Mobile Loaves & Fishes Blog

Santa Brings Smiles

 

Many folks have asked me why I do what I do. This blog entry will show one of many reasons why. I flew back from a client site on Friday the 12 of December. I asked Elvis, a homeless man, to meet me at 7 PM at the park. It was our plan for Elvis to come over and do some painting and tile work at my house. Elvis stays in the pop-up camper in the yard while he is at my house. I landed earlier than I had expected and had time to kill, so I went to the park to say hello to my friends. Leta, one of the few homeless women I see, approached me with great joy. She wished me an early Merry Christmas and asked if I had sent my letter to Santa yet. She explained to me, even though she was 51 years old, she still believed in Santa. I asked Leta if she had sent Santa a letter and what she asked for. She explained she sent him a letter but never hears back from him. She does not remember ever asking for anything nor ever getting anything for Christmas but she really thought her Christmas prayer would be answered. I told Leta that I had an in for Santa Clause through Mrs. Clause.  I asked her if she had a letter for Santa that I could give to Mrs. Clause. She reached into her bag and pulled out her Christmas wish list and handed it to me. I told her I would do my best to get her letter to Santa. Recently I had a good friend who is struggling with his beliefs in God. I found these stories to be quite parallel. To my friend with doubts I quoted The same quote Jordan Shipley quoted Hunter Lawrence just before the game winning field goal in the big 12 Championship.

Jeremiah 17:7 

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.

 

For my homeless friend Leta, I am hoping to bring her joy and grace with her special present from Santa.

Check out my blog site at http://www.shoulderthecross.typepad.com/ and my website at http://shoulderthecross.org/ God bless you all and Merry Christmas 

Cry out to Jesus

Have you ever lost someone you love? How hard was it to accept? I find that so many of us want to blame someone or something for taking what we love from us. It is so hard to understand why this could be taken from us. Everything was going so good until this someone or something was taken from us. It reminds me of a "Third Day" song called "Cry Out to Jesus".

To everyone who's lost someone they love
Long before it was their time
You feel like the days you had were not enough
when you said goodbye

And to all of the people with burdens and pains
Keeping you back from your life
You believe that there's nothing and there is no one
Who can make it right

He'll meet you wherever you are
Cry out to Jesus, Cry out to Jesus.

When Wayne, one of the homeless men I help, told me this morning that he lost his bible, it just crushed me. He said "Brian, I have lost both my Mom and Dad to death, I even had a brother die … losing my bible has hurt me more than all of these things combined." I was both honored and humbled at Wayne's request for me to give him another bible "To study His word" Wayne said. I am honored to call Wayne my friend. In closing today, I want to share something Wayne wrote to me. Please feel free to visit my other blog site.

Holy sprit that is in me, take me, lead me, to this my destiny
Feel me with thy love and kindness, to fight this evil that's in me
so help me carry your true knowledge, to all in there times of need
For when this my life's journeys ended, I'll have a place to rest in thee!
P.S. writing this to you has made me see that I cant give up on others so thanks for letting me write to you
- Wayne

Thursday Morning Delight

Well it was a big surprise to those who were at Wooldridge Park this Thursday morning. I was called away on an unexpected trip to Tampa Florida on Wednesday and was due to fly out on Thursday at noon. It is hard for me to get the word out to my friends on the streets of Austin, so I decided to get to the Park this morning and feed my homeless friends. Tony was near the front of the line, he smiled and said, "Hey Brian, nice to see you this morning. This is perfect because I missed breakfast at the church this morning." Mark was first in line and said, "I think this is the first time ever I have been first in line, I missed you last Saturday too." I told him to "Aim better" I needed to explain this was a play with words, for some reason I don't think he thought it was very funny. Rudy was there too, He got a radio and a watch. Rudy is such a quiet guy. He is always so polite and thankful. He has a face you could never forget too. The twins were there this morning too. They both got sandwiches and hot cocoa. Everybody knows the twins, so they too agreed to let my homeless friends know I would not be able to make it out on Saturday. I did see Wayne on my way downtown this morning. I turned around to try to get to him safely (without causing an accident) but when I got turned around, he vanished. I looked for about 5 minutes then I figured I better get moving on and hoped he would read his email. I will miss serving on Saturday but I look forward to coming back out a week from Saturday.

$783 Billion Stimulus Plan

"Hey Brian, Can you imagine what the stimulus would do for homelessness?" This was a question I attempted to answer on Saturday and I need your help answering. I had to stop and think, "what would 783 Billion dollars do to prevent local homelessness and poverty?" We could possibly put together a better support structure; get some local jobs to help the local people. I could go on and on about what 783 Billion dollars could do to help the homeless. The good news is there are "talks" of a plan to pump some of this stimulus into Austin. A newspaper noted in a tongue-in-cheek story that Austin was included with an $886,000, 36-hole disc golf course in a list of possible projects for federal stimulus money. The article I read said “The project has merit because Austin has "many" disc golfers, and the city's other five courses are heavily used” Real quick, how many is "many"?  How "many" homeless do local churches feed on Tuesday and Thursday mornings? How "many" homeless does Mobile Loaves and Fishes feed on a daily basis?  I know exactly how "many" Shoulder the Cross feeds and provides services to every Saturday. Can you imagine the good even 10% of the proposed $886,000 would do for the local poverty? What do you think?  I would love to hear your comments.

Welcome Mom and Dad Luck

Hello friends. What a great time I had serving the homeless this weekend. My parents were in town this past Saturday. I let everyone know last week that Mom and Dad would be in town and Dogman immediately announced "Wait until you taste Brian's Mom's Homemade Cookies" Mom and Dad flew in from Minneapolis late Friday night. My Mom started working in the kitchen before her bags were unpacked. Dad helped me with the Ham sandwiches. He was amazed at the chunk of ham I was putting in the ham sandwiches. I asked my parents what impacted them the most about helping me serve. My Dad noticed how polite and "real" my friends were. Dad said, "I wish more people could see this side of the homeless. There are so many who fear the unknown when in reality, they are just real people down on their luck" I have heard that more than 70% of the current employed are 1 paycheck away from being homeless themselves. When hit with the same question my Mom said, because they visit the homeless shelter in Minneapolis and actually spend the night there as volunteers, there was no surprises while helping me serve. She mentioned that there was a lot more to the preparations than she expected and was real impressed with how the Austin Capitol Area Food Bank was utilized in my service. Most of the drinks, canned soup and potato chips are purchased through the Austin Capitol Area Food Bank.  Of course my Mom mentioned that she loved making the cookies and really liked passing them out. They both were trying to get a rise out of me by bringing up things from my past to try to get my friends to comment on them. “Ask him about the time he climbed the water tower, that was a time when he was really reaching for the stars and trying to be an angel.” My friends just laughed but were very polite and respectful toward me. “Ask Brian about the time he tried to sneak home at 7AM on a Sunday morning” my Dad shouted out. Nobody ever asked me, but I am sure there are a few who wonder what the story is. Mom and Dad have left, but I am sure the cookies and kindness will be remembered by all until they return again next year.

Ed on God

Hi there, Brian here. It's been a while since I blogged. I switched the day I serve the homeless of Austin from Tuesdays to Saturdays. It has been difficult to find time to blog since my move. I started traveling about 4 months ago and this is what forced the switch. I was moved by the Holy Spirit last Saturday and wanted to share my experience. Ed, one of the many homeless men I serve, is an outspoken, outgoing, loud yet gentle man. Ed is always polite and kind. Ed frequently brags of his Mexican heritage, he's a very proud man. Last Saturday I missed Ed during my normal time that I serve the homeless. After the line dwindled and the food disappeared, I offered to take Elvis up the street, so he could get something he needed. When I brought Elvis back to the park, Ed was there. Ed came running up from the gazebo. He just wanted to say hello. Ed looked at me and said, "Brian, I think I made a preacher man mad this morning" "I better not tell you what I told him because I am afraid you too will be angry with me, and I like what you do to help the homeless, so I don't want to make you mad" I urged Ed to share what it was that was on his mind and assured him that I am slow to anger. Ed explained … "I told the preacher man that I didn't believe in God, he asked me to leave when I told him I did in fact believe in Jesus Christ, but not God" I asked Ed how could this be? Jesus is the son of God. Ed continued "I think that if God really did exist, then He would have sacrificed Himself, He would not have made His son do that for Him. Don't you agree as a father that you would much rather die than see your children die, much less your only son?" I carefully constructed my answer. I looked at Ed and I said "You bring up some very good points Ed. I definitely agree I would much rather die for my children rather than see them suffer and die. I can't help to wonder though, what impact would God have on people 2000 years ago leading up to today had He died for our sins in place of His son. My opinion is that God gave of His only begotten son for our sins because this was the ultimate sacrifice. If I were to die for a cause, most people would say, wow that Brian was a really good guy with great morals. Would I be remembered for 2000 years for this? What impact would this have on others?" This conversation got Ed thinking. We continued to talk on the subject and I hope now he has a better understanding now of why God gave His only son for our sins. This made me think of a quote from Mother Teressa. Mother Teressa expressed so powerfully "In the Eucharist I see Christ in the appearance of the bread. In the slums I see Christ in the distressing disguise of the poor. The Eucharist and the poor are but one love for me."

The Gift of touch

My brother has MS, a neurological disease that has affected him mentally, emotionally and spiritually for the past 8 years.  I recently brought him along with me, so he could experience the pleasure of serving the homeless and or poor, as God has taught us (1 John 3:17-18).  He was amazed at how kind everyone was.  My friends on the street are always kind and considerate and always very thankful. If one was to ask for something that I had run out of, my brother was moved by how they would not get angry, they would just be thankful for the items they did get from me.  One thing my brother noted was the touch.  He was very impressed with how much physical contact there is with my friends.  My brother said "The gift of touch is a great gift.  Something I read once was one of the reasons we are here on earth is to touch each other physically as well as Spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. " My brother continued, "I was deeply moved at the reaction of these people when you would hold their shoulder, shake their hand and sometimes you would hug them."  he continued "you could see it in their face what this meant to them" This was deep for my brother to say.  He was truly moved by this experience.

-Brian

The need gets greater

 

What a crazy morning it was. There were at least 50 people in need this morning.  I helped at least 7 new people in my line this morning. All my hot water for Cocoa was gone, of course no more coffee. All cans of soup were taken and no more sandwiches. I had no extra shirts and only a few pants and shorts left over. I am humbled by the need on the streets as weekly the homeless come to me with their needs. There was one person in line that made a list on their hand of what they needed. Bug spray, ant killer, sheets, blankets, alarm clocks and watches (Waterproof) are just a few of the requests I got this morning.

It was a blast from the past this morning too. Avon was there for the second week in a row, Gary showed up for the first time in months, even Crazy Willie was there this morning. You can't help but to have an awesome day when Willie is in line. Willie drew me the picture you see above. He asked me "What do you think it is?" I guessed it was an RV and he thought I was a genius. As I helped do my part in stopping homelessness in Austin, Willie entertained me with the sounds of sirens and emergency horns. "Which is better" he asked, "an Ambulance or a fire truck?" "They are equal" he said, "if you are burned in a fire". "WooooOOoo Unk Unk" he screamed out.

I am in great need of watches and radios. If you would like to donate any of these items to help stamp out homelessness in Austin please contact me by clicking the "Comments" section just under my name below.  Have a blessed week

-Brian

Girl Scout Cookies for Supper?

I leave for a week and my friends act as if it was an eternity. I found my self thinking about my mission a lot last week, especially on Tuesday. Helping the homeless is definitely a calling I have and I am more than happy to help when I can. There is so much going on in the city of Austin, most folks don't take the time to think about Austin homelessness, that is unless there are plans to build an RV park near their homes. I have seen this as a problem for quite some time now.

I stood there this morning looking at the line of those in need and smiled. "Good Morning" I shouted. In unison I heard, "Good Morning Brian, how was your vacation?" I looked at Stephen and said, "Did you miss me?" "Oh yes" he quickly said. I came back with "well you should start aiming better". Well this went right past him. I said, "Did that go over your head?" Stephen said, "Over my head, through my body, around me, under me … I totally missed that" When I explained to him that aiming at me would make him less likely to miss me, he was still lost. I was in rare form indeed this morning, it was great being back.

Ed looked at me and asked for a box of Girl Scout cookies. He mentioned that made a meal for him one late night. I mentioned that to Dogman and he said "Whoa one meal? Try 3 meals for me" It amazes me that my friends are making meals out of a boof Girl Scout cookies, I wish there was more I could do. One friend, someone new that I have not seen before, was so hungry he ate his can of soup while standing right next to my truck.

Sam wanted some more Q-Tips, he mentioned something about a good possibility of potatoes growing from his ears soon, I said "What? I can't hear you, I have potatoes in my ears".

One gentleman was not as fortunate as most. I understood he recently was released from the hospital and was very hungry. Unfortunately he was the last person in line and there was no food left by then. Things lasted very long this morning regardless. I had a sandwich all the way up to the last 3 people in line. My last can of soup went to the 2nd to the last person. I know one person cannot wipe out homelessness in Austin, but I sure am trying to do my part.

-Brian

LET’S EAT

It was hard getting out of bed at 5:30 this morning.  I was glad I did though; when I pulled up I saw at least 40 of my homeless friends waiting on me.  In normal fashion, Dogman was at the front of the line.  “You saved my life last week” he said.  “I was overcome by hunger about 2 AM and I found a chocolate chip cookie you gave me at the bottom of my bag, that was the best darn cookie I have ever eaten” I really doubt his life was in harm at 2 AM, but that really solidified the reason why I wake up early and go down town Austin to help in the charitable way I do.

This was the last week I will bring MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) for my friends.  Unfortunately the Austin Capitol Area Food Bank (CAFB) no longer carries these meals ready to eat and my stash has been depleted.  These were always a hit for all of my friends.  I will miss hearing them ask for them as well.  They were called MRIs, FTGs, MGFs, TGSs, TGIF, LOL, BFF and many other names.  Once I asked someone, what does that stand for?  They hesitated and said “BDF is Brian’s Dinner Food ready to eats” Everyone got a great laugh on that one. 

All the food disappeared this morning.  There were quite a few folks who were very sick this morning too.  I filled a lot of requests for flu and allergy medicine.  I forgot to bring the radios out this morning.  That was a bummer for the 2^nd guy in line, who waited all morning for a radio.  I also forgot the eggs at home in the fridge. I get teased a lot when I forget things too. 

When I packed my things back into my truck this morning,getting ready to leave the park, I smiled and waved good bye to my friends.  I noticed one hungry gentleman didn’t go more than 20 feet before he found some comfortable grass to sit on as he enjoyed his Turkey and Cheese sandwich.  How is it so easy for some to stereotype these folks I wondered? I hope one day I will be able to better educate Austinites on homelessness and have them see what I see. Maybe I could convince them to just help out with a Charity, every little bit really does help and it’s true, one person CAN make a difference.

-Brian