better

in a vase than in the hand: this beauty hurts. 

hello.

when we as a community pray 24-7, something in this neighborhood opens up. people walk out of the darkness and into the light. every time. and it could just be me, but it seems like right before we pray continuously, our old foe the devil attacks. 

so david is drinking, and on the streets.

joe brought to us a woman who has been drinking since she was nine years old. brooke and chip brought her to the hospital because she was so severely intoxicated, then picked her up early the next morning, brought her back to the boiler room, made a bed for her on the couch, and called and called until they found a spot for her at turning point. and when brooke went to her apartment for a minute, heather left.

and joe, who relapsed a while ago after living sober at the sbr for four months, joe detoxed at the boiler room for three long days this week, then found out there are no beds at mission bible training center in the u.p., which is where marvin and don are, and promptly found his drinking buddies around the corner. 

so a man was heard screaming early this morning as he was being attacked in the alley behind the garage.

and satan offered joe, who has stopped drinking, a beer, and wouldn't take no for an answer.

danmike (not his real name) has been stumbling around this week on narcotics for a very painful infection in his mouth. and

chip blew out his knee last night playing softball and cannot walk.

and our neighbor threw a rock at his friend's head this evening because he wouldn't drink with him, drawing much blood and several police cars to our street.

but. 

there is danmike ( ) fearlessly running into the thick of a fight in order to rescue someone, then taking  him to the emergency room and staying with him until he was settled.

there is someone at the sbr holding towels to the head wound to stop the bleeding, and april cleaning it all up.

and danmike (   ) getting an appointment with an oral surgeon and someone putting $200. in an envelope to help pay for it.

and not fifteen minutes after someone prayed that God would bring back his lost sheep, david walked through the doors of the prayer room to pray.

and out my kitchen window i saw dear bill boynton, just back from uganda, talking to the guys who missed him so while he was away.

and ::get ready:: joe came back. he wept. joe surrendered to the goodness of God that covers over everything and that has a better plan for his life than he does. and he chose life. and if you knew joe like we do, this willingness to submit to God is a miracle. i was standing in the bathroom and it hit me: satan doesn't want me to stop drinking; he wants me to hate God, and something in me clicked: i'm not gonna let him win. 

which reminds me:  Christis nike. 

which is beautiful.

::jenn::

 

Comments

[april]

these two 24/7 weeks are going to rock things around....I feel it coming already.

[joel v]

love and miss you all... prayer continues even while on vacation in the north country