Helping - One Person at a Time

One Tuesday morning, early February, just as Pastor Joel was getting his feet wet at Anaheim CRC, I sat down with him and reviewed some of the procedures the council has followed in the past few years. As we finished our hour together, I stepped out of the pastor’s office and there in front of us was a man asking for assistance. Pastor Joel had another appointment so he asked me to see if I could help. This was the first time I met Manouch.
We talked and he shared with me that he was Iranian, had converted to Christianity and then had been disowned by his people. He was in a difficult situation because he had lost his job, had run out of money, and now had no money for gasoline for his car and hadn’t eaten for three days. I spent some time with him to get him some basic medical attention, food and gas for his car. Having taken care of the immediate need I told him to return on Sunday and our deacons would see how they could assist.
In the coming weeks, Manouch came to worship on Sundays, attended the Wednesday Men’s Group, and received basic assistance from the deacons, but he was getting more concerned. He was evicted from the house where he was renting a room, he still had no job, and he saw no way to turn things around.
Then one Sunday, Manouch told me he had a job interview on Wednesday in La Jolla, but now his car wasn’t running. We sat down with one of our deacons and worked out a way to get his car repaired. Through the new week, I assisted and encouraged him. Finally, on Thursday morning, his car was finally road worthy and running. Off he went to La Jolla.
Two weeks later, I saw Manouch at church and he told me that things had started to turn around for him. He was working part time in La Jolla and was so thankful for all the assistance that Anaheim CRC had provided.
And then on May 17, Manouch was at worship again and was able for stay for the potluck. He was looking better than ever. He was now working 40 to 48 hours a week at the Hyatt hotel in La Jolla and they were providing him a room during the week. On weekends he comes back to Orange county. Smiling, with tears in his eyes he said to me, "You saved my life." I told him, "No, Jesus saved your life." His response, "OK, you and Jesus saved my life."

He wasn't the only one that had tears in his eyes.

Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that this nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Memorial Day always bring to my mind the loss of Don Lindeman. After serving in Vietnam he came back a different man. He and Teri stayed with Eva and me and it was obvious he was troubled. But we overlooked the signs of his internal struggles until he attempted suicide. We convinced him to enter the VA hospital for help but they failed him. He hanged himself while a patient at the West Los Angeles VA hospital in 1971. And I failed him. I shied away from looking for a way to help him with the demons that haunted him.

Four weeks ago, I stopped by Eric and Danah’s in San Juan Capistrano. I brought Danah her father’s Army uniform that had been hanging in my closet all these years.

If You Can Read This, Thank a Teacher!

I admire teachers! It is a joy dealing with a teacher who knows her/his business and who brings excitement to the art of teaching. In the past week I reflected on this at least three times.

1. Last Saturday, at The Tree of Life Nursery in San Juan Capistrano, a talk about landscape design was given by Pat Overby of Fullerton. She's knows design, she knows plants, and she knows how to communicate.

2. Wednesday morning I tried to reach Eva at school for some critical information. The secretary rang Eva's room, but no answer. Then she decided to page her. Finally, Eva picked up the phone to see what the office needed that warranted an interruption of her class. As the secretary connected me to Eva, the secretary said to me, "She is so funny! When I asked here where she had been and why she didn't pick up the telephone when it rang, she emphatically stated, 'I WAS TEACHING'.

3. Wednesday night at the church Men's Group, Norm Kredit continued leading the study of the last book in the Bible - Revelation. Norm has the gift of tying many parts of scripture together with the text being studied and is able to sketch on the white board to crystalize some of his points.

It is a reminder to me that each of us is skilled in a number of areas and when we are allowed to teach in our area of interest, there is a double blessing - a blessing to the teacher as well as to the learner.

Goodby, "good good Dad"

Alex was a brilliant rocket scientist with The Aerospace Corporation for 38 years. On Saturday, during a game of tennis, he died suddenly of a massive heart attack. His wife Betty was librarian at Star View Elementary school where Eva teaches. They have two daughters, Jennifer and Allison.

This afternoon, Eva and I attended the “celebration of life” event at Los Caballaros Racquet and Sport Club in Fountain Valley. Eva has worked with Betty for the past 15 years and their daughter, Allison, was a student teacher in Eva’s class one year. We had also attended a couple of parties at their home in Huntington Harbour.

It is always sobering when an unexpected death occurs. But it was good to hear remembrances of Alex from his daughters – “good good Dad” was a phrase they often used in reference to him. There were many other remembrances offered, and they were touching too, but after awhile it’s enough public comment and time to let the guests just mingle and talk to whom they will.

When someone you know, who is close to the your age, whose career and family has similarities to your own, dies suddenly, questions arise - "When will I die?", "What will my daughters say at my funeral?", "Will the funeral go on and on?".

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven; a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot."

So tomorrow I'm going to Tree of Life nursery in San Jan Capistrano to attend a talk on landscaping with California native plants. It's time to change my front yard to be more drought tolerant.

Focus and Revelation

Wednesday evening I attended a focus group for SCR. SCR is interested in surveying their patrons as to why they attend the theatre and what, if any, changes are desired.

Events like this really appeal to me because: 1. I bump into people that I normally would not encounter. 2. Free food 3. A reward for attending (in this case: two free tickets to any SCR production).

This focus session did cause me to miss the Men's Group meeting at church where Norm is leading a study of "Revelation". My experience tonight was a revelation of a different sort.

Stand By Me!

Monday and Tuesday of last week I participated in the Dance of Racial Reconciliation – racial reconciliation training encouraged for all pastors and church leaders in the Christian Reformed Church. It was valuable but seemed to lean too heavily on a cognitive approach.

I car-pooled both days with Bonnie, Fernando and Miriam - staff members at Rosewood church. And on the way home Tuesday, we shifted to an alternate way of learning as each of us took the time to share our story of faith. There are many ways to learn and often unexpected ways trump traditional approaches.

This morning I heard a terrific segment on NPR – “Playing for Change”. Watch this and feel the power of music bringing people together.