SAW FRANK AGAIN!

Beau here. Caleb and I headed downtown again to walk the streets and engage with our homeless neighbors. Michael Fleming and his boys partnered with us again.

We started our preparations earlier this week as I was very encouraged by Caleb's heart. Last time we brought gallon zip-loc bags filled with water, perishable items, etc. This time, Caleb wanted to provide that and much more., so he used his savings to create some other creative bags. First, he, Natalie, and Hannah prepared some gallon bags of toiletries - comb, toothbrush, chap stick, a Bible, umbrella, socks, etc. Also, we bought some McDonald's gift certificates to hand out. Finally, Caleb wanted to get in the Christmas spirit, so he got some small stockings and filled each with a Christmas gospel track, a Slim Jim, gum, chao stick, and a candy cane. We also bought some blankets to distribute since it is cold out these days.

So we headed downtown and parked near the McDonald's. We didn't walk 50 yards before we met Jeffrey. Jeffrey got out of jail in New York last week where he was imprisoned for 13 years. He used the money he received to buy a bus ticket to Dallas and used the remaining money to get drunk the past few days. We had a good chat with Jeffrey who was in a Prisoner Fellowship discipleship program while in prison. We discussed Scripture and the call to turn to Christ and His sufficiency, not the liquor. We then all prayed together that Jeffrey would get drunk with the Spirit instead of drunk with the bottle :). I then asked Caleb to share with Jeffrey why we were trying to serve him. Caleb said "we are neighbors, and we need to love and provide for our neighbors." Jeffrey then walked into McDonald's to buy food with the gift certificates we bought him.

We then headed to the West End bus station where we ran into James, a legless man in a wheel chair. We said hi and asked how he was doing. He said "I am doing fine. Christ is providing for me today." We were of course intrigued, so we asked him what that meant, and the brother started preachin to us. He quoted John 14:1-7 which reads :

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going." Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

We felt like we were at church! We spent some time all hangin together and provided James with some food, toiletries, McD's money, etc.

It was freezing this morning and misty raining, so there weren't a lot of folks on the street. We walked for about 30 minutes after this without seeing any of our homeless neighbors. Michael and I had some great opportunities to teach our kids from Matthew 10:39 and Matthew 20:28. We focused on "being served versus serving." We talked about why we do what we do. As Michael says it "We don’t do this in order to make people Christians but we give and serve sacrificially because we are Christians." We pray our kids would find what we do to be "normative Christianity" when we live in a era of dead churches where people consider serving others to somehow be "heroic."

We then started walking towards McDonald's praying that we would find someone to host for a late breakfast. Along the way, we saw an odd scene. In a large empty parking lot, we saw an old minivan with some 18-22 year old kids in it. One of their friends was jogging back to the car from the nearby intersection. As he got in the back of the minivan, he lit up his crack! These foolish kids had gone to buy crack. They quickly drove off. Michael prayed God would protect them from their own foolishness.

So we keep walking toward McDonald's, and we ran into Frank! Remember him from last month? Back then he was strung out on crack, and we had brought him to a halfway house rehab center. I had found out three weeks ago that Frank left the house (presumably because he wanted crack more than he wanted to get healthy), so we have been praying that we would find him. Right when he saw us he quickly came to see us. He was soaked from sleeping in the rain last night. We went to McDonald's to hang with him, get him some hot coffee, and catch up. He looked much better than last month, so we asked about the crack. He said he has laid off of it recently, so he only does it "every once in a while." He said it is hard to do crack when it is so cold, so I told him I would pray for a long winter :) After catching up for a while, we got the names of some of his family members. We are going to try finding them to see if they are willing to take Frank in. I hope we find them, and I hope Frank humbles himself to accept help. Frank told us how he really needed socks and a blanket since his were soaked. As I mentioned earlier, we brought some (which he couldn't see), so we got to be God's arms and legs in providing that for Frank. As we were chatting with Frank, 1 John 3:17-18 really started ringing in my mind. It says "But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth." Frank had no gloves, a wet shirt, etc, and I have a drawer full of shirts and a couple pair of gloves. How could the love of God abide in me if I walked away with my abundance while Frank sat there in 35 degree weather with a wet shirt and no gloves? Now that theology will get you uncomfortable! Anyway, by the time we left, I no longer owned my gloves or my shirt, and we promised Frank we would come find him at McDonald's or behind the Library (where he sleeps). We walked to the car to head out.

So as we get in the car, a guy named Jeff comes and asks us for money for the bus. He just got out of prison across the street. He spent one night in prison to get some warrants and tickets forgiven. We asked where he was headed, and then we offered to bring him there ourselves instead of giving him money. We dropped him off at "his cousins" but Michael and I got the sense we might have dropped him off at a place where he would be up to no good.

After all the adventure, we headed to South Dallas, so I could show Michael and the boys around Cornerstone, a church my family is trying to partner with a bit. They are really trying to be salt and light in a really dark part of the city. Anyway, our family and the Flemings are going to be down there next week for Christmas, so I wanted to give them the lay of the land and hopefully hook up with Chris, the pastor. Well, I lead everyone into the small church, and the first thing I see is a casket with a dead man in it. This was Caleb's first experience with death, a casket, etc, so that made for something unexpected for the day. We found Pastor Chris who shared with us the story of Claude, the deceased. There is a sweet former drug addict at Cornerstone named Gladys who has a ministry reaching those enslaved to addiction on the streets, and she met Claude ten years ago. He accepted Christ and changed his addiction from drugs to Jesus. Today we can celebrate the new eternal home Claude has with our Maker.

We then picked up lunch and headed home. We will go back downtown next month as we try to make this a monthly effort. I am so encouraged by these young boys as they develop a heart for their neighbors.

JUST ANOTHER DAY

Beau here. Interesting day for me. Up at 4:30am to get some Bible study in before what I knew would be a pretty long day. I have been studying the Book of Matthew recently, and this morning I focused on Matthew 20, specifically verses 26-28. The verses focused on the choice we have to serve or be served. After journaling on it, I sent an email to my community group about where specifically I thought I could improve in my serving others. I was encouraged by my general propensity to serve, but I knew I could take new ground. Let's fast forward to late morning.

I headed down to south Dallas to serve in a "soup kitchen" at a local church that loves on our homeless friends. My wife and daughter decided to join me down there. Well as I pulled up to the home where the meals are served, there were about eight cop cars across the street at what appeared to be a murder scene. Nothing like a little mid-afternoon adventure :) Anyway, we then had the privilege of serving our homeless "neighbors" in south Dallas.

We also had the chance to get to know someone that we will be having dinner with next week. One of our dear friends came up with the idea of hosting a Luke 14 dinner. This is based on Luke 14:11-14 which says Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." So about eight families are going to host some homeless "neighbors" for a blowout Christmas dinner next week that will include some Christmas gifts and a "white elephant gift exchange." Caleb and Hannah are really excited. Me too!!!!!

I then headed back to the office for a few hours. I was able to reflect on the opportunity to serve over lunch today and be grateful for God's provisions of opportunities to deal with my conviction about wanting to serve in specific ways.

Anyway, on the way home I get a phone call from Natalie. "Beau, an immigrant family knocked on our door because they are out of money and looking for work to provide for their family. I invited them in for dinner, so be prepared when you get home." So 20 minutes later I walk into my house to meet eight complete strangers! So we have dinner. The father will come back over tomorrow morning to continue processing ways to help them. Our greatest hope is to honor Christ through our newfound relationship and point this family of eight to their Savior.

Did I mention that I journaled this morning about God helping me to grow in my heart for serving :-)

Please be praying for all that.

Also, Caleb and I head back downtown Saturday morning for our monthly visit with our "homeless neighbors" living on the streets. Caleb is so excited. He has used much of his savings to buy gifts for the folks we will meet on the streets - gum, socks, blankets, tooth brushes, etc. That was all his idea. I am so encouraged by my son's heart for the "marginalized" in our society, and I count it as a privilege to partner with him in doing what it is Christians are supposed to do - serve.

Maybe I will have an interesting post about our Saturday morning adventure, like last month's post.

Update On Christmas Post

Well we worked on the previously mentioned homework assignment (10 things I want for Christmas), and Caleb came up with 10 things he would like to give to others for Christmas. He quickly started naming wonderful ideas...blankets for the people who are cold, food for the hungry, Bibles, Transformer toys for boys, socks and shoes,...I'm thinking how sweet, he is so thoughtful, etc... Then he added guns to the list....saying then the "poor people" could go to the woods and kill animals for food. Very good idea Caleb...could solve a lot of hunger issues in our nation....so thoughtful:)

And another update...Beau and kids wanted to add to the list of favorite Christmas traditions:
1. Having a "Happy Birthday Jesus" cake for breakfast on Christmas morning...they love cake for breakfast!
2. Reading favorite books (currently---The Advent Book by Jack Stockman and Kathy Stockman (so beautiful...a must!), Cajun Night Before Christmas by Trosclair (they like my very bad cajun accent), The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado, and Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas

All l Really Want For Christmas

As we continue to prayerfully wait for the news on our future children, we continue to pray for them as they wait on the Lord's perfect timing to bring them into their forever family. Their wait is soooo much harder than ours I know!!

Still, I had visions that we would be celebrating this Christmas with at least news of them. Yet we continue to pray during the waiting. And we continue to celebrate God's incredible kindness and love during this season.

And we are having soooo much fun celebrating the love of Christ this season. I still marvel how Caleb did not know how to complete a recent school assignment that asked him to list 10 things he wants for Christmas. We do not make lists for ourselves (and the kids do not in any way feel they miss any fun or excitement). We have lots of other lists...that hopefully share the love and kindness of the Lord with others during this season. We are overflowing with His goodness to us and are trying to humbly share that abundance with people in our lives.

Here is how we are staying busy with some old and new traditions:
1. The kids and I have been busy making treats and cards for our neighbors (those that live on our street and those that are homeless downtown).
2. Today we built on an old high school tradition of mine, and we painted the nativity scene on some windows in our house
3. We went to the best live nativity ever a couple of weeks ago (Bethlehem Revisited in Waxahachie) and we went to the Neiman Marcus parade. These two outings have become the kids' favorite musts every year!
4. We have a really cool collection of nativity sets. And we keep the baby Jesus figures kept away until Christmas morning. It is really sweet to see how anxious Caleb and Hannah are for the arrival of Christmas by even this small tradition...they beg every day to put the figures out:)
5. The kids LOVE driving to look at Christmas lights. Any best spots in Dallas to recommend?
6. And the kids continue to love dressing up as characters from the Christmas story and acting it out.
7. Oh and they love, love, love watching the same old holdiay shows we watched as kids....Rudolph being their favorite!

I love traditions. Beau and I both have fond memories of childhood Christmas parties and traditions, and it is so fun to start building family memories with our kids. We look forward to many years building memories with the family that the Lord is building for us!

All I Really Want for Christmas-Steven Curtis Chapman

Love kids

I just love how kids say things...

Caleb often asks people, "Do you 'believe' in the LSU Tigers? We don't believe in the Aggies or the Longhorns" And now he will say that he believes in the Dallas Cowboys too. Last night he wanted to watch a few minutes of the Cowboys game. He was excited to cheer for the Cowboys and watch the score. And he tells me that if the LSU Tigers played the Cowboys, he wouldn't care what team won since he believes in both. He saw Beau and I smile at each other and sensed that something might be wrong about that comment, so he said "I don't care if it is a college team or an initial team" We smiled again, and I gave Caleb a giant hug:)

And Hannah is learning her letters.....a few days ago we were reading a book about the letter "i" There were igloos, iguanas, and inchworms. After we were done with the book, she asked "Mommy why are they so itchy?" "What are itchy sweety?" "The worms, why do they itch you?" Again I smiled and gave her a giant hug:)

And yesterday morning, as I was preparing the kids for school I was also preparing to bring some food to a friend who has the cutest new baby boy. I was telling Hannah what I was doing and that I was going to visit my friend and her new baby. Hannah got all excited and hopeful....thinking she might be able to join me as she LOVES babies! I told her the baby's name was Luke...she lost all excitement and said "Oh I don't want to go cuz I don't like boy babies." I smiled and gave her a big hug! I did ask her what she thinks about possibly having a baby brother (she only prays for sisters)...she did say "Boys are OK if its fammy (family)." So cute!

THE LEAST OF THESE

This is a long post, but I think it will be worth your time!

We live a "privileged life"...take than back...we live an excessive, extravagant life. We throw away left over food each night, we have clothes in the closet we might wear once per year, we have an empty bedroom in our house, we have money in our accounts that we don't need, we leave the house with lights on all over (wasting money and resources). Our stewardship is not consistent with what the Great One calls us to.

Anyway, our family makes food packs (gallon ziplocs with water, non-perishables, and gospel tracts). When we see homeless folks on the corner, we give them bags of food rather than money (which might go to feeding addictions that keep them on the streets). Our children love making the packs, enjoy handing them out, and really have a heart for praying for every person who receives one - for God's provision in their life and for eternal life in Christ. Well, my life was comfortable. I felt like I was "serving the poor." Then a few things happened in the past week that really opened by eyes to how ignorant I am. Let me describe them.

First, I took my son camping with a group of other Kindergarten boys and their dads. We call our group BCM - Building Christian Men, and we go camping from time to time and build a character trait into our boys throughout the course of the weekend. Last weekend it was Servanthood. On the way home, we saw a homeless man on the corner (one we see often). His name is J-Bone. After we prayed for him, I told Caleb we can think of new ways to serve these men and women.

Second, that Sunday (last Sunday) night I was reading Scripture and a story to my son from our daily devotional. It was on Matthew 25:31-46. It speaks of our choice to feed the poor, shelter the poor, love the poor, really engage with the poor...or our choice not to. Christ goes on to say that when we love the poor, we love Christ himself and when we ignore the poor, we mock Christ himself.

Third, Monday was a day of fasting for me. A brother from church led a group of us in a week of fasting, as we prayed over Isaiah 58:4-9. In this passage, among other things, we are called to provide for the hungry. At this point, the Spirit was certainly moving in me that food packs were great but insufficient. Therefore, on Monday I asked Caleb if he wanted to go downtown and spend some time with folks living on the streets. He said "yes!"

I then called another BCM dad, Michael Fleming, and asked if he and his 5 and 7 year old sons wanted to join us. He jumped at the opportunity, which wouldn't surprise anyone who knows Michael. Caleb and I made up a dozen food packs and picked Michael and his boys up yesterday morning. Michael's wife said "Beau, do you know where yall are going?" My concise answer was "No." So we headed out with the goal of living out our faith with a lost and hurting world.

We parked downtown and started walking. My son was whining about being hungry...thirty minutes after eating breakfast at home and while we are looking to feed the hungry! We took that as an opportunity to talk about using a thorn in our side as an opportunity to pray. So we asked our boys to pray throughout the morning instead of telling us they were hungry.

After 15 minutes of walking, we met Del (short for Delano), a ~65 year old homeless man in a wheelchair. We all sat with him for 45 minutes as he shared his story. We asked how we could serve him, and he said our willingness to hang with him and chat was the best way we could serve him. We mourned with him as he shared about his broken marriage, his alcoholism, and his estranged relationship with family. Michael did a great job encouraging Del on many fronts.

After this we walked a few minutes and met Mike, a homeless guy who sells a local newspaper written by the homeless community. It is Mike's effort to get money without begging. We hung out with Mike for an hour and heard his story. Much like Del, his marriage and his career (long haul truck driver) were destroyed by alcohol and drugs. We started asking Mike about whether he had a relationship with Christ. He told us he didn't. He said he went to church growing up, but once he was on his own he found more joy smokin dope, sleeping with women, and getting drunk. I told Mike I totally understood that. I shared with him that I have been a part of self-absorbed, hypocritical groups of people called a church and when I was a teenager, I quickly turned to alcohol, sex, pornography, etc which were more fun. I then shared with him the difference between "going to church" and "submitting to and following Christ." I prayed he would have that. He then shared with us that Shady Grove church picks him (and lots of people) up every Sunday from Austin Street shelter to go worship with them. He said he went last week and wept as the pastor spoke of the danger of pursuing desires. Michael then asked Mike a question we also asked Del - "What single thing most contributed to getting you to where you are in life today?" Mike said the most destructive thing he has done is choose to do everything he wants to do. Can I get an "amen!" for that! I pray Mike is on his way to recognizing that only one Person wants the right things all the time and that Mike hands over his life to Christ.

Before I forget, everyone we met was so nice to our boys. Our boys introduced themselves to each of these men and shook their hands. The men respected our boys, answered all their questions, etc. I pray our boys' hearts continue to soften for the modern day "tax collectors, prostitutes, etc."

By this point it was getting late in the morning, and I had promised the boys we would walk over to McDonald's for a meal. I also told them I hoped the Lord would providentially allow us to invite a homeless man to join us for breakfast. Well we were walking to McD's downtown, and as we were getting to the entrance, a homeless man walked by with his head down. Michael and I both said hello, and he popped his head up and said hi. Michael asked "how are you doing?" The man said "Not good. I'm tired and hungry." So I blurted out, "you want to join us for a meal at McDonald's?" He said yes. God answered our prayer! We all introduced ourselves and learned his name was Frank. Michael, Frank and the boys sat down, and I ordered up a big breakfast (10:45am by this time). We sat down and Frank started eating a lot. I assumed he was a crack addict since he said he was tired at 10:45am and was eating like he hadn't eatem in days...likely coming off a crack fix. We asked him, and he said he has been a crack addict for the past 4 years, since he got out of prison. He told us the last time he had crack was in the middle of that night. (note: fun story to explain crack cocaine and addictions to your 5 year old!) After eating for 30 minutes or so (I had to go order him seconds!) and hearing his life story, Michael asked Frank if he was satisfied with his life. Frank suddenly got really sad and shared with us how miserable the streets are and how helpless he felt in trying to get off crack. Michael asked if Frank really wanted to get healthy. Frank said yes. We then asked if he would be willing to do anything we asked him to in order to get healthy. Frank said yes. So I got on the phone to call friends from church (Watermark) to find somewhere to bring Frank to detox. We learned of a place just south of downtown called Homeward Bound. We asked Frank if he wanted to go, and he said yes. Frank threw away his last hit of crack in the garbage can at McD's and hopped in my really stylin minivan with Michael, the boys, and me. We drive to Homeward Bound and walked into an office where a man and woman were working. (note: the look on this woman's face to see three young boys standing beside a crack addict was priceless. Her jaw dropped to here knees and she was speechless for a few seconds.) Unfortunately, Homeward only takes in new patients Monday through Friday, so we were out of luck. So we all hopped back in the car. At this point, my boy Caleb very sadly said "Mr Frank, I am so sorry we couldn't serve you."

As we drove around, Frank said "I remember a place called Victory Outreach that offered to help me. I wish I would have accepted." Within ten seconds, we were calling 411 and getting their numbers. They had relocated to east Dallas on Garland road. We went over then, but they were away from their church and shelter across the street in a park feeding local folks and sharing about the redemption and recovery that only Christ can bring. Everyone stayed in the car while I hopped out. I found the guy who runs the Men's Home for this church. I told him about Frank. All the guy asked me was "does he really want to get healthy?" I said yes, so he said "We'll take him." We all hopped out of the stylin minivan and joined this party. We met Oscar, a former drug addict and gang member who went through Victory Outreach's program after he lost his wife and kids. Oscar told Frank that the only way they could help Frank is if Frank would let Jesus help him. Oscar said Frank would have to live in their home for a year, would have to wake up at 5am daily (to allow for 2-3 hours of prayer, Bible study and worship to start the day) before working in the home for the day followed by worship and small group at night. Frank said he really wanted to do it. Then we wrapped arms around each other as Oscar prayed for all of us, and especially Frank. The prayer was quite powerful and reminded me of the prayers I heard while spending time with those suffering but redeemed in Africa. It is amazing how those who have suffered the most are the most passionate in their prayer and supplication to the Lord. By now it was 1:00. We all hugged and encouraged Frank and then left him with Oscar. I pray he gets healthy and gets Jesus. We will call Monday to see if Frank decided to stay with the program or ran out at the first longing for crack. Michael and I will also try to learn more about Victory's ministry and see if it might be appropriate for us to help them in their ministry.

My friends, the body of Christ is universal. 1 Peter 4:10 tells us that we need to use our gifts to serve one another. Michael partnered with me. Victory Outreach partnered with us in loving Frank. Shady Grove and Austin Street helped us in loving Mike. I am grateful for the vast expanse of the body of Christ. Each of us might have different views about certain theology in the Bible, but as Randy Alcorn says, if we can agree on John 17, we can then focus our efforts on serving Christ and His people together.

I thank God for this experience. It was one of the best Saturday's I have had in a long, long time. Michael and I are going to bring our boys again next month (and check out Victory again before then). We are also inviting the other BCM dads and boys to join us for a more hands on lesson in servanthood. The cool thing is we will be the ones who are served in this effort.

Grateful for the Cross -Beau

Wish I had cable

I would watch so much TV if I had cable (the reason we do NOT have cable). Here is a link to some adoption stories on the Hallmark Channel.

http://www.hallmarkchannel.com/publish/consumer/home/shows/adoption.html

Updates and a party

We have no news on the adoption. We have been told recently that we have more training to complete before we travel. We had completed all our training already, but with some Hague Convention changes we are to watch about 8 more hours of DVDs:)

We also received some clarity on the time between referral and travel. It is now about 3 months time....which will seem soooo long when that time comes. I can't imagine waiting a day to go and pick up our children. But we will trust in God's perfect timing. "Yet those who wait on the Lord will gain new strength." Isaiah 40:31

And along with Watermark's Tapestry Ministry we are hosting a BBQ for adoptive families next weekend (Sunday the 18th at 4:30). Please email me if you want to come...we'd love to meet some more families and be able to encourage one another.

Fun while waiting

We are about 5 weeks in the official waiting period...having so much fun with these kiddos and prayerfully and excitedly waiting to celebrate life with our new kiddos soon (hopefully very soon)

This is our sweet ballerina above....playing in a mud puddle one day with her brother and friends. Caleb stayed clean:)

Hannah got some time recently with our newest family member...she LOVES babies!!!

Hannah also loves animals...anything she can be a "Mommy" for.

We also went to another pumpkin patch...I love fall! It was a beautiful sunny cool day!!

We were so thankful today for the pretty weather, the fun animals, time with friends, and each other. God has been so good to us...."Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Eph 5:19-20 Even more we are thankful for the GIFT that surpasses pretty days and awesome kids.... "And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" 2 Cor 14ish