JOIN ME: Caring for Chicago's homeless

In the last month I have encountered quite a few homeless people in our lovely city.  I have interacted with them, and in the way that only God can do, I have come to love them as I pray for their safety and salvation.  I have also felt overwhelmingly that I must do more.  I hope that you too feel this desire and will join me in reaching out to the homeless of Chicago!

This began with a man that lives in my neighborhood.  He has a significant hunch and only walks around at night.  He doesn’t ask for anything, nor does he bother anyone.  I stopped to talk to him once and I was heartbroken by the look in his eye.  It was a look you can’t forget, it’s was a questioning look that almost said, “Why, why would you bother to talk to me?”  We co-existed for quite some time and I didn’t bother to do anything to make his life any better, and I regret that.  He went missing in late November during a frigid cold front, his cart and jacket were abandoned under the Metra tracks and he was nowhere to be found.  I checked with the local shelters and he was not there, I called the police, they thought I was crazy but he was also not there.  I knew nothing more to do but ask my neighbors and pray for him.  Through this process, I learned more about him.  He is a strong believer in Jesus Christ and he does talk to people, just not me.  He shares his faith with the bartenders down the street, and he showed up again a few nights ago after being gone for nearly a month. 

So now I come to the question that often gets asked and I frequently ask myself.  If I were to find him, what would I do?  I must do something; Christ calls me to do something!  The most tangible way I can think to help this man and others is to buy him a sleeping bag and a bible.  He will be both warm and be enabled to spread the gospel.  God is using this man in the midst of his suffering and my hope is that in some way together we can be a blessing to him.

The next man that I ran across was Robert, he is a streetwise vendor and he lives over by the Southport corridor where I work.  My coworkers and I were at Starbucks one morning, and the coffee was purchased by lululemon for those who came in.  I went outside to talk to Robert and give him a cup of coffee.  He was such a jovial man, and was so incredibly shocked and thankful for a simple cup of coffee.  The cup of coffee that we all have daily and take for granted was a blessing to his life.

A few days before Christmas I was driving on Damen and I was stopped at a light when a man walked up to my window.  I was surprised to see that he looked to be my age or even younger.  I didn’t have any cash in my car and I searched for something to give him as we talked.  He told me it was ok, that Jesus loved me!  I was able to find a single dollar but I just wish there was something more I could have done!

The final story I have for you really hit me hard, and I’m going to have a hard time going back to a BP gas station and I will run my car completely out of gas before I will return to the station on Orleans.  I was pumping gas on Christmas Eve and a man walked over towards me, and he wasn’t begging and he wasn’t a bother.  I’m not entirely sure how we got where we did but I asked him if I could go inside and buy him a meal.  It was 13 degrees outside and he came inside with me and we stood in line talking.  He was really a sweet man.  The manager of the BP approached him and raised his voice and told him to get out and that he couldn’t have any food.  I interjected telling the manager that he was with me and I had offered to buy him the food and it was my choice not his request.  The manager began to argue with me and continued to yell at the man.  I continued to insist that I was going to buy this man a meal.  The manager let out one final scream banning the man from the store and stormed off.  The man embarrassed asked if it was ok if he waited outside.  The man in front of me overheard this exchange and also bought the man a meal and asked me to give it to him.  What I don’t understand is how anyone can treat someone like they are so insignificant, like they are so worthless. 

We have a large homeless population in the city of Chicago and it is easy to see them and think that there is nothing that can be done and that there is no way that we can have an impact but that just isn’t the case.  We can have an impact simply by taking the time to notice people, by buying them a meal or by doing more.  I feel the need to do more.  The winter has just started and it has been one of the coldest winters that I remember in a long time.  This cold puts the city’s homeless population at great risk of death.  We can make a difference by providing warmth to these individuals.  The most tangible way to do this is to provide a sleeping bag. I found sleeping bags for $23, that isn’t very much to potentially save a life.  But we can’t stop there, it is also important to take care of their spiritual needs.  With each sleeping bag there will be a bible, at a cost of $3.75 each.  I’m trusting God big here and I’m expecting to raise enough money to purchase and distribute at least 20 sleeping bags and bibles.   

So here’s where you come in…

Pray that God would take care of our city’s homeless population, and use them to build His kingdom!

Contribute to the purchase of sleeping bags and bibles.  It will cost about $30 per care package.  The best way I can figure out how to do this is through chase quick pay or PayPal.  My email is camilleandress@gmail.com - write Sleeping Bags & Bibles in the memo line.  If you want to go about this another way, feel free to send me an email and we can figure it all out!

Join me in distributing the sleeping bags and bibles and showing the homeless that they are not forgotten and that they are loved.

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Thank you my friends for reading, praying and joining me in showing the love of Christ to those in need. 

LOCKDOWN

On Monday night, April 8^th, 2013 I was sitting in Crisis Counseling of all places and the lockdown alarm went off at school.  A faint voice came out of the phone intercom system in our classroom, and until it said, “this is not a drill” the majority of the class believed that our professor was profoundly creative and had devised the best possible teaching experience. 

As the next few second unfolded, the lights were turned off, the door was locked and we were silently sitting against the wall.  It was a bit reminiscent of the drills that we went through as small children, sitting silently in a line in our elementary school hallway.  But this in fact was real.  I found myself sitting on the floor, legs tucked tight, shaking.  My body had kicked in, and while I still felt reasonably calm, my body was exhibiting a true stress reaction. 

We quickly learned that there were 4 gunmen on campus.  In the form of a true crisis, the information that we were receiving was incomplete and inconsistent.  At the direction and in the wisdom of our professor we began to pray as a group. 

In those moments of prayer, God did a very very cool thing!  As I was praying for safety and wisdom for our faculty, leadership, police, and the silly silly men with guns God spoke directly to my heart.  He told me, this….now this was not in audible words but you know how it works.  You hear things in your heart and you just know they are God.  “You are my child and I love you, I will protect you.  I have brought you through rape, the death of Matt and many other traumas.  I HAVE HEALED YOU, I will continue to heal you!  No matter what happens I am in control and I will bring you through this.  I am sovereign!” 

In that moment, I had peace.  In a moment where I should have by all human standards been a mess, I was at peace.  I am thankful for that peace, I am thankful for the provision of God and for the healing of God.  In moments where I think that I have so much further to go in my healing, and I trust that God has a great deal more healing planned, wow what a long ways God has brought me!  I find myself grateful and humbled and very excited for what God has in store, the healing he has yet to complete in my life! 

My role is simply to open myself up and allow him to work, we all have areas in our lives where we shut God out, and choose to try to make it all on our own.  I can’t fathom why any of us choose to try to do this life in our own strength – but we all do in one way or another – my challenge to you in to figure out what that area is and surrender.  God is good and he is faithful!

Oh yea…cliffhanger…it ended up actually being one guy with a gun, the other 2 were captured very quickly and the final guy was captured almost 2 hours later.  SO, the lesson from that is, until you know without a shadow of a doubt that the worst possible thing is actually happening, you may as well assume it’s not within the realm of safety!  Everyone is safe and sound and God is good!!!

Lessons from the Mountain

I started snowboarding longer ago than I’d like to admit.  Mostly because I still suck!  A few pretty intense injuries have caused me to board with some degree of fear.  I love turning toe side but whenever I turn heel side I tend to put on the brakes, the fear has created a habit that is both exhausting and rips the fun out of the sport. 

I was just in Breckenridge with a group of friends.  One of them was watching me and made an observation, she told me that I kept putting on the brakes.  I knew this, but I was not really doing anything about it.  She encouraged me to make wide turns and stop putting on the breaks.  Sounded easy enough, so I figured why not give it a try.  A few words of another friend also came to mind as I was trying this out, “You’re not actually going that fast”.  I began working my way down the mountain repeating to myself, “you’re not really going that fast” and “don’t you dare put on the breaks” I was improving, and more importantly I was having fun!

Is this not what we do in our everyday lives? Have past injuries not created similar bad habits? My bad habits have in similar ways held me back in my everyday life; my fear has caused me to freeze.  I have fallen into the same rut of braking whenever I find myself in that familiar moment of fear.  Well folks, I’m done with it!  The mantra of the mountain stands true, you’re not going that fast, and don’t you dare put on the brakes!  Life is far more enjoyable if you step out of fear and choose to live, I trust that God will lead me and won’t allow me to go too fast, he will be my brakes.  I don’t believe this means that life will be easy, but I trust that God will catch me when I fall; he is just like the soft and forgiving powder!