Hero Quest Chapter 2 part 4

The clogged sink was waiting for him. After knocking, John stood back a few steps.  He smiled, holding the tools in his hands.  This was another opportunity to be a hero - that was, if he succeeded, and with these old pipes that was not a guarantee.  Most of the time with projects like this the only thing that was certain was that he would soon be on his way to the hardware store. The odds were that it would take more than one trip.  A bleary-eyed looking woman answered the door. “I heard you had a clogged sink.” 

“Yeah,” she said thickly. Slowly the woman stepped back.  Clothes were strewn about and toys cluttered the room.  Crusted food sat on a plate on the table, obviously from the night before.  The room was darkened except for some light coming through the glass in the bathroom where John was heading.  It was fairly obvious that the baby had recently loaded a diaper; at least he hoped it had been recently.  Suddenly coming to her senses, the woman in an apologetic voice said, “The baby was up all night.  I’m sorry for the mess.  I really meant to have this cleaned up by now.  I guess that I fell asleep after my daughter got off to school this morning.” 

“That’s ok.  I know that normally your room isn’t like this.” John stepped over a small pile of clothes and began dismantling the pipes under the sink.  “What’s wrong with Ethan?” 

“I don’t really know.  It seems that every single time that he and his sister have visits with daddy he doesn’t want to go to sleep.” 

“Court-ordered visits, I’m guessing?” 

“Yeah, I wouldn’t let that jerk anywhere near my baby.”  The woman began getting agitated just talking about it.  “Can you believe that they gave him visitation?” 

“I don’t really know him.”  John replied mildly.

“You would have read about him in the papers.  About ten years ago Tyler was put in jail for abusing a neighbor girl.”  Words began to flow out of her like water from a faucet. “He did his time and when he got out I met him at church.  He told me about what had happened and had me convinced that the little girl had made the whole thing up.  I mean, he told me that at church, so he couldn’t be lying, could he?”  She didn’t really pause to let John comment or answer, he listened as water poured out of the sink into the bucket.  “Doesn’t really matter, I guess, because I believed him.  Stupid me, I fell in love.   I was raised in the church and always wanted a Christian man.  We were waiting on his divorce to come through so that Tyler and I could be married.  It was taking a long time so we moved in together to save a few bucks.  That’s when Ethan came along.”  She seemed to run out of words.

John pulled a toothbrush out of the sink along with large globs of hair.  “I think I found the problem.  Do you want your toothbrush back or do you want a fresh one?  I can arrange that for you if you want.”  John smiled. 

Real Life at the Crisis Shelter May 7-13, 2012

Weekly highlights

Monday May 7:   A long lost guest returned to the shelter after a several month disappearance.  She has recently been in treatment and came to us directly from there.  She looked great and seems ready for life change.  One of our moms became aggressive using her therapy dog as a weapon when she did not get her way.  The mom was asked to leave on Tuesday morning.         

Tuesday May 8:    One of our singles had a positive breathalyzer and then admitted that she had been drinking during most of her stay at the shelter.   A young lady was dropped off at the administration wing of the mission while I was over there.  The young lady was very drunk.  I took her to the shelter and set her up to sleep it off for awhile.  Several times she woke up not knowing where she was and volunteers and staff were able to calm her and help her feel loved.  When she got to a point of detoxing where she had the shakes very bad, she opted to go to detox where they have medical help.  Late in the evening one of our guests threw a bag over the fence to her boyfriend.  When confronted by staff she became very aggressive.  The confrontation became so heated that the guest was asked to leave.  When she left the boyfriend and her began knocking on bathroom windows and making a racket.  Police were called but the guest and her boyfriend had left before the police arrived.   

Wednesday May 9:    A young lady checked in today who was working diligently to reunite with her daughter who was recently taken from her by Child Protective Services.  We made a few phone calls in order to help her make the contacts she needed since her actual CPS case was in Olympia.  I am confident that there is more to the story there, but I don’t know what it is.  She left on Thursday morning. 

Thursday May 10:    The young lady from Tuesday returned from Detox and is doing good.  She stated that she still feels awful and embarrassed but the change in her was incredible.  Guest assistants and Good Workers went to the UGM camp for a retreat.  Diane and Jackie did most of the planning of the event and are leading the ladies in a time of fun, relaxation and devotion.        

Friday May 11:  One of our guests decided that she wanted to sleep in another guest’s bed since the other guest was at the retreat.  We have had many discussions with this guest who not only wants a bottom bunk but one that does not have someone sleeping in the top bunk.  I explained to her that she can not take up two beds.  We had the conversation for three days and then let her know that overflow will always be a bottom bunk with no one above her and that would be her best option.  

Weekend:    The guest who had been here with the 25 year old son that we had accommodated several weeks ago went to the DV shelter from here.   I find this frustrating because she is taking a bed in the DV program that should be used by someone who is actually in a DV situation.  She had been safe here.

General comments:   The ladies were blessed on Mother’s Day through many different donors and a nice table dinner in the parking lot.  All of the ladies received gift bags, flowers and love from volunteers and staff.                

    

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.

My personal progres May 6-12, 2012

	Target	Actually Done
Leadership Bible	Be on page 665 (5 pg a day)	On page 666
Faith in Action Bible	Be on page 798 (6 pg a day)	On page 799
Message Read Through	7 Days youversion program	On track
Running	25 miles a week	10
Running 2012 Overall	1212 miles by 12/12/12	299.5
Crunches	1000 a week	1000
Floss	7 times a week	7 Days
Face Cleaning/Lotions	7 times a week	6
I Like Book	7 times a week	7
Modules	2 a week	1
Social Events	3 a quarter	4
Guy Time	10 X a quarter	3
Self Exam	3 a week	3
Book Reading	1 Book a week	1
Evening Prayer Meeting	26 times a year	11
Paid Speaking	3 a quarter	0
Date with Cara	3 a quarter	1
Date with Rachel	1 a quarter	0

This week I worked alot and lost momentum on my running.  Eventually I will need to really pick it up if I wish to reach my goals.  I also did a practice run on Heroic Conflict Resolution.  I will need to do some adjustments but I enjoyed doing it.  I also took Rachel to work with me this week.  Working along side of my daughter felt very rewarding.  She filmed portions of the Heroic Conflict Resolution class for me to add to my portfolio soon.  She is busy editing the video.
I continued to read more about conflict resolution this week but the book that I finished was a new book by Lencioni called "Getting Naked".  From this are the following principles that will hopefully develop into what I do as I transition into being a public speaker and author:
1) Consult don't sell
2) Give away the business
3) Tell the kind truth
4)Enter the danger
5)Ask dumb questions
6) Make dumb suggestions
7)Celebrate mistakes
8) Take a bullet for the client
9)Make everything about the client
10)Honor the client's work
11) Do the dirty work

The point is to live a life of transparency.  I will be moving in this direction even more in the days and weeks to come.  I realize that along the way that I will be offending some so I am carefully crafting my words to speak the truth in love.  Essentially I see this nation that I love selling itself to the devil and as a result our nation is collapsing.  I can not stand back and do nothing.  Over the next several months I will be developing my plan and in God's timing I will do what I can to right this ship.  Pray for wisdom on what to do and when.  Thanks.