Philosophers, Vagabonds and Men who Have Stolen my Heart

I met all of the above today at my first day of community service in the clinic at the homeless shelter. The first man I met, Gerry, has no real interest in sobriety but kept me laughing the whole time I washed and cared for his feet. (He also refuses to shave his sideburns because he thinks they make him look like Elvis.) He kissed me on the cheek after I prayed with him.

Although Willie (the second man I met this morning) got his footcare from Jessica, I spent some time talking with him while everyone else was busy running around. He is quite the thinker and shared some of his philosophies with me about how we hurry too much and how everyone is made in God's image and how "life is a lesson and a blessing." He is busy immersing himself in the Old Testament to gain knowledge from it. He hugged all of us after we prayed with him.

Neither of these men--nor any of the rest I met today--smelled very good. Very few of them had anything of earthly value to share with me, and yet they have genuinely stolen my heart. I really do love them although they probably won't change their self-destructive ways or even shower on a regular basis.

How is this possible? I have no idea, but I'm gonna keep on lovin' it. These guys make my time here in Oakland mean something, and I owe them for it.

Dude, don't you know I'm loco?!

Greetings from California! I am adjusting to life on the West Coast (as well as a bunch of other stuff).

I am also adjusting to my roommates, who are great. I'll give you the short, reader's digest descriptions of each of them.

Emily and I share a room. She is a 25-year-old from a small town in Minnesota. She has the cutest accent sometimes, and she says fun words like "pop." She graduated from college with a Bible major in May.

Meredith is our team leader. She is 24 and from Virginia Beach (yes, people actually ask her if that is in Virginia). She is our team leader and just graduated with her Masters in Sociology. She is a very staunch democrat and loathes Dubya.

Noel will be 22 in December; guess which date her birthday falls on. She is pursuing an art degree and has done a great job helping us make our little apartment look like a home. She is from Wisconsin, loves to cook and makes some killer hummus.

Kristi is the youngest of us at 18. She shaved her head right before she came, so we'll get the privilege of watching her hair grow out this year. She is from Pennsylvania and is still deciding what she wants to be when she grows up.

Our neighborhood is pretty racially diverse and actually has a lot of Hispanics. Many of the people living in our apartment complex speak only Spanish, so we are scrambling to learn/remember what we were taught in high school (only to forget right after the test). Ironically, we are the only team here without a member fluent in Spanish. That God is a funny guy!

I start my community service sites next week. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I will be at a clinic housed in a homeless shelter. I will be dispensing OTC meds, taking blood pressure, giving flu shots and--most importantly--washing and caring for homeless people's feet.

On Wednesdays and Fridays I will be at a local elementary school, and will hopefully be tutoring and mentoring a few kids there.

So that's my short report for now. Sorry it's not longer or more in-depth; I think my IQ has dropped since I moved to a state governed by the Terminator.

Please continue to pray for my team as we strive to serve God in the city. Pray that we may be bold and that our neighbors may be receptive to us.

And gosh darnit, send me an email sometime, I love to get 'em! (And if you're privileged enough to see my pictures--and are missing them in Princeton or otherwise--email me and I'll send you a link to our team picture.)