For Those With Ears - Entries tagged "Getting Out There"
WedWednesdayNovNovember2nd2011
Barrie Out Of My Comfort Zone
We were walking by Barrie’s beautiful waterfront the other night. As we passed a car my brother-in-law remarked that it looked like someone was living in it. That could very well be true and is probably better than sleeping on the street. That is why we still have an Out Of The Cold program in Barrie! The Barrie Out of the Cold program (B.O.O.T.C.) aims to provide an alternative to sleeping out in the cold.
The Mission: Barrie Out of the Cold provides safe, respectful and welcoming overnight accommodation and meals to the homeless from November to April.
The web site says: “The guests who come to our shelters may look a little unkempt at times and initially may not seem very approachable. Living on the street does not give them the benefit of a daily shower. A few have physical and mental health problems. Nearly all lack the support of family and friends and are desperately in need of a friendly smile and a helping hand.”
As a volunteer of B.O.O.T.C. you soon become more familiar with the guests and you realize that circumstances and lack of support have brought them to the program. The desire to help soon overtakes the initial uncertainty of dealing with people who may present as a little different. If you decide to volunteer to help this program, you will be joining over 1000 volunteers, who, after training, work together in the different church locations to help someone in their time of need. The guests often tell volunteers that this program has been a "lifeline" for them.
Volunteers work together in teams. Each team works once every four weeks. Volunteers commit to working on one or more shifts, six times or more from November to April.
Many volunteers return to help out with this program year after year, but there is attrition so please check the current vacancies chart, which indicates where they need to fill positions.
APPLY ON-LINE NOW
Telephone: (705) 331-1396
Men are urgently needed for all four shifts.
Women are needed for the 8 -11 p.m., overnight and early morning shifts.
Barrie Out of the Cold 2011-12 season begins on November 12, 2011.
You are encouraged to apply stating your preference as they do have a spares program. Spares within the program will be given the first opportunity to move to a regular team as and when vacancies occur.
This is one area where you can make a practical difference!
TueTuesdayNovNovember9th2010
Remembrance Day
It
is always fun to hear about an act of kindness that is well-planned and
carried out with military precision. It’s even more fun to be part of
one! A coordinated attack on someone’s lawn to rid it of enemy leaves
is one some of our small groups took on recently. It’s dangerous, but
please try it at home anyway!
We are planning another kind of strike of love. We want to run a
coordinated operation to establish a beachhead of gratitude among our
veterans. On Remembrance Day we want to stand with them to remember the
fallen. We want to remember and thank God for their sacrifice and our
freedom. We want to say thank you with our presence.
Then
we want to make it tangible by going into their midst and handing out
200 Tim cards. We won’t touch all our veterans but we will touch some.
We hope that as we affirm their service on our behalf they will be
encouraged and sense our gratefulness. You can be part of this planned
act of kindness.
to sign up for “Operation Remembrance Day!”
Roger
WedWednesdayNovNovember3rd2010
Operation Remembrance Day
Recently
I was given a Timmies gift card in appreciation of some small thing I
had done. Each time I use it I am reminded of the gratitude it
expresses. Sometimes when I pick up a coffee all by myself I think I am
really trying to recapture the feeling of community and friendship that
often comes over sharing a coffee. Funny how we call it that; we don’t
actually share the coffee! We share friendship while we each drink our
own. Drinking the same coffee would just be creepy!
While this is not a commercial, we do want to share a Timmies with some
men and women. We want to express appreciation and extend our sense of
community to them by giving them a Tim card. Who are they? They are
the veterans who have served our country and us. On Remembrance Day we
want to stand with them to remember the fallen. We want to remember and
thank God for their sacrifice and our freedom. We want to say thank
you with our presence.
Then
we want to make it tangible by going into their midst and handing out
200 cards. We won’t touch all of our veterans, but we will touch some.
And we hope they can have a sense of friendship, community and our
gratitude while they share a coffee with a friend. You can be part of
this precision strike of love!
to sign up for “Operation Remembrance Day”.
Roger
WedWednesdayOctOctober20th2010
Words I can’t say or spell but know well!
Recently I came across a couple of words that intrigued me. I wouldn’t
know how to spell them if I heard them and if I saw them I wouldn’t know
how to say them. But I realized I know them well. Too well,
actually! Here is one of them:
"acedia" – 1. Sloth 2. Laziness or indifference in religious matters.
It's an ancient term signifying profound indifference and inability to
care about things that matter, even to the extent that you no longer
care that you can't care.
In a modern form it is known as “compassion fatigue”. It is seen when
charities trying to help people through one crisis after another
suddenly find people are “tapped out” and no longer responding to the
call. It certainly is not due to lack of resources but rather to a lack
of will.
Kathleen Norris in her latest book, “Acedia and me”, says, “If the
Christian church has made too much of the vice of pride, which seduces
us into thinking too highly of ourselves, it has not made enough of
sloth, which allows us to settle for being less than we can be, both as
individuals and a society”.
When I think about how this affects me personally, I realize that I can
at least have this tendency if not the full-blown attitude. It is easy
to fall into the trap of thinking, “I do enough, I give enough, I care
enough!” I’m not out to save the world on my own but if I begin to
think that I can’t make a difference or simply fail to put my hand to
something that does make a difference, I think I’ve crossed a line.
Thinking this way drives me to hard decisions. What will I give myself
to? This year Margaret and I have again committed to serving with Barrie Out Of The Cold. We need a few
more people for our shift and there are holes to fill everywhere. It
really isn’t much, but it is something. It fights “acedia” in me and
that alone makes it a worthwhile effort! Would you consider joining an
effort to make a difference somewhere?
Roger
ThuThursdaySepSeptember23rd2010
Moms Who Care
One of the things
we are praying for as a church is that we would have a vibrant faith
that impacts our communities. So much of that impact begins with
waiting on God in prayer. It needs to continue to be bathed in prayer
and finds expression in countless ways. Here is one of them, from
Tammy Hodgson:
Many
years ago I sat in the chapel during mission week at the Bible college I
attended and heard the speaker challenge those present to get on their
knees and ask God if he was calling them to a life of full time ministry
in the mission field. The popular joke or plea, depending how you saw
it, regarding missionary work among the student population was, “Please
God, don’t send me to Africa!” Fifteen plus years later, God has taught
me that we are all on mission, regardless of our address or demographic
and that it is God who determines where our individual mission fields
are.
My
oldest was entering grade two when I was called to a particular mission
field. A fellow mom asked if I would be interested in joining a prayer
group that had begun meeting weekly to pray specifically for our
community school. I had heard of such groups before and was eager to
meet other Christian families that attended our school. Our Moms Who Care
prayer group is now entering its fourth year. The common thread
binding a diverse collection of women from different churches and
backgrounds: a calling from God to pray and serve a school community
made up of over a thousand families.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” Matthew 5:14
I
could recount for pages the ways God has answered prayers for students,
families and school staff that have come before our group. We have
regular outreach events for the staff—hot lunch, sometimes a
welcome-back goody bag, or, a particular favourite of mine, individual
hand-written letters of encouragement to 60 teachers, letting them know
that they are cared for and prayed for.
I
cannot, though, recollect the numbers of tears shed around the table as
we have prayed for overwhelming family situations, rooted in a sinful
world that has no knowledge of the love of its Creator and Lord. Week to
week, we pray earnestly for our own children, that God would give them
boldness to set themselves apart for his glory. We pray God would give
each teacher a moral compass as they choose which books or movies to
present before the impressionable minds they have been entrusted with.
We pray for a school board made up of elected officials that make
decisions which do impact our children’s social and learning
environments. Prayer does not seem optional in the face of all that does
it?
A
favoured passage within our group conjures up the picture of God giving
over the City of Jericho with its impenetrable walls to the Israelites.
“And the LORD said to Joshua, 'See, I have given Jericho into your hand,
with its king and mighty men of valour.'” Joshua 6:2
Hope
rings loud when you are within a circle of Christ-followers with arms
lifted high in worship, adoration and prayer. The inspired Word says,
“Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they
ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or
three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." Matthew 18:19-20.
Just
as God continues to share his heart with our group, and the hundreds of
others that meet across Canada praying for an estimated 2000 schools,
he has placed on my heart his desire for groups such as ours and
individuals alike to gather together to commit this 2010/11 school year
to his purpose. Come join us on September 30 at 7:30 p.m. at Mapleview Community Church for an evening of prayer and connection.
Those interested in joining or initiating a prayer group will have the
opportunity to hear from a number of local Moms Who Care prayer groups
and become equipped to serve. If you have any questions, please email hodgson4@sympatico.ca or call Tammy at 726-0439.
Then
he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers
are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out
labourers into his harvest." Matthew 9:37-38
There
you have it! A call to prayer and action. Pray for Tammy, and the
many groups impacting schools and the communities they serve. Pray for
great encouragement as they seek God together. Pray for more moms to
join and for their faith to be strengthened. Thank you for praying!Roger
© Harvest Bible Chapel - Barrie