Progress on my goals February 19-26, 2012

	Target	Actually Done
Leadership Bible	Be on page 280 (5 pg a day)	On page 280
Faith in Action Bible	Be on page 336 (6 pg a day)	On page 336
Message Read Through	7 Days youversion program	On track
Running	15 miles a week	15 miles
Crunches	1000 a week	800
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	3
Social Events	3 a quarter	1
Guy Time	10 X a quarter	6
Self Exam	7 a week	6
Book Reading	1 Book a week	2
Evening Prayer Meeting	26 times a year	5
Paid Speaking	3 a quarter	2
Date with Cara	3 a quarter	2
Date with Rachel	1 a quarter	0

This week I went to go see a prescreening of the movie "October Baby".  I think that this will be a movie that will speak to any heart that has been rejected and abandoned.  The story revolves around a young woman who is a survivor of a botched abortion and finds out later in life.  She goes on a quest to find her real mother only to be rejected again.  In many ways the movie is heart breaking.  It also shows the evils of abortion and the heartlessness of the murderous acts that happen at Planned Parenthood Clinics on an almost daily basis.  I understand that they do much good for women's health but ending human life negates any good that they might do.  I took James to see the movie and we had some great conversations about it.  He will be a mighty warrior in the cause to save lives.
I read the Bait of Satan by John Bevere this week.  I again take a look at myself and ask if there is any offensive way in me or am I holding an offense against anyone.  I love Jesus and his people, I must find ways to share that love and not feel hurt when I am rejected.
I had 2 paid speaking engagements this week and I look forward to having more in the future.  That is my dream.
I again fell short in crunches.  The weather has been nice so I have been doing most of my running outdoors.  I went for a 7 miler this week and felt great.
I was able to get to 6 self exams this week.  That too was progress.  Overall I am pleased that I have been able to maintain these standards through the first 2 months of the year.  May it continue!

Hero Quest Chapter 1 Part 6

Darlene thought as John continued to scan through the weekend’s log.  He smiled.  “Looks like my 11:00 just got canceled.” 

Darlene had been working there long enough to grasp that comment pretty quickly.  “Mary found Mister Right Now over at the mission so she took off.  No more issues in room 7.” 

“I can’t say that I’m surprised.  But it does break my heart.  Mary has so much potential but she keeps chasing after these guys who are as broken as she is.”

Darlene started to respond but there was a knock on the door.  For the next 20 minutes person after person stopped by to talk with her about some assorted personal crisis.  Some were more serious than others, some just wanted a toothbrush or soap.  Most just wanted a listening ear.  This is where Darlene thrived.  She was a great listener and often was able to share incredible insights.  John closed the door to his office confident that Darlene could handle things while he got dressed.

“Father it looks like we have some messy lives to get involved with here today.  Can you help me?”

“You know that I will.  Brace yourself for the unexpected though.”

“Watch after Mary.  She is medicating in this relationship.  I know that she will come back.  Show us the right way to welcome her when that time comes.”

John finished getting dressed and chugged down the protein shake that he had brought from home.

    Mondays required reports of all sorts so John dove into the numbers from the past week.  Since he kept up with it daily it was really only the weekend that he had to deal with at this point.  Of course there could have been mistakes so John would double check all of that when he was done.  The challenge of putting together these reports every week filled with numbers and stories of the ladies and their children who were or had been guests of the Crisis Shelter for the week usually made him smile.  Remembering the events of the week now separate from any stress or emotion was almost like therapy for him as he reconnected with work.  Today was like that anyway since there were no major issues to tackle.  Some weeks, though, he regretted ever starting this process.  It had started as a way to connect with his boss since he wasn’t sure what he might want to know about the shelter he created a report that covered everything that he could think of.  Over the past four years it had been adjusted, added to, taken away from and was a chore in itself each week.  A knock on the door stopped his thoughts.

“Come in!”

Real Life at the Crisis Shelter February 13-19, 2012

Monday February 13:  One of our semi-regular overflow guests was walking by the demonstrating an incredible ability to string together curses toward assorted staff and other guests.  As far as we can tell there has been no problem when she has stayed with us so our best guess is mental illness.  We received a gal from AOH who had been drinking.   

Tuesday February 14:  Received 2 more ladies from AOH.  Tonight we put two of the teenage boys to work helping on dishes.  On Monday night the family had been assigned to help with dishes and they both watched mom do all of the work.  On Tuesday night we cut mom a piece of cake and gave her a soda and had her sit and watch as her boys did the work.  (A couple of results by the end of the week:  one of the boys without any prompting volunteered to come by and mop the staff office every evening.  Mom started fixing herself up and seemed to be all together emotionally.  We have not seen her this interactive, ever.  One of our guests came to complain about her room mates picking on her.  In the conversation she told the story how every time she lights a cigarette in her room they get on her case.  She was asked to leave for smoking in the room.  

Wednesday February 15:   One of our guests backed into a flower pot with her van.  She then became anxious and pulled forward hitting the gate and the power box to the gate.  No injuries.  This has been reported to her insurance and she is no longer allowed to park in parking lot.  The rest of this guest’s day was bad as well.  We had a good talk but she is definitely hurting. 

Thursday February 16:    One of our guests had trouble from the moment that she arrived.  By mid afternoon she had threatened another guest and had to leave.  Two of our pregnant guests were on the verge of having their babies.  However, neither of them delivered this week.

Friday February 17:  One of our guests tried to take a group of our guests out to go smoke some pot.  They all stayed back and she left on her own.  Big win!  

Weekend:  Over the weekend many of our guests reported temptation to relapse but all stayed around the shelter over the weekend and the feelings passed.     

General comments:  We are working making progress toward improvements in our Good Worker Program, a phased reentry and overflow possibility and a great plan for future use of our basement.

Progress on my goals February 12-18, 2012

	Target	Actually Done
Leadership Bible	Be on page 245 (5 pg a day)	On page 246
Faith in Action Bible	Be on page 294 (6 pg a day)	On page 294
Message Read Through	7 Days youversion program	On track
Running	15 miles a week	16 miles
Crunches	1000 a week	800
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	5
Guy Time	1 a week	1
Self Exam	7 a week	4
Book Reading	1 Book a week	1
Evening Prayer Meeting	26 times a year	5
Paid Speaking	3 a quarter	0
Date with Cara	3 a quarter	2
Date with Rachel	1 a quarter	0

What a week!  I feel really good at this point though I fell short in some of my targets.  I did get quite a bit of writing done.  I also prepared 3 speeches and feel on top of my game.  I was turned down this week toward Toastmaster Accredidiation.  That was dissapointing.  I will one day be a public speaker but I guess it will need to come by going down a different road.  My book this week was Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln.  I feel very excited about the speech contest season that is coming up and am hopeful that I will make it to Orlando for the World Championship of Public Speaking. 
I also had great time with friends on Saturday night.  I need to get out more.  I have some concerns over my mind this week.  Twice in recent days I have been asked simple questions that I could not come up with answers to.  Wierd.  Anyway I feel that I am on track and look forward to more progress. 
If you are interested in developing your life plan, I am having a Goal Setting Workshop on February 25.  Let me know and I will get you details.

Hero Quest Chapter 1 Part 5

“Should be about normal, 5:30 or so.”

“Sounds good.”

John took a quick shower and put on his workout clothes.  He began to package up his things for the day.  It felt like he was moving out.  He needed to take his hero bag that had his planner and a wide assortment of items that he needed.  It was a result of being a boy scout.  “Always prepared” was their motto and John Hero was definitely prepared.  He had administrative items like markers, pens, paper and highlighters.  He had a first aid kit, ropes, matches, super glue and duct tape in case an emergency came up.  Also weighing him down on his approach to the car was his laptop computer and a backpack with his clothes for the day.

Lumbering to the car with this seemingly overwhelming amount of luggage, he seemed to stall out at each door as he would need to reposition everything so that he could open the door.  Carefully he would move through, then close the door and move to the next portal.  When everything was in the car he would do a mental checklist.  On more than one occasion he had forgotten something important, like pants so he wanted to make sure that he was ready to make it through the day.  When all was in order he sat in the car, started an audio book and took off to toward the office gym.

    Sweat permeated his clothes and made him shiver just a bit as he lugged his gear into his office.  People gawked at him in the parking lot as he made his way to the office.  “Don’t you know its winter?”

“Is it?  I hadn’t noticed the snow or all of the people in coats.” 

The workout had been great but now he needed to cool down and get to work.  In his office he set up his lap top, sipped some water and grabbed the communication book from the front office.  Casually he skimmed the entries looking for anything that he might need to address.  “This is a Crisis Shelter,” he muttered to himself as he read several of the entries.  He felt his heart bounce between joy and sorrow over the various entries. 

“How is the tension between rooms 8 and 3?”  Darlene seemed to be waiting for that question.  “It’s a time bomb. Saturday is the first entry on it but I think there were issues before then.”

“I thought they were like best friends?”

“They were but something happened over at the men’s mission.  I’m not sure.  There was a rumor that one of their men were kicked out for fighting.”

John thought about what she had just said.  “Is the tension spreading?”

“Not yet.  It looks like it’s just those two for now but I don’t think that will last.  I was making a bed in room 9 and overheard a couple of ladies taking sides.”

“We’ll need to address this right away.  I’ll get dressed here and go over the men’s mission and find out what I can.   Anything else going on?”

Real Life at the Crisis Shelter February 6-12, 2012

Monday February 6:    One of our moms moved over the join the program at Anna Ogden Hall today.  One of our guests said she had an overnight job but it turned out that she just wanted to spend the night at her sister’s house.  When we called to check on the job we let her know that we were onto her and she returned to the shelter as normal.

Tuesday February 7:   One of our good workers moved out having told staff that she was moving to California.  Turns out that she is still in Spokane but felt embarrassed about telling staff that she was just going to go party for awhile.  Late Tuesday we received a guest who was fleeing a domestic violence.  She looked pretty beat up and cut.  She mostly just wanted to go home, but with the help of the police we were able to convince her to wait it out at the shelter until it was safer to go home.  The hotel across the street was raided by law enforcement.  The papers say that it was a trafficking bust.  This created quite the show for the guests of the Crisis Shelter.  A few ladies who were thinking of going back to the streets decided to stay another night as a result.

Wednesday February 8:    Shots fired near the hotel across the street.  It does not seem like anyone was hit but it definitely shook things up around the shelter.  There is much speculation that it is connected to the raid on Tuesday night. 

Thursday February 9:   We checked a young lady into the shelter.  As we were working through check in it became obvious that she was very high.  She was very gracious and we helped her get into detox.  It was a very peaceful transfer.

Friday February 10:  One of our singles checked out in order to avoid becoming a good worker.  (You must either have a real world job or sign up to be a good worker at 4 weeks.)       

Weekend:    We are in the process of creating a more phased stay at the Crisis Shelter.  We have several rooms that are for initial stay, others that are for those about to become good workers and those that are either good workers or have real world jobs.  In order to get the rooms to this standard we moved many ladies around.  This created a certain amount of instability and insecurity.  Staff handled the extra stress well and worked to explain the big picture to everyone. 

A lady was checked in at 6 pm and by 7 pm had stolen a $400 phone from another guest and jumped the fence.  The other ladies wanted to string her up so I am hopeful that she either returns the phone or is not found by the other ladies.          

General comments:  We are in the process of revamping our good worker program and address weaknesses that came out of the SWOT we did in January.    

Progress on my goals February 5-11, 2012

	Target	Actually Done
Leadership Bible	Be on page 210 (5 pg a day)	On page 211
Faith in Action Bible	Be on page 252 (6 pg a day)	On page 252
Message Read Through	7 Days youversion program	On track
Running	15 miles a week	19 miles
Crunches	1000 a week	1100
Floss	7 times a week	7 Days
Face Cleaning/Lotions	7 times a week	6 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	5
Book Reading	1 Book a week	1
Evening Prayer Meeting	26 times a year	4
Paid Speaking	3 a quarter	0
Date with Cara	3 a quarter	2
Date with Rachel	1 a quarter	0

I realized as I was updating my tracker that I had the Faith in Action Bible and the Leadership Bible tracking backward.  That is now all fixed up.  The book I read this week was from Wendy's founder Dave Thomas called "Well Done"  The book is a great lesson in leadership of course around hamburgers.  He has many great things to say about paying it forward.  I would like to lead the Crisis Shelter to do something similar.  Don't charge them money to stay at the shelter, but require them to help others in the community.  What a little army they would have!
While I do this work to become a better man, my time with God has led me in a different path that I would like to share on this blog.  I long to become the sort of man with a solid foundation.  The purpose of this foundation is to be able to stand WHEN the storms come.  I also hope and pray that my strength will be available to others along the way.  Most of all available to my family but also to the ladies at the Crisis Shelter, friends and family as needed.  I hope to teach and train others to also build this foundation.  Life feels and is so much more stable this way.  With all of that said, I am in the process of learning to be content with being insignificant.  I expect fame and fortune but if it never comes than I need to be ok with obscurity.  I may not be giving my kids a large inheritance but I do intend to pass on to them a legacy.