“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.”

Titus 2:11-13

The grass is neatly cut and manicured along the parkway, trees line the walkway. As you approach you notice a tent with someone sleeping on the ground outside. The closer you get you notice people just standing around holding cardboard signs saying “Will work for food” or “God Bless you”. There are children just sitting, not playing, not listening to IPods, just sitting with their parents.

The closer you walk; you begin to notice the car that apparently hasn’t run for a while is filled with someone’s belongings. The shopping cart holding blankets and recyclables is next to a shabbily dressed man carrying one of the cardboard signs. He looks directly at you, but you don’t make eye contact. Now you recognize that you have wandered into a homeless encampment, but that was not where you were headed, you were going to church.

This was the first thing you saw last Sunday morning as you walked toward the main Sanctuary at Crossroads. Once people passed our “Encampment” they were exposed to other areas of the world in which poverty exists. There were shanties erected, live animals, and outdoor cooking with food to sample. You could witness the physical relief in many people as they began to understand that we were only part of the display and that the church grounds had not been taken over by the homeless.

Patrice Maturkanich did a great job organizing our encampment, from the car and tent, to the actors playing the part of the homeless. Everyone did a great job. The most interesting thing was the response of many before they realized that these “Homeless” were members of our church. No one was rude, many people actually tried to give money; some actually insisted that we take their donation.

For many we noticed that we had intruded into their life, an unexpected interruption. We watched as one woman, kids in tow, stopped and walked around our display, toward the offices and down the stairs to avoid contact.

I would not put forth that anyone is indifferent or adverse toward the homeless; for the most part we just don’t know how to effectively help a stranger without jeopardizing our own well-being. This is a natural response for anyone.

How do we overcome these feelings? By increasing awareness of the problem, training on how to resolve the problem and resources to overcome the problem. The fix doesn’t come from one person becoming involved; it comes from all of us doing what each has the ability to accomplish.

From a Spiritual standpoint it looks like this, though each of these attributes applies to each of us, not just the homeless.

Awareness: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men”.

Training: ”Instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age”

  Resource: ”Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.”

From a physical standpoint we are becoming more aware of the homeless problem that exists in our community. We are putting things in motion to train those interested in helping and we are organizing resources to make sure that the needs are being met. So we are on the right track.

Photo's by Dianna Lopez. MakeUp: Joanne Stevens and Malory Giboney

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3

Today I am going to make my blog a social experiment using you. We are surrounded by visual stimulants that feed our brains a continual influx of information. We each believe that the things we see with our eyes are true. Today I would like you to take one minute, forty two seconds and watch “The Monkey Business Solution” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQmdoK_ZfY

There are no tricks or spyware downloaded to your computer, just take a moment now and watch the video. If you have seen this type of video before, watch it again, this one has a new twist. Do it now, before you continue with the blog.

In the Annual Homeless Assessment Report of 2009, Housing and Urban Development reported to Congress that there was an estimated 643,000 homeless in America. http://www.huduser.org/publications/pdf/5thHomelessAssessmentReport.pdf

“Nearly 1.56 million people used an emergency shelter or a transitional housing program during the 12-month period (October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009). Two thirds were homeless as individuals, and one-third were homeless as members of families.”

So when we drive down the street, what do we see? If you watched the Monkey Business Solution, can we trust what we saw? I think the video proves that we do have selective vision. When we are looking for that “New Car” we see them everywhere. A pregnant woman sees pregnant women everywhere she goes. The homeless that we are looking for are not those who generally walk the streets with shopping carts or stand in underpasses looking for handouts.

It’s those that are living in their cars or camping as a means of shelter. It’s those that are looking to get off of the streets, it’s those who are seeking shelter for their family; an opportunity to re-enter society and be self-sufficient. Sometimes it’s the obvious things that catch our attention and we make judgments on the obvious.
A better answer would be that we “Call to Him” and ask Him to reveal to us what the need is and our personal ability to help solve the problem of homelessness.

This Sunday Chuck will be speaking on the “The Darkness of Poverty”. We will also have a display in the Candlewalk, stop by and say “Hi”.

“But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work.” I Thessalonians 5:12

It’s Clergy Appreciation Month. To be honest I am somewhat offended that we have to have a “Hallmark Day” in order appreciate those whom we work with preaching the Gospel; we need to be appreciating them every day.
There was a point in my own life that I was making that career decision. I was actually looking at several schools and had applied to a Bible College to go into ministry full-time. Because of several “God Circumstances” and a lot of prayer, I followed the path of Paramedic/Firefighter. Having made that decision, I vowed to be the best volunteer in service to our Lord. I never regretted that decision and God has truly blessed me in being what I call a “DuVoc”, Dual Vocation. I am a firefighter by trade and a full-time Christian by passion.

I am in one of those professions that many in the community consider as a “Hero”. “Doc” is one of our firefighters, who as a black man stands six foot three and a biscuit short of 260 lbs. He can be pretty ominous. When referred to as a “Hero”, Doc will reply back “A Hero ain’t nothin but a samich (sandwich)”. I tend to agree with Doc.

If I have to look for “Hero’s”, I look to those who can save the soul, not just the body. For every time I have interrupted Death, Death still looms in the future, waiting for age, disease or trauma to be given an opportunity again. Saving a soul is eternal.

I do not need someone to designate a month or a day for me to recognize the “Hero’s” in my life. I see them every day seeking to distribute the Gospel to those who are weary and just short of Death, seeking to bring the soul back to life. They take a pulpit, sing a praise, visit the sick, tend to the needy, teach a child, feed the poor, solder pipes, paint walls, drive nails … the list is endless, all in the name of Christ..

What defines a “Hero” to me?

“Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” James 1:21-22

Go now and be a “Hero” in someone’s life.

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

This is one of the toughest verses in the Bible for me. I want the “Peace that surpasses all understanding”, I just don’t want to wait for it. I tend to work in 911 times, the phone rings, the call comes, I grab my stuff and head for the door. All of those sermons of reaching the poor, the lost and the needy? Okay, let’s go! “This is broke? This needs repair? Let’s get some guys and fix it”. So you can imagine my angst as we wait on the Lord to give us the go ahead with the CNRM project. I’ve learned over the years to pray more than I push when it comes to doing things for the Lord. As we try to orchestrate this project, we find ourselves working against the upcoming Holidays. We are continuing to keep our construction dates in prayer. Thanks for your patience.

The following is coming from Patrice Maturkanich.. If you can help, Please contact her. patricem@crossroadschurch.com

Global Outreach Day, Sunday October 24, will showcase the mission work of Crossroads Church throughout the world in a realistic scenario of living conditions in various countries, as well as in the U.S.

The Corona-Norco Rescue Mission is our local mission field outreach. We'd like to demonstrate the living conditions of those who have lost their homes. We are looking for volunteers with a heart for these people to help us make this demonstration an effective success. The scenario will look like this:

*an old car parked on the Candle Walk patio, filled with clothing, quilts, laundry basket, misc. bags of "stuff", etc.
*adults sitting in or near the car, wearing well-worn clothing, unwashed skin (we have makeup for that), uncombed hair. Some holding cardboard signs with words such as "will work for food", etc.
*children similarly dressed, playing near car or quietly resting in a melancholy fashion near "mother"
*possibly a tired, faithful dog lying next to these people
*EZ-up shade covering with a table holding rescue mission flyers, trifolds, business cards, sign-up sheet for more info, etc. EZ-up will be covered all over with quilt-like scraps of old, mismatched material roughly sewn together.

If you feel called to serve in this ministry outreach day, we would appreciate your participation so much! We welcome 'donation loans' for any of the materials we will need, and of course we welcome anyone who would like to participate as a homeless family member.

Bill Reimer, the Chief Program Officer for the Rescue Mission efforts in the Inland Empire, will be present to answer questions all morning, as well as Todd Holtkamp, the Project Manager for the Corona-Norco Rescue Mission refurbishing.

Please respond with your interest to Patrice, admin volunteer for CNRM.

patriceM@CrossroadsChurch.com

On a personal note: Heather is home and continues to recover. thanks for all of your prayers and support.