Last Tuesday was our first community day! It was fantastic!

We began by helping to serve breakfast at Bus Stop Ministries, which was a crazy mish-mash of very interesting folks.  Then we moved on down the road to the Network Cafe.

The Network Cafe is a very unique community, but that’s what it is, a community.  People knew each other there, and respected each other for the most part. . . Let me back up.

At the Network Cafe every Tuesday and Thursday, a community of homeless, formerly homeless, and frankly, some mentally ill individuals can come and have coffee, cookies, a bible study, a game of chess, and a lunch.  It is absolutely a beautiful place.  A very real place, where people have problems, and they know each other.

So I met a guy there, that I’ll call Chris.  Chris and I played chess, and he was definitely better than me, but I played a good defensive game.  It wasn’t until I made two big mistakes back to back that he really had me.  We didn’t talk much, but he complimented me on my play, and I told him it was a great game. We were friends.

The next day during my lunch break, I went for a walk. Then I saw Chris! My first thought was, “There’s Chris! I wonder what he’s up to?”  Then I realized Chris was begging for change at that intersection that day.

 

My eyes were changed.

-grace and peace