A City of Compassion

Many of you are aware of the homeless battle going on in my community.  Since the common council voted down the proposal we brought before them, many things have happened.

You see this began a year ago with a phone call from my mother about a news story in the Milwaukee area.  I saw the idea as a way for our community to help others and proposed it to our senior pastor.  His one comment was, “I’d rather be a community of compassion than a church of compassion.”  And so I went to the city for their approval.

Success is measured many ways by many people.  After our six week plan was completed, we felt success.  And I thought we were done.  Our local homeless organization would probably have a permanent place by next winter, and we’d done what we felt we were “called” to do.

As time passed, we realized that there would be no solution for this winter.  My local church board approved my job to be that of organizing something for this winter in the community, provided the mayor was on board…they wanted “the king’s favor.”  We got it, found out the process, and started working on a plan.

After losing the request we’d submitted, I thought I was done.  Yet, I told my senior pastor that I knew it wasn’t done…didn’t know any more than that…but it wasn’t done.  Then the comments to the newspaper started coming in.  The anger and hatred that were hurled on line were unsettling.  Phone calls and emails to me became intimidating.  I was so done with this and had moved on…but I knew it wasn’t done.  I wanted it over with, but the comments kept being made.

Then an editorial and then another article.  Letters to the editor started, and more comments.  Then I started getting phone calls and emails from people with solutions to the problem.  A businessman willing to give us space for the cost of heat…churches asking if we couldn’t use their location…an idea for an already empty building as a permanent shelter. 

Again I went to the mayor and said that we might be able to solve the problem, but she would need to cut through the red tape of city hall, because the red tape meant that we couldn’t make anything happen until February.  That’s where we’re at today…waiting on the city staff to figure out a way to make one of these offers work in a timely manner.

But the biggest thing that happened through all of this is that we’ve learned that our community is one of compassion.  Most of the voices speaking out about the subject have been in favor of the project.  Many have said, “You can move into my backyard.”  Donations have started to come in.  Awareness has been created.  And I believe the words will become actions.  As I said to the council members who voted ‘yes,’ “any time a community is moved to act in justice for those less fortunate, it speaks volumes about that community.”  I believe Wisconsin Rapids is a community of compassion.

Victory in Loss

Many have contacted me since our common council voted down our proposal for a homeless plan for this winter.  People who were neutral have become enraged and supportive of the efforts.  Is that a bad thing?

Our local organization which has been working on a permanent solution to the homeless problem is quickly gaining momentum and support in a community which sometimes shunned and criticized them.  Can they have hope that their next attempt to open a home for the needy will be better received?

There appears to be a level of guilt in those opposing the plan as they wonder where to send dollars to help the homeless this winter.  Can that guilt generate enough money to make a difference?

When people ask me how I feel about all my hard work being for naught, I'm ok with it.  Nothing is in vain when it's what God has called us to do.  I find myself comforting others more than I need comforting. 

What have I gained? 

• I've been given the gift of deeper faith...the faith of Elijah to call down fire from heaven.  I know it sounds crazy because I didn't get what I'd set out for, but faith in something doesn't mean it's going to turn out how I expect or hope.
• I've learned that even as I age and tire more easily...God provides strength (maybe only "enough") to do what He's asking me to do. 
• That even when it appears we've "lost" a battle, God is still in control and will come out more victorious than we ever imagine!

Thank you everyone for your support and prayers.  Just watch and see what God has planned for this. . . .

The Agony of Decision

The churches in my community are working together to try to help the homeless again this winter.  We did it for six weeks last winter and when there was no plan for the community this year, we felt led to do the same this year, only for close to six months. 

We are working with the city this year to try to get a conditional use permit for one location, and have faced obvious opposition...does anyone want a shelter in their neighborhood? 

The public hearing was held Monday (see article.)  I wasn't surprised at the protests...they were even more vocal at the informational meeting we held two weeks earlier.  The surprise to me was the agony on the faces of the commission about the decision to recommend the proposal or not.  You see, they were in a no-win situation.  How do you say "no, we won't help the homeless," without coming across as cold and callous.  Then again, how do you ignore the very people who pay the taxes to keep the community functioning? 

It was a very difficult decision for them, and because we have told them our fix is temporary until someone else steps up with a permanent solution, they recommended the proposal for this winter only.

Now the Common Council will have to make a decision on their recommendation.  The neighbors have forced a 3/4 vote vs. a simple majority vote.  But I don't know that it is a bad thing.  This is a tough decision for our community, and it merits strong support.

And I believe we should all be agonizing over this issue.  What is the best solution to the problem...how do we keep people feeling safe in their own homes...how do we care for the needy?   I'm proud to live in a community where God's people are willing to do what He has called them to do (Matt. 25) and the residents agonize over the situation of people less fortunate.

Crabby Old Man

Though there are many stories behind the origins of this poem, I enjoyed it when I ran across it today.  Maybe it's because of my Sunday afternoon services...maybe because I'm just getting older.

Crabby Old Man

What do you see nurses?
What do you see?
What are you thinking
when you're looking at me?

A crabby old man,
not very wise,
Uncertain of habit
with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles his food
and makes no reply.

When you say in a loud voice
'I do wish you'd try!'
Who seems not to notice
the things that you do.
And forever is losing
A sock or shoe?

Who, resisting or not
lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding
The long day to fill.
Is that what you're thinking?
Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse
you're not looking at me.

I'll tell you who I am
As I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding
as I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of Ten
with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters
who love one another.

A young boy of Sixteen
with wings on his feet;
Dreaming that soon now
a lover he'll meet.
A groom soon at Twenty
my heart gives a leap.
Remembering the vows
that I promised to keep.

At Twenty-Five now
I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide
And a secure happy home.
A man of Thirty
My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other
With ties that should last.

At Forty, my young sons
have grown and are gone,
But my woman's beside me
to see I don't mourn.
At Fifty, once more,
Babies play 'round my knee,
Again, we know children
My loved one and me. ?

Dark days are upon me
My wife is now dead.
I look at the future
I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing
young of their own.
And I think of the years
And the love that I've known.

I'm now an old man
and nature is cruel.
Tis jest to make old age
look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles
grace and vigor, depart.
There is now a stone
where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass
A young guy still dwells,
And now and again
my battered heart swells
I remember the joys
I remember the pain.
And I'm loving and living
life over again.

I think of the years
all too few gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact
that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people
open and see
Not a crabby old man.
Look closer see ME!!