The First Day of the Week

Monday. It strikes terror in the hearts of even the strongest of us. Mislabeled the first day of the week, it’s also the most hated. We’ve forgotten that the first day of the week is actually Sunday. Yup, it’s true. I know you don’t believe me, so check your calendar. No not Outlook, it squishes Saturday and Sunday together. I’m talking about an old fashioned, hanging on the wall, have to manually flip to the next month calendar. These are my wife’s favorite. She doesn’t like the Palm Pilot I gave her a few years ago. She says it’s impersonal. She likes to look at her hanging calendar and see the diary entries she’s made on it. It’s cute, but hard to carry around.

But anyway, Sunday is the first day of the week.

I realize this is of little comfort for those who are “allergic” to Mondays. The day still comes whether we like it or not, rain or shine, Armageddon or not. But I’ve made friends with Monday. I start the day by talking to God and asking him for a good week and opportunities. Opportunities that people will notice the smile on my face and ask how I keep such a good attitude on a Monday. That’s all the chance I need to tell them that God runs my Monday, not my job. With Christ living in me I can’t help but have a good day, and if they’d like to try it I’d be happy to introduce them.

So I look forward to Mondays because of the possibilities of the week. I can't wait to see what God has planned next.

“God, thanks for my job. It’s a gift and I enjoy it every day. And thanks for Mondays; it’s the start of another week full of opportunities to tell people at work about you.”

Under the Bridge

Robert Vallejo is an interesting man. He had a business, lots of money, a big house and a nice car. You know, the usual trappings of a secular life based on today’s standards.

Then one day God sat him down and had a little one on one. He told Robert there were a lot of people downtown living under the bridges. They need food, clothing, and salvation. Go and help them.

Robert was a changed man. He gave up his business and went downtown under one of the bridges and tried to talk to the homeless people there. They were not receptive, however, especially to someone trying to tell them about Jesus. Robert had a lot of bad stuff happen to him, but he kept going back and after a while he began to establish a relationship with them.

Today Robert is the Pastor of “Seek the Lost Ministries Church”, which is solely dedicated to helping the homeless. He has a van and a trailer to carry his Public Address system and chairs and tables. He goes downtown about 6 days a week and sets up his tables and serves a meal and gives out clothes to the poor and homeless.

Rev Vallejo has a lot of help these days. Each week a different church in town volunteers to bring the food and clothing to the “Under the Bridge Ministry” as we call it. They also provide musicians to sing praise songs and a pastor to give a sermon.

It’s an incredible ministry, one that I’ve participated in several times. Today I played drums for the band and as always, it was a spiritually uplifting event.

The first time I went I was pretty intimidated by the environment. Seeing these homeless people was a bit daunting because I didn’t know they were even there. It was squalor. The smell of urine was overwhelming.

Homeless people have very little, and what they have they keep very close so no one can steal it. Most of them wear every article of clothing they own just so they won’t lose any of it. Even in 90 degree weather some of them were wearing coats and hoodies, at the same time.

I wanted to remember this experience so I took out my camera and aimed it across the street where a group of people stood, and snapped a shot. The immediate eruption of obscenities and threats aimed back at me quickly taught me that homeless people don’t want their picture taken. I found out later it’s because some of them are wanted criminals. Needless to say, I kept my camera pointed the other way the rest of the day.

We started with the praise music. I played guitar that day and sang with 3 others. After we finished the pastor gave his sermon, and then we lined everyone up for the food.

The meal consisted of a chicken quarter, Mexican rice, refried beans, a vegetable and a fruit. The homeless folks knew the drill well and lined up. It didn’t take long to realize there was a problem though, someone didn’t bring enough chicken. The main part of the meal and we ran out almost immediately. I was scared. These people rely on this weekly meal to live and we showed up without enough food.

I thought there was going to be a riot. I was at the end of line handing out fruit and plastic utensils. I very cautiously watched everyone come through the line and had my escape route laid out in my mind in case trouble started.

The procession continued though with out incident. I was relieved. Soon we ran out of rice, then veggies, then fruit. By the time the last 10 or 15 people came through all that was left were refried beans.

As the last person came through the line he stopped to take utensils from me. All he had on his plate was a glop of refried beans. Then something happened that I’ll never forget. He looked at me and with the most sincere, humble voice I have ever heard he said “Thank you so much for this”.

I was blown away. Here this man stood with a plate of nasty, runny beans that I would have thrown in the trash, and he thanked me for it. He was truly happy and grateful to have it.

After that day I made the decision that there are no bad days in my life. I have shelter. I have food. I have a family. There are no bad days in my life.

I think we can all learn from this. Jesus was a lot like this man. This grateful, homeless, man. Christ lived on the hospitality of others. He didn’t own anything and didn’t need anything. He just wanted to teach people the Good News. He was grateful for everything he received from others and knew how to appreciate even the smallest gesture of faith and goodwill.

Wouldn’t it be great if we all had this kind of personality? It would definitely be a better world.

"God, thanks for a great day and the opportunity to witness to others. I appreciate the humbling lesson I learn each time I go under the bridge. Lord, please bless the homeless in our city. Give them shelter, and safety. Show them your incredible love and let them find salvation and solice in you. Amen."

Cha Ching!

My wife has been on a kick lately to secure our financial future. I love her enthusiasm. When she sets her mind to something she goes all out until it’s accomplished.

Financially we’re good. In fact, we’re better than a lot of people because we have no credit card debts and only two loans: the house and my car.

Oddly enough we seem to have little cash though. Part of the problem is our tax burden.

I spent 21 years in the military, and for anyone out there that doesn’t already know this, they don't pay the military jackola! Everyone wants the country protected, but no one wants to pay for it.

There are countless young military members with families that have to survive on food stamps. My hand to God that is the truth, people who are laying down their very lives for your freedoms are living on food stamps. And we pay sports stars and movie stars millions to entertain us.

And for the young troops who are still single, they get preyed on by financial institutions with promises of fast cash for cool cars and cell phones and stereos and anything else their hearts desire. They do this because they know if they can get their teeth in them while they're young and dumb they can keep them in credit card debt for many years. It’s disgusting.

Anyway, I was single for the majority of my service and filing taxes was easy. I claimed single with no dependents and got back a little bit each year.

Fast forward to the year after I got married. I was retired from the military for 2 years, and God had led me to a really great job which paid very well for the skills I had gained in the service.

At this time my daughter had moved in with me so we were a nice family. I did what I was supposed to do and claimed married with 2 dependents. My wife claimed married with zero dependents.

Well, we had a professional do our taxes and after paying all year long at a higher tax rate because of our income, we still owed $8,000.

You could hear the echo of my jaw hitting the floor a mile away. I had been welcomed into a whole new world where working hard and getting ahead is repaid by taking most of your money in taxes under the auspice of “you can afford it”.

Bull biscuits. I’ve been a low wage earner and high wage earner now and I can tell you that the tax burden put on people who have managed to do well for themselves is highly unfair.

Anyway, sorry for the tangent but I can't help but get a little Republican when I think about the tax code.

Back to my wife and her quest for Rockefeller-dom. She’s reading Dave Ramsey’s book right now, which I think will help a lot in her quest. Dave is pretty good at what he does, so I’m sure we’ll be millionaires very soon.

As for me, I only want extra money so I can do more of God’s work. I’ve learned that helping others with my money is part of my gift. We do things with our money like send kids to camp, and adults to marriage retreats. I helped our youth ministry buy a new drum set for their band and we give to several charities every month.

I thank God for what I have and I don’t take it for granted. I have what I have because God gave it to me, and actually it’s not mine, it’s His. He’s just letting me manage it, and my job is to be a good steward.

I appreciate what I have because I’ve been in a position of having nothing. Before I joined the military I remember times when I’ve walked around in roadside ditches picking up 5 cent refund cans to cash in to buy food.

But, to be in a place where you have nothing is what it takes to truly understand that everything comes from God, not from us. And I can tell you that since I’ve let God lead me, things are better in every aspect of my life. From relationships to work to finances, God has blessed my life.

I’m not saying that if you give your life to Christ you’ll suddenly have riches or a perfect family; I’m saying that if you give your life to Christ that all of those things will make sense. You will understand that all of this is temporary and what really counts is your relationship with Him. Once you and your family are focused on that, everything will just seem to fall into place. And you didn’t even have to go to Barnes and Noble to get that advice.

"May all your expectations be frustrated, may all your plans be thwarted, may all your desires be withered into nothingness. That you may experience the powerlessness and poverty of a child." Brennan Manning

“God, thank you for putting me in poverty so I would appreciate what I have now. Give me the wisdom to be a good steward and use your money wisely for your glory. Amen.”

Splash Town

Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. Did I mention there’s rain here? It’s been raining off and on every day for the past 52 days straight. No kidding. 52 days! In south Texas!!

This part of the country is very rocky. We don’t have basements because it would take a small nuclear device to blast a hole through the rock big enough to build one. The good thing about that is you don't have to worry about your house sinking. The bad thing is that water doesn’t soak into the ground; it runs along the roads creating flash floods.

I never experienced flash floods until I moved to my current house, which is close to a low water crossing. I’m not sure why they call it a low water crossing because the water is not low at all. In fact it’s very high and if you try to cross it your vehicle will instantly become a boat, and your role as the vehicle driver will suddenly change to passenger because there’s no steering after that.

The city tries to protect people from these low water crossings by blocking off the streets where they flood. They use standard saw-horse type orange and white barriers which are easily driven around. Amazingly enough, people do this. They think their car is so heavy it can’t be washed away, so they go for it. This usually turns their "low water crossing" into a“low water rescue”. Which again is a misnomer. A low water rescue sounds like you're drowning in the kiddy pool.

The water is actually very high and very powerful and very, very dangerous. Quite a few people die every year attempting to cross these mistaken fords. Fortunately though, most of them just get stranded, but it's still a problem. In fact, so many numskulls ignored the barriers last year and got stranded that the city started charging people to be rescued. No kidding.

I don’t have a problem with this. If you’re stupid enough to go plowing into a raging river with your Honda Civic which is barely bigger than a fishing bobber in the first place, you deserve to pay for the services of our emergency workers to come and save you. There are real emergencies out there they need to attend to. Taking time to fish you out of a ditch puts other people’s lives in danger.

Anyway, it must be 5:00 PM because it’s raining again. I don’t know why it picks rush hour to do this. People have a hard enough time getting home at this hour without the roadways becoming a giant slip-n-slide.

Oh well… it’s off to brave the elements I go. Wish me luck!

“God, protect those out in the storm. Keep our emergency workers safe as they try their best to save others from harm. Oh, and thank you for the rain. I always look forward to your rainbows afterward”.

"stuff"

Every Wednesday I wake very early and go to the local Jim’s Restaurant to have breakfast with my best friend, Steve. We’ve known each other for 20 years and have been through thick and thin together. He’s a powerful Christian now and an inspiration to me.

This morning we’re eating and discussing various topics such as the Spurs, our jobs, and life in general when suddenly my wife calls to tell me we’ve been robbed. Yes, robbed.

Apparently the garage door was left open all night and someone came in and helped themselves to my tools.

Of course I was stunned. We live in a nice neighborhood. This kind of stuff isn’t supposed to happen in nice neighborhoods, right?

It never ceases to amaze me how bad people can be. What kind of person cruises a neighborhood looking for opportunities like this, and then have the guts to enter someone’s home and take their stuff?

I was mad at first. I don’t understand why these people can’t just get a job and buy the stuff themselves!?

I went home and inventoried everything. They took the top half of a large tool chest that housed screw drivers and other miscellaneous stuff. They also grabbed a very nice kit of Craftsman sockets and wrenches.

Surprisingly that seems to be all they got.There isn’t enough room in between the garage wall and my wife’s Vitara to take anything bigger. They also didn’t go through the cabinets and drawers. The nice police officer, M. Ramos, who came by earlier to take a statement said she’d seen the contents of an entire garage stolen before.

We were lucky. It could've been bad. Especially if you consider the fact that these people were in my garage and could have come into the house last night while we were sleeping. It could have been very bad.

I believe there are lessons to be learned in everything that happens in life. God teaches in a lot of ways, but he always teaches. One of the lessons today is that there is no such thing as a “no crime” neighborhood, only less crime. Also, close the stupid garage door!

The main lesson though is that the things we have here on Earth can go away as quickly as we buy them. As tangible as we feel our stuff is, it isn’t. What matters are the treasures we store in heaven, and even as I sat in the restaurant after hearing my home had been violated I stopped and prayed with Steve and asked God to forgive the thieves and work in their lives so they might find Him.

I hope they enjoy the tools.

“God, there are a lot people here that need you. People who take because they don’t know how to give, and because no one has ever done anything nice for them. Please work in their lives so they will have a chance to encounter you. Amen”.