The Block Party

This has been an unbelievable week. Writing a blog about it will be nearly impossible. You'll have to compare the stories in Mark Jensen's blog with mine, because we've lived the last 3 + days together with some huge "God sighting" moments, … seeing Him building with some incredible "living stones."The train ride included meeting Rob, Bob and Jason, with whom I had dinner and laughed so hard my stomach hurt; as well as Frank "Buff Phoon" Bunton, the Christian clown and "balloon artist." It was quite a ride.

But today was a real highlight! Today, Joe (Big Hop) Hopson (aka; Big Joe 3:16) hosted a block party, and he didn't even know he was gonna do it. He didn't plan it, he didn't buy any food for it, he actually didn't do anything but sit in his wheel chair on the porch of his FEMA trailer while a team from Fairmont, Minnesota finished re-roofing his hurricane and flood damaged home in Slidell, Louisiana.














This team worked on Joe's house all week to bring hope and help to one of hundred's of thousands lives, ... by rebuilding one of thousands of homes ... in one of hundred's of neighborhoods that were devastated by Hurricane Katrina last August. There were 2 crews in this neighborhood working on re-roofing homes and our plan was to visit these teams and encourage them with a hot-dog feed.

Right at 12:00 noon, Mark Jensen and I rolled up to Big Joe 3:16's house in Mark's pick-up with a gas grill tied in the back and a cooler with 100 hot-dogs, buns, and all the normal "hot dog fixin's." As the grill got going, we started playing Christian rock (with a little Bob Marley reggae thrown in) through the truck's stereo system.

Team members began to come and get a "disaster dog", as well as go around the neighborhood inviting people to join in. Big Joe simply sat and took it all in. Soon we started to see that as more dogs got grilled, the more the party began to come to life. Another team from another church who were working down the street came by, then guys who were picking up old appliances stopped in, then some neighbors came with boxes of catfish, fried chicken and a big sheet cake! This was true "disaster relief."

The high point of the party came when we presented Big Joe with his new sign; John 3:16, accompanied by an American flag. You see, Big Joe is an avid sports fan and as he watches games on TV he often sees someone in the stands holding a sign that says, John 3:16. But, he never knew what it meant! … until yesterday, when a team member gave Joe a Bible, showed him where John 3:16 was, and what it meant. Big Joe beamed with joy when he heard the true meaning of the sign he'd seen in the football stands. Now, Big Joe has his own John 3:16 sign, and he's telling others what it means! Yes, even hot dogs can be used to build with living stones. And Big Joe can tell you that hope is returning to his neighborhood because of people who know what John 3:16 means.

Different Perspectives

When I formally studied construction many years ago, I took a number of courses to learn how to draw and read architectural blueprints. One thing they taught us early on was how important it was to get "the big picture" before you worked on the details. In order to do this, we started by making some preliminary drawings which had a number of different perspectives. There were views from front, rear, right and left sides. Often the early drawings also included a proposed "footprint" which showed the general size and shape of the building from "above." From these perspectives, a person could begin to get an idea of what some of the details for the building might eventually work out to be, as well as some of the processes involved to get to the final product.

Most of my "long distance" traveling (anything over a day's drive) was done by airplane. I've gotten pretty used to airports and moving between cities from 35,000 feet. This latest trip is different. Because I didn't decide to go to New Orleans until early last week, airfares were out of the question. Also, there wasn't a real "time crunch" for me to arrive. Arriving on Sunday or Monday was fine with Mark. So, I opted to take the train.

As I write this blog on Sunday evening from Union Station in Chicago, I can tell already that this was a good decision. For one thing, going by train is giving me some "space between the structures" that compose my life. But, more importantly, I am recognizing that traveling by train is giving me a very different perspective on life, people and ministry. What God is showing me is that when you fly and see the world from 35,000 feet, everything is a great distance away and looks pretty nice. Even when you travel by car, especially on interstate highways, things still look pretty nice. But, when you travel by train, you get to see the "backside of the tracks," especially in some of the large cities.

Today and tomorrow I am traveling on Amtrak trains, "Empire Builder" and "The City of New Orleans" … remember the song!? This is the real world. This is where people live. The places where trains go aren't always in the best of condition, and sometimes, the people's lives who live in those areas aren't always in the best condition either. To me, that's a good thing to get a perspective on.

I think we often live our lives from 35,000 feet. We don't enter into, engage, and even enjoy the perspective that traveling by train is giving me. Just like the blueprints that I learned to draw and read, the "view from above" isn't enough. You need "ground level perspectives" in order to effectively "build lives." The train is helping me regain some perspective that I haven't had in a while and I'm looking forward to more. Stay tuned.