Last week I mentioned it has been hard for me to really disconnect from work. This week has been a little bit easier. I’ve been able to focus on rest and spending quality time with each of my kids. I’ve also tried to focus more on my reading commitment. I love the Book of Mysteries we received at the summer sales meeting. However, the book I chose specifically for Sabbatical does not seem to speak to me and I was having trouble relating. But as I continued with the book, I realized it related to my closest girlfriend who has been going through a really tough time in her marriage and in life general. Perhaps God has placed me in this position as a conduit to help her through these struggles. To be continued on that…
Also, this week, I began my service project. Originally I signed up to participate with Interfaith Ministries. As I sat through the orientation, I realized this was not the project for me. My heart was not in it. The volunteer work did not align with my Christian views, nor my political views. So I started my own project to feed people in need. The kids and I assembled brown bag lunches, along with care packages of toiletries items, and loaded up my truck to distribute them to anyone in need of a meal whose path we crossed. Most of the folks we met were homeless. And most of them on street corners making it hard to have conversations or even talk due to safety and traffic. Being in a large city like Houston, you have to be very cautious and I was a little nervous having my kids come into contact with the unknown. I prayed for God to watch over us and knew He would lead us in the right direction. A good amount of the homeless folks in Houston are either drug addicts or suffer from a mental illness. My youngest didn’t understand why one gentleman was shooting a sling shot at cars passing by and yelling at what appeared to be an imaginary person next to him. This opened up a conversation about mental illness. One lady told us she didn’t want to take our food. And one family of five was so grateful, we fed them lunch and dinner. But the one that really got me was the veteran. We had minimal time to visit because we were at the busiest intersection in the city, preventing me from even getting out of the car. He was on crutches with one leg amputated from an injury serving our country. He was young, kind and happy to receive anything we could provide to him. He was on a waitlist for a prosthetic leg with the VA. This man gave up so much to serve our country and for our freedom. And here he is standing on the street in traffic asking for help of any kind. No veteran should live this way. And if you think there was a dry eye in the car as we drove away you are mistaken. My kids were speechless. When I prayed that God would teach us something of value on this journey, He delivered big. And my kids are better people because of it. Also, a lot of folks had full bellies.
I’m off to the beach, this time Galveston Island. Did I mention I love the beach? That friend I mentioned at the beginning of my blog is coming with her family. It just ‘happened’ that both of our families are able to vacation together 😉
I’m thankful for all of you who make this time with my family and friends possible.
Stef