A friend from my office returned from maternity leave after having her baby and we talked a little about working and daycare issues. She told me that her mother-in-law was coming over to their house to care for the baby and expressed a feeling that every new working mom feels; that tiny feeling that maybe your baby will love your daycare provider more than you.

I sympathized with her and gave her encouraging words, but I was also thinking about something interesting about babies. They don’t seem to love one person more than another. In fact, I think that is something that we do as we get older, which I can only assume means that it is something we learn or are taught.

Read the rest of this entry »

Our dear friend (and killer writer) Pam Hogeweide posted a story about her unique church family up in the Portland, OR area. I am reposting the last part of her story because she did such a fantastic job of describing the spiritual practice of noticing…which we’re very much interested in spreading about here in DE Land. Enjoy…

Many of us at The Bridge invest our time and hearts into HOMEpdx. My good friend Donna, whom some of you know, helped launch what she calls The Exchange Program at The Bridge. The Exchange Program is having people from our church go downtown on Sunday to help out in practical ways with HOMEpdx. It’s an exchange from us to them.

Our volunteers help do tasks like hand out new socks, or keep the coffee table orderly and stocked. Covering these small tasks helps free up Ken and the rest of the HOMEpdx team so they can concentrate on the vital one-on-one contact which is the absolute heart and soul of their community. In fact, we tell our Bridge volunteers not to distract the HOMEpdx team with too much chit-chat and visiting. So many of us are friends with one another that it is easy to get caught up huddled together rather than reaching out in warm conversation to the good folks we are there for.

Normals. That’s what I am and the rest of our Bridge Exchange volunteers are who go downtown. Ken tells us that it is a huge deal for normal people like us to take the time to engage with the people who live outside. Read the rest of this entry »

I met Jesus last night at the Quick Mart. He was picking through the garbage can, eating and drinking what others had thrown away. I asked him if I could buy him some food and some drink. He said yes, and his breath was strong with alcohol (maybe he needed it to stomach the garbage). I took him inside to choose his food. He said, “How much can I have?” I said, “As much as you want.”

It cost me $11.05 to feed Jesus last night. I will never be the same.