Hero Quest End of Chapter 1

Maggie nodded and went into action.  John called the mission to let them know that they would not be participating and also reported that the shelter was full.  “There is no way we will bring anybody else into this mess right now,” John told himself.  Then John called Corrina.  “I am so sorry honey.  I’m not sure when I will be home.  I know that I promised that I would be home a little early.”  John started to get choked up.  “What’s wrong John?”  “Just pray.”  John squeezed out.  “Everything is falling apart.  Look I need to go.” 

    John pulled himself together and sat in his office waiting to see what would happen next.  He focused his thoughts.  The waiting was killing him though.  “I feel like I am wasting time doing nothing.” 

His boss stopped by to check on John.  “Are you all right?”

“I will be.  Corrina was going to a conference tonight so I need to go pretty soon.”

“We’ll see what the police think.  But you should be able to leave soon.  She told me that I was as useless as you.”  John’s boss started to chuckle.  “She is not a nice woman.”

John nodded in agreement.

“For what it’s worth I heard several of the other guests telling the police that you had your hands up in the air and did not actually hurt her in anyway.  There was one gal; I think her name is Jennifer.  She told the officer that you couldn’t do that, because you had too much respect for women.”

John began to cry.

“Do you know how many times I’ve had to kick Jennifer out of this shelter for different reasons?  For her to support me is incredible.”  John couldn’t stop weeping now.  His boss went out to check on the latest.  Maggie returned with dinner.

After talking with the police John was free to go and returned home.  After a short recounting of events he encouraged Corrina to go to the conference while he stayed with the kids.  During devotions the reading particularly spoke to him and he started to cry again.  His emotions were frazzled.  Normally, he would have led the children in prayer but tonight, he simply asked them to pray for him.  All three of his kid put their hands on their daddy’s head and prayed for him.  After they were tucked in, John went for a run on the treadmill, took a shower and spent the rest of the evening seeking God.

Real Life at the Crisis Shelter April 2-8, 2012

Weekly highlights

Monday April 2:   Two of our ladies got jobs today!  One if full time and one is part time.  Two of our singles were having a dispute.  We are noticing a trend with one of them that she routinely has conflict with younger ladies that are coming from a more affluent background.  One of our guests was preparing to leave and had a ride on the way when she had a chance encounter with a staff member that spoke to her heart and she decided to wait out getting into the program.  Phase II went much smoother after a couple of small adjustments and a phase II guest added to the accountability list.    

Tuesday April 3:   One of our guests was smoking in the bathroom.  Another guest engaged in some heated arguments in the middle of the night with our guest assistants.  The Guest assistants did a great job deescalating the situation well enough to get us to the morning.  However, the guest was clearly threatening the guest assistants so she will be moved to phase II.

Wednesday April 4:  The threatening guest decided that she did not want to do phase II but was willing to do overflow.  The night was not much different than it had been as a regular shelter guest.  She threatened guest assistants and staff in the morning and is now on all three accountability lists.  This series of decisions was a difficult call since this woman has been going through chemotherapy. I understood the discomfort and the pain but the threats were not ok in community living.  A donor dropped off small cheesecakes for the guests.  They were all very happy!

Thursday April 5:  A huge verbal battle took place in room 5.  It seems that one of the women had stolen a sucker from one of the other guests in the room.  Staff was able to bring resolution for the night but there is still tension.  The police came to take in the son of one of our guests.  He has been running away from the juvenile center and mom has routinely protected him from them.        

Friday April 6:   The mom who’s son was taken on Thursday refused to take a drug test and was asked to leave.  Two of the three from room 5 battle decided to leave on their own.        

Weekend:  Incredible support came from the community to celebrate Easter.  On Saturday one church provided transportation to an egg hunt.  They all returned to the shelter in time to meet up with the Easter bunny.  Then on Sunday morning another church provided baskets full of goodies to everyone.  The shelter is well sugared! Thanks Spokane, I think.  

Progress on my goals April 1-7, 2012

	Target	Actually Done
Leadership Bible	Be on page 490 (5 pg a day)	On page 492
Faith in Action Bible	Be on page 588 (6 pg a day)	On page 590
Message Read Through	7 Days youversion program	On track
Running	25 miles a week	20
Running 2012 Overall	1212 miles by 12/12/12	218.5
Crunches	1000 a week	800
Floss	7 times a week	7 Days
Face Cleaning/Lotions	7 times a week	7
I Like Book	7 times a week	7
Modules	2 a week	2
Social Events	3 a quarter	0
Guy Time	10 X a quarter	0
Self Exam	3 a week	2
Book Reading	1 Book a week	0
Evening Prayer Meeting	26 times a year	8
Paid Speaking	3 a quarter	0
Date with Cara	3 a quarter	0
Date with Rachel	1 a quarter	0

This was a rough week in many ways.  I felt burned out and moody toward the beginning of the week.  After taking a day off of work I did feel much better but then was behind on my goals.  I might have gotten further but since I now have a couple of offers for my book I needed to spend some focused time on that task.  Being a hero takes lots of time, I don't take this lightly.  But I trust God to be my guide and help me to be the hero that he wants me to be.