line thinned and people came for seconds or thirds, kristyn and connor had taken a plate and sat down.  i manned a couple stations, and now there was no one between emily and i.  as if saying it to no one in particular, at one point she said, “i just love helping people!”.  ”that’s awesome, em”, i said.  ”you are doing such a great job tonight”.  ”when i grow up, i want to get some sort of job helping people.  like serving them somehow.”  amen, emily.  i pray that the spirit of that genuine hope grows, and materializes in your life.  those in need, need those like you.

as we cleaned up, i bumped into spencer at the garbage area.  with every bit of enthusiasm that a 12-year-old boy possesses, he declared, “you are so signing me up for this next year!”  i was so incredibly proud of spencer that night.  from the moment we left the house, stepping in front of me to help mom carry the large tub of laundry to the car, spencer was ready and willing to do anything he was asked to do.  sometimes just picking up a knife, even though he has really never cut up fruit, or used a sharp knife, but thinking, “i can do this”.  i was in love with his attitude, and his spirit in serving.

i don’t have any specific memories of kaylee. she and connor share a kindred energy and spirit, so i didn’t see her much after we first arrived.  but i am certain she was every bit the helper of the other three that i observed more closely.

and finally, my girl kristyn.  she is my best friend on earth, and i was so happy to have her there with me on thursday night, sharing in the joy of serving my friends, experiencing the thing that has become so much a part of me.  i didn’t notice any specific conversations or interactions that she had, she would have to share any of those.  but i did notice that she was tireless in serving and being.  she would agree that she is less conversation and more serving.  her bright yellow shirt was made a bit more so by the heart that bled though to those who we were there to share the evening with.  i love her for stepping into a commitment that was made for her, and doing it so joyfully and fully.

you couldn’t pinch me hard enough to make me notice even the slightest twinge of pain.  from sharing the night with the norton’s, terry, rebecca, verna and eugene.  to kaylee and connor helping with the bedding, to the buzz and sweet relationship of the kitchen, to daniel and connor, to emily and spencer’s declarations, to the amazing men and women we served, it was a night that i wished would never end.  it was an exuberant consensus that the nortons and the robbs would be doing this the next thursday night of ChristNet.  and i learned a bit more about the volume of the my boy’s hearts.

thank you God, and thank you ChristNet for growing my family taller and closer on thursday night.

P.S.  verna, the men and women (and me) would like to put in an extra order of your amazing banana pudding for next year!  or maybe two or three extra orders!

the teller and the story

i don’t remember this from last year, but maybe that’s because i only worked one “dinner” shift.  or maybe it was because i was so wide-eyed at the time, that i missed some details.  but one thing i have quickly come to look forward to, is chip maltby’s pre-meal story.  chip is an integral part of a three-person dynamic force that is the engine that drives WBC ChristNet.  a dynamic force that has served humbly and expertly since the programs inception, and that also shares the bond of blood (Christ’s, and their own).

for the past two nights, i have listened as a master story-teller has shared the core message of Jesus, and the Father, in gripping tales.  the stories are short, but powerful.  and all peripheral activity stops when chip begins.  our treasured guests all seem to look forward to this pre-meal treat as much, if not more, than i do.  what a fitting way to begin an evening.  i appreciate so much the intentional way that Christ is shared with the men and women that stay with us each night.  it is done both in word, and in deed.  from chip’s story, to the small gathering at the post-meal bible study, to the conversations throughout the night where the name of Jesus is spoken and glorified, there is no mistaking the precious gift that we have to share with these men and women.  and in the preparing, serving and cleaning up of a meal, distribution of clothing, laundry, packing lunches, being present while watching a movie, or playing foosball, the name of Jesus is lived out in front of these men and women who visit us each night.  we are all tellers of the story, first with our hands, but also with our words.

in terms of a life story, there are two that have profoundly impacted me this week.  on the first was shared tuesday night as i sat with a 19 year-old boy/man, named josh.  i use the hyphen, because i believe both exist within josh.  he is the one person that every crowd seems to have.  the “stand-out”, gregarious type.  you know when he enters the room.  he brings equal parts goofy and profound, street and solemn, player and brother.  and he has one amazing story to tell.

completely on his own, at the age of 19, separated from all remnants of his family and friends.  messed up in the wrongest of wrong types of crowds, he watched his younger brother die right in front of him.  both in the wrong place at the wrong time … of his own choosing.  a tragedy that he was not forgiven for, and is the reason he gives for the estrangement from his family.  he had friends who took him in for a short period, but when he couldn’t find a job and get things together, they kicked him out.  he reached near rock bottom in a roadside “ditch” on a stormy night.  i don’t remember the details of where, and how long ago it was, but i vividly remember the miraculous account of how a nearby tree branch fell in the midst of the storm, perfectly positioned to block the water from otherwise flooding the ditch.  he had consciously made the decision to go to sleep in the ditch that night, knowing full well the reality that it would likely flood, and take his life.  he was at that point, where the decision to sleep trumped his will to live.  he had earlier that night prayed to God to do something to show him the he was real.  he went to sleep that night expecting to never find out the answer to that prayer.

now, i have no way of corroborating that story.  and it is quite dramatic, and frankly easy to dismiss as exaggerated or made up.  but whatever the percentage of truth in the detail, it was obvious in watching him tell the story, that deep tragedy and miraculous intervention had happened in his life.  i choose to believe every word that he shared with me.  and that the only detail that is really important, his decision for Christ, is sure and true.

and then there was winston.  those of you who read my posts from last year’s ChristNet may remember lance.  by a significant margin, lance made the deepest and most lasting impression on me.  and i would be lying if i said i wasn’t hyper-sensitive to another “lance” in my experience this year.  lance and i corresponded briefly after that ChristNet week in late december last year, but more recent attempts have gone unanswered.  wherever he is, i hope he literally feels that i still think about, and pray for him.

winston was one of the first i introduced myself to on tuesday.  and then my visits with others found me leaving later that night, having not spoken to him again.  i made it a priority last night to find him, and initiate a conversation.  winston, like lance last year, had just recently gotten out of prison.  winston was falsely imprisoned, and justice had just recently been repaired with his early release.  winston had taken and made something out of a “rough spot” in his life.  while in prison, he saw, and took advantage of an opportunity to teach a substance abuse recovery class.  he had already begun some schooling in the area of counseling, and felt strongly that he wanted to use his experience to help others.  and right now, he is choosing ChristNet over some other opportunities that he knows are wrong for him.  i can’t tell you what a joy it was to talk with winston.  he is a man who knows where he is headed, and is resolved to avoid the snares that would appear to provide the “easier” path.

as we talked, i got the sense he was a believer, although he never said it plainly.  so at one point towards the end of our conversation, i asked him, “winston, where is your heart.  do you believe in Jesus?”  “oh, yeah”, he answered quickly.  a few more words were exchanged, and i asked, “are you in the Word?”.  it was a question that was a bit inspired by my conversation the night before with sam and daniel.  daniel had made a comment that it was so necessary to be consistently in the Word, to combat the demons and pressures of the street.  winston said, “i read a lot in prison”, and then he started to say, “oh yea …” (yeah, i read now too).  but he stopped about where i just did, and finished “nah, i am not reading much now, but i should be.”  i asked, “do you have a Bible, winston?”  “no man, i sure don’t”, he returned.

winston will have my favorite Bible tonight.  i have Bibles at home, like i have coats.  i have sentimental ones, ones in different translations, ones with different color covers, so i can coordinate with what i am wearing (just kidding about the coordination part, but the different colors is true).  my man needs the Word.  and he won’t be getting the one(s) i wouldn’t miss, or didn’t even realize i had.  only the best for my man, winston.  last year, i shared a piece of myself in giving lance my favorite journal.  and don’t you know, i have thought of that journal, or looked for it, several times this year.  “i wonder, where …”, i would think.  and then i would remember … lance.  what a gift that has been, and winston is worthy of no less.

so the theme of the story and the teller may seem to contradict with the caution/challenge that sam shared last night.  but these stories were not fished for.  there were no leading questions, with a purposed extraction.  being present, being interested, and listening generated this rich wealth of relationship.  and i haven’t even told you yet about the beautiful grandmother, venus, who i shared dinner conversation with.

tonight, kristyn and the boys will be with me, as we join with the nortons serving dinner.  i can’t wait!