A Great Birthday Party

This past weekend was filled with love, joy, friendship, and miracles. My new found love for Jesus has given me a new birth in life filled with love and hope.

On Sunday I volunteered to serve at K2 The Church where I was able to meet many of the brothers and sisters who attend there regularly. K2 offered 4 services throughout the day and I was privileged to serve at all 4 services, greeting those that attended the services. The message for the day was "All I Want For Christmas Is... A Miracle", and each time I listened, I was able to gain more and more love for God. Having the opportunity for new life with God has opened many doors for me in the past month and all of them have been filled with love and care.

During 2 of the services I took a seat in the lounge area that contains a pool table, climbing wall, foose ball, and a coffee bar. I sat in one of the comfortable lounge chairs to watch the service on one of the many TV screens available. While watching the services 2 gentleman also took advantage of the relaxing chairs and the conversations began. I was blessed by the Lord with love and understanding from Norm and Bill along with some guidance on this new journey that I have begun. It was awesome how the Lord was working on that day and I was truly seeing miracles happen.

I had no plans for Christmas when, Andy, a pastor and spiritual leader for K2, ask me if I would like to join his family along with others who attend K2 for Christmas dinner, which I accepted. Andy picked me up on Christmas afternoon and off we went to the home of Brian and Mary where we joined their family and friends for a great celebration of Jesus' birthday. Yep, we even had a birthday party for Jesus, that included a cake inscribed with "Happy Birthday Jesus".

In my former years of Christmas, I always found myself being reserved and not partaking much with guests, but on this day I found myself feeling so loved and accepted that mingling and conversing was very easy, just as everyday is now since turning my life over to the Lord. You see, I don't need to lie or deceive others into being accepted and love, because I know that God and his family all love me. This is something that I really never experienced in the past, and man, it is just awesome.

Being reborn has brought many miracles during the past month and a half and this weekend was not to be without. The biggest miracle for me was LOVE.I had many people during the weekend just walk up and give me a hug and tell me that they loved me, and these were from people I've never met before. To me this was God showing me how much he loves and cares for each and everyone of his children. Another miracle that is still in the process is the offering of an apartment. Tomorrow I will start my search for a new warm place to rest my head which has been offered to me by some of my new family. I was so grateful for this offer that throughout the night I found myself waking and thanking our Lord for this opportunity.

I'm headed off to work now with one of the largest smiles and warmest feelings about my new journey which is all possible because of the birth of Jesus Christ, who's birthday party I attended yesterday.

Our Giving Lord

Each night I walk to my camp above the Salt Lake valley, this walk would normally take 15-20 minutes, but for me 45-60 minutes. Why? This is my time to pray for the many who are need of prayer, the homeless, the sick, our troops throughout the world, and the people who I cross paths with during the day. I turn many times to view the lights down below (they all blend together without glasses) and sometimes think how lucky they all are, but now that thinking is turning to, "How grateful I am to have God as my guide."

I've been in the need for some glasses for sometime and was guided to the local Lions Club. I went to the Moran Eye Center located near my camp and was given a phone number to contact. After talking with a couple of people over the last week, I finally returned to the center explaining what I was encountering. Dee, a very helpful person at the front desk directed me to Cathy today, and you know, I'm on my way to receiving new glasses. Thank you Lord for those who are at the Lions Club and for all the work they do.

I had a neat conversation with Cathy (Lions Club), who was intrigued by how I became homeless. When most of the homeless or those less fortunate deal with organizations or needed services, they are sometimes just treated as another number and passed along. It was a pleasure to have someone interested in in my story and it gave me a since of being. I also got to share a little about what K2 The Church is about.

There is an interesting story in the USA Today about US food banks struggles for food demand. I was shocked to learn that in the last 5 years the value of federal help, in food and cash, given to US food banks has been cut in half. In 2001 food banks received $ 418.4 million and it is estimated that they will receive $201.2 million during 2006. Private cash contributions have also fallen considerably. So, if you can donate food or cash to your local food bank, I'm sure they would certainly appreciate it.

A great tribute to those who have and are defending our country on one of those sometimes unsightly graffiti filled boulders is in rural Iowa. Thanks for sharing it with us snogdot.

I'll be posting my 2nd day in my reading of The Purpose Driven Life later on today.

My song for today is The One Great Spirit from Spirit Highway.

Cold Homeless Night

Wow what a cold night last night. The temps dropped into the low 20's and I spent the night without a sleeping bag. I was only out in it for about 4 hours but it was a real BRRRRR!

I haven't received a response from either of the Seattle programs I contacted, but that may take some time. I did receive an email from a old AA buddy who was concerned about my well being. Is that a work of God?

I will work on getting myself to a AA meeting this week even though I despise them.

My main concern is becoming well and having a chance to visit my grandparents soon. They rasied me from the age of 4 and they're in their 90's. The last I talked with them (last week), my granny was unable to hear me on the phone and my grandfather was having a hard time remembering much. I know that time is short and being able to see them before they pass on is of great concern to me. I haven't seen them in 7 years. (that hurts)

I will be going to check my mail today and try to get some of my stinky laundry done. These are things I have been avoiding along with staying away from people.

After my first post yesterday, I received a comment from Thomas. This was my first contact or any type of conversation with anyone for over 2 weeks. Thanks Thomas!

Well off to do a few tasks. (These tasks are menial to most people, but I've been having problems of motivation and being frightened of human contact.)