The View from the Top

Most of us, at this point, would prefer to forget that just days ago there was snow on the ground. However, the photo chosen to represent the Mission as the profile pic of our page on facebook shows the snowy ground as seen from above: the roof of our Maplewood Center. This view helps me look at once in the past, present, and future. Seeing Maplewood is a reminder that a year ago, the building was still under renovation. While the east wing was occupied, the west wing (and largest portion of the project) still had to be completed. The quietness is reflective of that waiting period, where we had to "quiet" our spirits, our anxieties and eagerness, and rest in God's timing for the project. Now, in the present, it's difficult to remember those frustrations as we deal with today's challenges. The view also looks toward the future in that I can see the projects yet to be completed. A great example is the playground. Contemporary to the building's service as a school, the play area is in need of its own renovations. With the help of our local Kiwanis groups and Lake Trust Credit Union, we hope our "Mission: Play" project will be underway within the next few months. So many opportunities to continue to serve our guests! Because of your support of our efforts on behalf of men, women, and children in Michigan's capital area.

Wash Me Whiter than Snow

The City Rescue Mission has been "capturing" images to represent the Mission as we celebrate our 100th year of service to Michigan's capital area. This week, the photo chosen was of the recent (and rare this winter) snowstorm that blanketed our community in a layer of white. In Psalm 51, David asks God to wash him "whiter than snow." For many of us, not just our guests, we have things in our past that haunt us. Choices or circumstances we would love to forever purge from our memories and our lives. It's more than just the consequences; there is the guilt that covers us in darkness and despair. However, Psalm 103 also encourages us that "as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." Once we put our trust in Him.

That is the message we have proclaimed for our 100 years of existence, the message that shines from the cross that symbolizes the Mission, the message of "rescue" and forgiveness. "Hope lives and rescue can be found, within sight of the cross."

All Creatures Great and Small

This week, our 3-6-5 photo highlights the fearlessness of a little boy named Elijah as he confronted Azan, a rather large dog. Don't get me wrong, Azan really is a walking teddy bear. Our executive director brings his (can I say gigantic?) chocolate labradoodle to the shelter, and most people eventually give his head a pat. And Azan loves the attention. He loves to be loved. However, in many cases he can look our young guests in the eyes, and his teeth, yeah, they're intimidating. But Elijah was fascinated by this "creature" that walked into his world on four paws and settled onto the floor like a rug. He actually thought Azan might be a rug and tried laying on him a few times. Then he wondered what was hiding inside the giant toy to make it move, but gazing inside Azan's mouth didn't reveal anything more than a long red tongue.

The truth was that Elijah's fearlessness came from a state of ignorance. He didn't know that big things, like Azan, are not always as nice and forbearing as Azan happens to be. Elijah trusted that he was safe and would be protected. It's fitting that his name means "My God is the Lord" and comes from the fearless (most times) prophet Elijah in the Old Testament. Elijah doesn't yet realize that there is such a thing as homelessness and shelters or poverty and want. He trusts. A simple, fearless faith that we should all emulate.

Praise the Lord, Elijah and his mom have a home of their own now. And we pray that it will be a house blessed by faith in "the Lord is my God" and fearlessness that God will always protect them.

Life Transformation

The recent expansion at our women and children's shelter (coming up on a year!) allowed us the opportunity to provide a Life Transformation Program for Women. We are excited at this opportunity to make a difference in the lives of women, and we have been blessed with our first "applicant." Gina, our women's program manager, is very dedicated to this new responsibility, and her excitement and enthusiasm for the ministry is contagious. Please keep both staff and our guests in your thoughts and prayer. And please continue to pray that those in need of the Mission and the truth we represent will have the courage and determination to take that first step on a journey toward life transformation!

Feeding the Multitudes

Over the past few months, the Mission has been working on our Centennial 3-6-5 project. The idea for a 3-6-5 project did not originate with us, but we are grateful to be able to use this idea as a tool to show our supporters (fellow Rescuers) the work the Mission does on a regular basis. Each week, seven photos are chosen to represent that week in the "life" of the Mission during its 100th year of service. Staff and those who visit the Mission's page on facebook are able to "like" and comment about the photos of the week. The photo with the most comments is chosen to represent the Mission as the profile pic of our page on facebook.

This past week, the photos have all been of drawings done by some of the children who stay at our women and children's shelter. Too many people are unaware that the Mission actually provides shelter to men, women, and children. And the reality is that we are currently providing shelter to more women and children than men. (Last month, for example, we had 153 different women and children stay at our shelter.

The theme of these photos included Jesus walking on the water, self portraits by the children, and the feeding of the 5,000. Our executive director works with the children every Wednesday evening and had the opportunity to help teach them this story about God's provision.

One of the great things about this story, and the photo that was chosen, is how it represents what the Mission does every day. For 100 years, we have existed solely on the faith that God will provide. Last year, we served 118,000 meals, and we could only do that because people were moved with compassion and donated funds and food. These "Rescuers" were an answer to prayer, our prayers and those of our guests.

Thank you for helping us help others. Thank you for being a Rescuer!

The First Gift of Christmas

You'll see the same scene in nearly every nativity set: the three wise men bending over the Christ child sleeping in a manger. However, the wise men, according to scripture, were not at the birth of Christ. They were hundreds of miles away when they "saw His star in the east," and it took them long, weary months of travel and misdirection before they were able to present their gifts to the "coming King."

The first people to hear of Christ's birth weren't wise men or kings. They weren't wealthy and, in some ways, were the lowest "dregs" of society. Poor shepherds, keeping watching over their flocks by night, were the first to hear the good news. In fact, they were issued a royal invitation to see Jesus, one that has not been duplicated. A heavenly host was singing and praising God, and humble shepherds were their only audience. While the crowd of people at Bethlehem (and only miles away the city of Jerusalem) slept, God chose to show that the first gift of Christmas wasn't a gift to the King but rather from the King. God was giving His son to "rescue" all of mankind, and He didn't first seek out the "important" or the "successful"; He came to men who could truly appreciate the magnificence of the gift, because they had so little.

That is the true reason for Christmas and the reason your gifts to the Mission are so important. They show men and women who feel lost and hopeless that God wants to bless them, not because of what they can give Him and not because they are worthy, but because He is. Thank you for helping us help others for another year. Thank you for giving the gift of rescue to men, women, and children in need!

Click here to give the gift of rescue now.

That Poor Yellow Barrel that Would Have Been...

Once upon a time there was a bright yellow barrel. This barrel wasn't any more special than any other barrel. In fact, he looked exactly the same as all the other barrels being sent out by the hundreds. Each one may have had a different destination, but all of them had the same purpose: to hold trash. That's right; this barrel was a trash barrel. A very big barrel. A very bright barrel. But still created for the humble purpose of holding trash.

Then he arrived at his destination, the City Rescue Mission of Lansing, and something amazing happened. Instead of hauling him out back and lining the inside with a plastic bag, he was gently carried inside, fitted with a set of wheels, and--wonder of wonders--given two shiny new signs. One on the front and another, just like it, on the back. And these shiny signs had a great message: Jesus Saves. They had two great messages, actually, for the second said, "Help us help others." That's how the barrel knew he wasn't just any yellow barrel. He was a special barrel after all, because inside was going to be things people could use. Things people would care for. Things people needed.

Included on the signs were a telephone number and, just in case the barrel should get lost, an address. How happy the barrel was to be something special after all. Proudly puffing out his chest (which didn't make much of a difference because barrels are all round any way), he showed off the signs as badges of honor. When the men came and loaded the barrel into the van, he knew he was on his way to do great things.

Sadly, the poor barrel, that would have been something special, never got to reach his potential. The company that called and asked for the barrel to collect non-perishable food items to help people...well...they changed their mind. And when the Mission called to ask how the barrel was doing, they could never get an answer.

Finally, the man in charge of the barrels came to the company and asked just what happened to the yellow barrel. And, after he explained just what the barrel looked like, some men wheeled up the yellow barrel from the back. Only now the yellow barrel was scratched. He was cut and covered with glue. And his signs, his badges of honor that meant he was to be for something special? They'd cut them off, leaving the rivets like scars, and filled the yellow barrel full of trash.

All the people at the Mission were shocked and saddened to see what had happened to the once-bright yellow barrel. And they were so grateful to the many other companies who ask for Mission barrels and recognize them for what they truly are, something special. And those other companies work hard to fill those barrels with things that people can use, things they care for, things that are needed.

Because those "things" do make a difference. They help us show men, women, and children (who sometimes feel damaged and unwanted) that they really can be something special after all. That they have the potential to be and to do great things.

Thank you for being a rescuer. Thank you for helping us help others. And thanks for being kind to our yellow barrels, that carry a special message of hope, and love, and rescue, to those in need.