Hero Quest Chapter 1 Part 2

Everyday Life- Monday

 “He who wants to change the world must first change himself.”  The voice is Ronald Reagan inside the head of Hero as he struggles to get himself out of bed.  It is only two minutes after five and the argument has nearly been won.  “I want to change the world.  I must get focused.  I must be the warrior.”  Hero slips out of the covers and stumbles toward the bathroom.  To the left his eyes catch a glimpse of his laptop.  “I should check emails real quick.  No I shouldn’t.  I need to stay focused.”  Battles in the mind are going to rule the day for Hero.  That much is obvious already and it’s not even ten after five in the morning.  Silence fills the house, Hero smiles and begins to lather his face.  It’s the quiet that makes him happy at this point.  Soon enough the house will raucous with the radio, kids talking a mile a minute, cell phones buzzing or ringing and there will be no opportunity to think of anything rationally.  For now, Hero enjoys the silence and razor coolly moves across his skin freshly ripping his flesh, blood trickling from an old battle scar.  “I can never be a hero unless I can figure out how to shave without committing hari kari.”  Splashing a bit of water, Hero suddenly feels awake and alive.  “I am a warrior, I am Hero.”  Reaching behind the door, Hero wraps his robe around, slides his feet into his slippers and meanders through the bedroom.  Through the corner of his eye he notices his wife sleeping silently.  The bedroom door creaks loudly as Hero gently pulls the door closed.  “I need to get some WD40 on that door.”  Light fills the room from the lamp.   Hero looks around the room.  Everything seems in order so with creaking bones and sore muscles he ascends the stairs from his basement bedroom and makes himself a nice bowl of oatmeal.  “Why do I do this? I should still be in bed. Couldn’t be a well rested hero?”  He smiles at the thought as he drinks from a large glass of chocolate milk.  After a shower Hero sits in the hero chair and begins to pray.  “Father, you know that I really want to go back to bed.”

“If you do you know that your time with Me will be disrupted and you will lack focus.”

“That is true.  I’m going to read your Word today.  Will you show me what I need?”

“You know that I will.  My Word will cleanse you from the wiles of this world and will strengthen you character for the challenges that lay ahead.”

“Can you tell me of the challenges?”

“In good time, my son, for now read, ponder and journal what you experience.” 

Real Life at the Crisis Shelter January 16-22, 2012

Monday January 16:  One of our guests attempted to beat the BA machine by sucking in instead of blowing into the machine.  When she got tired she breathed out very hard and had a lot of spit.  Bottom line she blew a .03 and was asked to leave.  A former guest called to ask if we had found a small urn with her cats remains in it.  We did not know that she even had an urn with her onsite.  We began the process of guests having food in crates only.  

Tuesday January 17:    All rooms have crates to use for food at this point and are working to reduce the food and clutter in each room.  All crates are labeled with the same letter that is on the bed as well as will be on the tubs that we switch to by the end of the week.             

Wednesday January 18:  Staff began working with anger management issues with our guests.  A worksheet has been developed to help guide these conversations.  This came from an accountability with a former guest who believes that all staff are idiots as well as the other guests.  The guest worked on her anger management sheet and then came in on Saturday (1/21) to discuss it with staff and came back in.  Shelter guests, volunteers and staff began shoveling out the parking lot as well as the sidewalks around the shelter.  With the snow continuing to fall throughout the day it was difficult to keep up with it but the ladies did super!

Thursday January 19:   Two of our guests who have been verbally abusive to each other made up and seem to be on the right track for now.  Only one day left to the switch from the guests being able to bring any and all worldly belongings (except weapons, drugs or alcohol) to just what they can fit into a 30 gallon bin.  Most of the bins are in and the ladies are making progress.  Adjustments are being made for example, one coat per person may hang in the closet.          

Friday January 20:    UGM Thrift picked up most of the usable dressers.  Since all of the bins did not arrive not all rooms are on line yet, however most are on line with the new policy.

Weekend:  We have many mentally ill guests and we are being challenged to help other guests feel more comfortable with that fact.  Some of the ladies come here anxious so those that talk to themselves or show any other behaviors that seem strange means that staff must spend more time comforting them.  We had a guest who was depressed because she had gone to have an abortion earlier this week.  She was filled with guilt as she told us what had happened.        

General comments:   We got our basement back Friday afternoon and are working to reset it up for use as storage again.  It will be nice to have our space back next week!

Progress on my goals January 15-21, 2012

	Target	Actually Done
Leadership Bible	35 pages a week	35 pages
Faith in Action Bible	42 pages a week	42 pages
Message Read Through	7 Days youversion program	On track
Running	15 miles a week	15 miles
Crunches	1000 a week	1000
Floss	7 times a week	7 Days
Face Cleaning/Lotions	7 times a week	7 Times
I Like Book	7 times a week	7
Modules	2 a week	2
Guy Time	1 a week	1
Self Exam	7 a week	6
Book Reading	1 Book a week	2 Books read
Evening Prayer Meeting	26 times a year	1
Date with Cara	1 a month	1
Date with Rachel	1 a quarter	0

This is the first week this year that I have really felt the pain of this personal challange.  So much coming at me from my little ordinary life.  Some things that God is showing me is that really I am insignificant apart from Him.  God can do little or big things with me and all I can do is be obedient in the daily tasks.  The books I read this week.  Run by Dean Karnazes reignited my passion for ultra distance running.  The second book by Smith Wigglesworth called Ever Increasing Faith is really pushing me to seek more of God.  I added to my list of self examinations this week the Resolution from Courageous.  This is one that I will do every week.  I read the Resolution daily and remind myself to love and serve God, my family, my friends and yes even my enemies on a regular basis. 
I have big dreams and I see that my progress on these small tasks make those dreams more likely to come true.