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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Hero Quest Chapter 2 Part 2

It took quite a few minutes for him to pull it together enough to get his day going again.  It was and it was time to kick start the family.  Though he felt with every fiber of his being that he did not want to go to work, he knew that he must return to the battle.  He had a job to do, a world to impact.  Determination filled his soul as he climbed the stairs to make coffee for Corrina and make breakfast.  This was just an ordinary morning of an ordinary day and regardless of how he felt inside, he would not let fear own him today. 
            The car was cold but at least he didn’t have to scrape the windows.  Most of the snow from the day before was gone but he could still see some in the shadows.  Less than a block from the house he heard the sound of his cell phone.  Thoughtfully, John reached instinctively for his cell phone.  “I know I’m not supposed to answer this while driving, but I should see who it is and put it on speaker if it seems to be important.”  Casually he looked at the number on the phone. “Hmm, it’s the Mission.  I should probably take this.”   Quickly he pushed the off button on the radio that was playing an audio book.  Deep down; he was frustrated because he was losing his momentum with the book by answering the phone. 
He flipped open the phone and pushed the speaker button.  “Good morning!” John nearly sang his welcome.   There was complete silence on the other end.  “Hello…  hello? …is anybody there?  …I guess it wasn’t that important.”  John smiled as he turned the audio book back on. 
Pulling into the parking lot, tension and fear crawled all over him.  Looking around the empty parking lot he took a deep breath, carefully opened the door, got out of the vehicle, opened the back door and took out his computer and backpack. 
Suddenly a large woman with a large black bag appeared seemingly from nowhere.  “I need to talk to you.”
“OK.  What’s going on?”  John hid his frustration from not even getting in the door of the office before he was accosted. 
“I need to go to the hospital.”  She put her bag on her shoulder as if to go.
“Oh man.  What’s going on?” 
“I think I got food poisoning or something.” 
“Would you like me to pray for you?” John offered.
“You can, but I need to go now,” she said abruptly.
“I understand, I hope you’ll be better soon.” 
The woman glared at him with an increasingly searching stare. “What if I don’t get back on time?” 
John looked at his watch casually.  “It’s not quite in the morning.  I am sure that you’ll be back by five tonight.” 
“So if I’m not back by five, you’re kicking me out for going to the hospital for food poisoning that you most likely gave me.” 
The thought going through John’s mind was, ‘I haven’t even gotten to my office yet.’  What he said out loud was, “I’ll tell you what.  I think that you’ll be back on time.  If it looks like you will be late, give us a call.  We will want you to bring paperwork from the hospital as proof that’s where you were.” 
“But I need to go to the store first and then I have to watch my sister’s kids in the valley.  I won’t get to the hospital before three at best.”  Her story began to change, John noticed.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Real World Events at the Shelter

Weekly highlights

Monday April 16:    We had a woman who was very angry because one of her room mates was coughing.  She wanted us to throw the cougher out on the street.  When we chose not to do that, she became angry that the woman would not go to the health food store with her.  Eventually she became unreasonable and we had to have her leave.  We had several ladies feign sickness when it came to chapel time and had miraculous healing when the shuttles left for Celebrate Recovery.  For some of these it has become a habit so they were asked to leave at their next outdate.      
Tuesday April 17:  The mom with the 25 year old son that we have been helping was heart broken when her son decided to leave to stay with a family friend for the night.  He eventually changed his mind.  Welcomed back a guest from about 2 years ago who caused lots of trouble last time.  Crisis Shelter Staff briefed the Board of Directors and enjoyed meeting them.   
Wednesday April 18:  One of our Guest Assistants was slipping because of a feeling of superiority.  With a conversation and some immediate consequences she was able to stay at the shelter and is making some personality adjustments.  We had the great loofa conspiracy.  One guest used another guests loofa and World War III broke out.  While staff agreed that it was gross, we did not feel that we should throw someone out over the situation much to the dismay of another guest.  
Thursday April 19:  We decided to give a room to the mom with 25 year old son!  Several of the ladies at the shelter wrapped around these two and have worked to help them feel loved.  Dramatic night with a woman who became afraid that her room mates were going to steal her teeth.  She eventually left on her own.       
Friday April 20:   
Weekend:   We had a small group of women who were hiding their beer in the toilet tank.  When we BA’d everyone in the room 2 refused and one was positive.  The two refusals were treated as positives and they were asked to leave.

General comments:  Numbers dropped a little with nicer weather.  We are helping at least one family who are only here to make CPS happy and that is challenging.              
    
Current Crisis Shelter Purpose Statement:

 The Crisis Shelter for Women and Children exists to increase the impact of our ministries of rescue, recovery and restoration by partnering with staff, volunteers and donors.  We will do this by meeting basic needs in a safe, clean, temporary shelter, with instruction and guidance for life transformation in a healing environment

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Progress on my goals as of April 21,2012


 TargetActually Done
Leadership BibleBe on page 560 (5 pg a day)On page 560
Faith in Action BibleBe on page 672 (6 pg a day)On page 672
Message Read Through7 Days youversion programOn track
Running25 miles a week25
Running 2012 Overall1212 miles by 12/12/12263.5
Crunches1000 a week1000
Floss7 times a week7 Days
Face Cleaning/Lotions7 times a week7
I Like Book7 times a week7
Modules2 a week3
Social Events3 a quarter1
Guy Time10 X a quarter1
Self Exam3 a week1
Book Reading1 Book a week0
Evening Prayer Meeting26 times a year9
Paid Speaking3 a quarter0
Date with Cara3 a quarter0
Date with Rachel1 a quarter0


This was a bit of a sleepless week.  I have been working to finish the book.  I had thought that it would take a long time for a publisher to decide on whether to publish the book or not so I sent a sneak peak to a few publishers and was accepted by two.  That was great!  Except for the fact that I was only about 1/2 way through the first draft.  Now I have a deadline of April 30, 2012 to get them the book.  The way it's breaking down right now, I write futher.  Cara edits what I have written and then sends it on to her mom for a second set of eyes for further editing.  Once I finish the original I will take a final look at the book in its entirety. 
I continue to push myself to get this done by next Friday so that I can enjoy the weekend.  I am guessing that this will cost me one week of running but it will be worth it.