Mobile Loaves & Fishes Blog

Life may not seem easy, But the solution is simple

I met Gary several years ago on a street corner.  He was panhandling to support his heroin addiction.  Coming up on a year he has been sober from this debilitating disease.  He now lives in one of our RV's that is part of our Habitat on Wheels program (www.mlfnow.org/HOW).  He is a guest blogger and he too is transforming the world one human at a time.

-Alan

   My name is Gary and I am a very grateful recovered Heroin addict. It is only by the Grace of a loving and forgiving God that I can say ‘that’ today, because left to my own decisions and free will I would still be suffering in the disease of addiction by using or no longer be here to share my story of recovery with others. Since November 1, 2008, I have not found it necessary to use heroin or other illegal drugs and only prescribed narcotic medication when necessary.
 
   The abstinence from heroin use has been a fairly simple decision for me given the knowledge of the harm and destruction it has caused me both physically and mentally. The diseases I created in my liver through precarious I.V. drug use over the last 38 years are evident in my physical appearance and my abilities today. Daily I awaken, and retire at night, with a feeling of lethargy. My ability to think with clarity and make decisions without hesitation has been affected. I refer to it as my “..foggy, drug – affected mind”.
 
   The mental anguish and humility create isolationism to not let others know I suffer like this, until I try to express or converse in detail. - i.e.: While I am clear at present what I want to say here and how I want to express it, I am reaching for the words that I could recall before by referring to a thesaurus. This is why sometimes it may take longer to write a simple letter. First, I want to say something exactly how I feel it and second, I do not want to say something that may be misunderstood and taken wrong. Anguish, humility, frustration and embarrassment are just some of the mental nuisances that create a feeling of guilt. Others may consider this commonplace in everyone’s life. The guilt is there for me because I know of the harm done to myself for continuing to use drugs and alcohol for so many years. When I do ‘get it right’, I allow my ego to take over and I have learned, in sobriety, this is just Edging God Out of the glory of my recovery.
  
    I only share all of this because I pray it may help others to think about the decision to use, or continue to use such toxins that will negatively affect them later in life; if it has not already. My God gave me the ability to love and share with others as a beacon of His love for them. The guilt and resentment created, by me, through long – term drug use reflected the wrong picture of my God’s reason for placing me in others lives, it has also left me feeling empty and alone in this world before now. I am grateful my God so loves me that today I have several individuals that express unconditional care and concern by trying to help me regain my direction in this life. I say “this life” because I feel this is only a temporary assignment until I fulfill God’s original intent, which was to live and share happiness with Him in Eternity.
 
    I write these contributions with the desire that others will become more understanding and compassionate to those suffering from addiction, and for those who have found recovery to be more empathetic to others that have reached the extremes of degradation I did. It took me a long time to reach this point in life to finally decide I was finished, but I know there is a reason I have suffered. If my suffering was nothing more than an example to show other addicts what would happen from continued drug use, or help others to see it more clearly, it is worth it to me. My God does not make mistakes. I have lived the life He intended for me from the day I was created, by Him. I will remain loyal to Him and walk the paths He places in front of me. I have not worked this program to perfection; I am making progress. I cannot expect to undo what I have done in almost 40 years of destruction in just a few short months. I have made some mistakes, but I am still sober and still learning.
 
   This morning I prayed to my God to give me the strength to carry on with the assignment He has given and the clarity to see it, without hesitating. I feel I can accomplish this by surrendering to His will for me daily and allowing Him to direct my life as He desires. No man has ever walked this earth and lived a perfect life. Even Jesus Christ questioned God why He would forsake Him, but submitted to His authority knowing it was God’s plan. I was created for His pleasure and I want to make Him happy. Because of the free will He has given me, I may be unsteady at times, but those individuals He placed in my life today I consider His angels. I know they have been sent here to guide me, as long as I let them.
 
   I pray somebody that reads this finds their God and takes the time to consider the path He has prepared for them. Decisions are not an easy task and they are a part of the free will we possess. But I hope, just for today, they reach deep in their heart and make the right decision. I thank the employees and volunteers of Mobile Loaves and Fishes for giving a human touch reflecting God’s love especially David, Kay, and Alan, and Austin Recovery for showing me, “I am not alone.”  The Solution? ; “Let go and let God.” I pray my God will continue to bless each and everyone with love, happiness, and understanding. He has me, “one day at a time”.
 
“ God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference…”

~ gary

Virtually No Arms & Legs! Can You Help Us Help Peggy Get Off The Streets?? #Homeless

Back in the 1950's and 1960's there was a powerful drug called thalidomide that was prescribed to pregnant women.  Peggy's mom took this drug while pregnant with Peggy and for her entire life Peggy has been without useful arms and legs.  For the past eight years she has been homeless on the streets of Austin, Texas.  Today she needs to replace the tires on her wheel chair.  I am praying that we can raise the money to find her a handicapped accessible RV.  They do exist.  We are working with the Austin Social Media Club to raise money to purchase an RV.  I think this would be the perfect candidate.  You can go to www.mlfnow.org/SMC to donate to this cause.  But please watch the video and see and hear with your own eyes and ears.

-Alan

Video Chronicles of a Street Retreat with the #Homeless

Tony Speaks Powerfully on Impact of Mobile Loaves & Fishes on the #Homeless

Chance Heck & Matt Briones, students at the University of Texas at Austin, created this powerful video about Tony Carmona and the impact of Mobile Loaves & Fishes on his life as a project for their Advanced Documentary Class and it was selected for the UT Documentary Center's Student Showcase.  Tony and his wife Linda and their 28 year old son Gordy have been a part of MLF's radical Habitat on Wheels (www.mlfnow.org/HOW) housing initiative for over four years.  Enjoy!

-Alan

Mobile Loaves and Fishes: Tony from Chance Heck on Vimeo.

@Hardlynormal (Mark Horvath) says, "This is a Model We Need to Scream About!", to bring #nosuffering to the #homeless

Hardly Normal In Austin Texas (video) #homeless #no suffering

I'll let the video speak for itself:

Failure of Christians to Serve the Chronically #Homeless

Christ gives us a simple mandate that begins with Matthew 25:31 and continues to the end of that chapter.  You want to go to heaven you must serve the poor; feed the hungry, clothe the naked, bring drink to the thirsty, visit the sick and those in prison.  Jimmy Dorrell in his book Trolls and Truth: 14 Realities About Today’s Church That We Don’t Want to See states emphatically that those who for whatever reason find themselves living on the streets of our cities do not trust Christians.  Simply, Christians do not practice what they preach or what is so clearly stated in the Gospels.  Reminds me of what Jesus says in Matthew 23:3, “Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example.”  Seems that after a couple thousand years we would learn something.

 

About 12 or so years ago I purchased a new bible and came across some bible tabs that you could place in your bible to quickly access apologetic doctrinal issues when defending my Roman Catholic faith.  Somehow I misplaced that bible a couple of years ago and recently went to replace it.  While at the store I came across those same bible tabs and purchased them then spent the next couple of days placing them in their proper place in my bible.  When complete I asked myself why?  Then I began to ponder if there were bible tabs that would allow one to quickly access scripture compelling us to serve the poor.  After a little internet research I came across nothing and began to make tabs of my own and now have a bible full of tabs pointing us to powerful scripture detailing God’s desire and command to serve the poor.  I can tell you it is clear and compelling.

 

I can also tell you that there are two inextricable themes in the Gospels; to evangelize to all nations and to serve the poor.  Inextricable meaning they always go together and can never be torn apart.  Somehow though, we Christians have separated the two.  Some church communities are very effective in evangelization and a very few are effective in serving the poor.  I am told that around the end of the 19^th century these two inextricable calls were politicized; one being the conservative way (evangelization) and the other being the liberal way (serving the poor).  So we Christians began to separate the two calls with the conservative way being the most dominate.

 

Anecdotally, I have been tracking the finances of churches to see how much of their operating budgets actually go towards serving the poor or social concerns.  The results are sad, to say the least.  Most budgets allocate MAYBE 5% towards these needs and you would really have to go in to it to discern if this is for direct services to the poor.  A lot that I have seen has been around education dealing with social justice.  Most of our churches will justify this poor expenditure by saying that they foster ministries within the church community to perform these tasks but my experience is that most of these ministries are poorly funded and poorly managed.   The protestant community seems to be responding to this through what they call “missional church plants”; churches being created to serve the poor.  Dorrell also recognizes in his book that the church has not been raising up people to move into areas to serve the poor; to live among them as a vocation.  I concur!  As a Roman Catholic here in Austin serving the homeless now for over ten years I have noticed that there is not one ordained priest or avowed religious serving the homeless full time on the streets.  Why is this?

 

If the call is so clear in the Gospels why do we as Christians struggle at fulfilling this Gospel call?  Why do we lift up even in these modern times those whose lives were dedicated to a life of service to the poor yet we don’t aspire to this life ourselves?  Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta is a great example.  Her life drew worldwide attention to the plight of the poor and her death was mourned worldwide by people of all faiths.  The Hindu’s particularly in India revered her.  She is on the fast track to be canonized as a Saint.

 

Perhaps we as Christians here in the United States have so segregated ourselves from the poor that they are barely visible and perhaps only from our locked car windows looking from the inside out.  Going back to Jimmy Dorrell’s book he makes another profound comment that the most segregated places on earth are our respective churches on Sunday mornings.  Segregated by color, culture, and economics.  This is essentially my experience with a few exceptions.  However, one place you will find extraordinary diversity is at Church Under the Bridge in Austin, Texas (also in Waco).  Here you will find people of virtually every color, every disability and ability, spanning all economic strata’s and representing cultures from around the world.  What is truly amazing is the tolerance for this unbelievable melting pot.  Have we lost our tolerance in our suburban environments?  Bring in 50 homeless folks into most of our suburban churches on any Sunday morning and you may very well have a mutiny brewing amongst the parishioners.  Contrast this with the scriptural call to serve the poor; all the poor and most particularly those who are truly despised and outcasts in our communities.  How can there be such a contrast between this Gospel call and our response to this call?  AND why must we have church under the bridge?  Are these beautiful people who like all are made in His image welcome in our real churches?  Or is the real church actually under the bridge?

 

When I give talks to church communities I always talk about this gift to serve the poor given to us by God and how I believe the answer to some of our most pressing social issues like homelessness lies firmly and belongs passionately in our Christian churches.  It is a fundamental call.  Will we take up this call?  I see a lot of prayer directed in this area and I hear a lot of words but I don’t see a lot of action.

 

In Austin there are approximately 1,000 chronically homeless people living on the streets.  There are more than 1,000 Christian churches.  What if each community were to adopt just one chronically homeless individual?  Be willing to raise money to get this person into affordable, permanent and sustainable housing and be willing to befriend this human and make them a part of the broader church family.  To lift this person up off the streets giving them an opportunity to heal from the ravages of living on the streets and help guide them into a purpose filled life.  What if?

 

If the truth is that we Christians are not standing in the gap to this Gospel call are not we better off to know this truth than to create our own version of the truth?  In John 8:32 the Lord speaks "you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free".  Speaking the truth allows people the opportunity to hear the truth.  I say we Christians are failing at this fundamental call.  This failure leads to society, much as Jesus did in Matthew 23, calling the Pharisees of the time hypocrites.  This is how we are viewed by non Christians and by Christians who are our brothers and sisteres on the streets of our communities; as hypocrites.  And you know what, I believe they are right.  Practice what you preach and we will believe you, they say.  James 2:15-16, If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day and one of you says to hem, "Go in peace, keep warm and eat well," but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it?

 

Frankly, most of the homeless people I know have a close intimate relationship with God.  It is easier for them since they don’t have all that material stuff that typically separates one from God.  What they need is for the Church to be an answer to their prayers, not just pray for them.  Trust me they are praying hard to be relieved from the extraordinary suffering of homelessness so the question is can we be an answer to their prayers?  I too pray in solidarity with them that we will.

 

-Alan

The Heat Wave Is On Again! Need Water NOW! #homeless

Here we go again with extremely high temperatures in Austin.  The impact on the human person when the heat index rises into the mid 100 degree range is pretty profound.  We need your help now!  There are a couple of options:

• Make a micro donation now by filling in the form below
• Post this donation form below on  your blog or website and encourage your friends, family and colleagues to help.  Use this html source code below: 

<script src="https://widgets.kimbia.com/widgets/form.js?channel=givewater.kimbia.com/water"></script>

• Send an email to [email protected] if you would like to learn how you can deliver water from your car as you go about your daily business.  You provide a car and ice chest and we will provide water and ice.

• Point your friends to http://www.mlfnow.org/water to make a donation as well.

Our brothers & sisters thank you!!

-Alan

Darn, this one doesn't have a handle on the spigot either. #homeless

Gary, is a friend of mine who is now 8 months sober from an addiction to heroin.  This post is written as a perspective on ensuring that our brothers and sisters stay hydrated and how important it is.  Mobile Loaves & Fishes is not only raising funds to hydrate our brothers and sisters (www.mlfnow.org/water) we are also assembling a small army of folks that are interested in delivering water (read previous posts) to these brothers and sisters on the streets.

-Alan

"Go on, get out of here. This is private property."; "Darn, this one doesn't have a handle on the spigot either."; "Come on, hurry up! It may be dark but what if they come outside?"

   - Fear, desperation, necessity. My name is Gary M. and for the past three summers I spent everyday of my life standing on the hot pavement for hours on end, trying to panhandle enough money to make it through the day. I went to any length to make the money I needed, even if it meant standing there all day 7 days/week. For those of you that may be unaware, the last three summers (plus this year) have had a record number of days per month with 100 degree plus temperatures. My face and arms have peeled at least three times per summer. People that knew me before I 'hit' the streets have commented that I appear to have aged 10 years. I have peeled scabs from my ears and nose because I failed to hydrate properly on a daily basis and still have possible carcinomas from exposure. My brothers and sisters, I don't have to tell you it's hot out there. Step out of the a/c in your cars, offices, and homes for 30 minutes. It's obvious.

    Out of desperation, we would go to any length to retrieve water. Out of necessity we took a chance that we might be arrested for getting a drink from somebody else's hydrant. We lived in fear of going to jail, or dying of thirst. I don't know if you have ever been that desperate, but I pray you will never have to experience it.

    If you understand anything about the reasons why some people are homeless you should know that they may be out there by no fault of their own. If you do not understand, then read on further in this Blog, or spend fifteen minutes with Alan Graham and you will never hear it more clearly. The point is, for whatever reason an individual may be 'living' on the street, you probably agree all humans have the right to a drink of water when they are thirsty.

    My personal reason for being 'homeless' is not important. What is important is the opportunity you have when you give that 'gentile' a drink. When Jesus visited Jacob's well, as shared in the new testament of the Christian Bible, He used the opportunity of sharing with another thirsty individual the Word of God. He shared with a Samaritan (considered unclean humans) woman in John 4:13,14 - 'Jesus answered her, "Everyone who drinks this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Take the opportunity, you may have the chance to save their life twice. First, they may not die of thirst. Second, what you share may help them make a decision to change their life. They may not end up, as many of my brothers and sisters have, dying on the streets of Austin, TX or Anytown, USA from the elements and illnesses aquired while living in 'deplorable' conditions.

     I lived the life and am still alive today by the Grace of a loving God and the 'angels' that shared water that quenched my thirst for awhile, and eternal water that quenched my thirst for life. Because those angels shared their eternal water with me, today I am a recovered Heroin addict and living in a 4 br/2 bath brick home (a Sobriety House). Today I have been clean and sober for 8 months. Today I work, pay rent, and get a drink of water from the kitchen faucet like most of you. I receive eternal water from the Christian Bible. If you share with others like me, they may drink from that eternal well. If they don't, you still may quench their physical thirst and allow them the gift of living one more day. For God's sake, if not theirs, help them live to see God's beauty one more time.

-Gary

Monday Video Blog Musings on this Past Weekends Powerful Street Retreat #homeless

Excerpts from an email I received from my good friend Mike one of the Street Retreat participants. Also enjoy the video blogs from below as we close out this powerful Street Retreat.  If you want to learn more about street retreats in general go to www.mlfnow.org/streetretreat.

 

-Alan

 

"I want to thank you for a magical experience.  I have such a different healthy perspective for our brothers and sisters on the street than before.  They are such a beautiful, loving, caring and sharing family. I was so moved by Jeff's talent on the piano that Ginger and I are going to try to keep up with him and help him out when and where it seems appropriate.  He's getting a new bridge Monday so that he can begin performing again.  It is such a small thing but it made him happy and we are blessed to be able to help. I feel such a connection to those people at the park and will do my best to remain a friend to them. Again, thank you for this God-blessed opportunity!"