Keith Peeler

Keith died a couple weeks ago. Few people noticed when he died. The workers in the hospital, I’m sure, stopped for a moment, but then their busy night in the ER of one of the busiest hospitals in the Front Range quickly took over their thoughts and actions. The rest of us were all making our New Years Eve plans – and participating in such plans. Sadly, most people didn’t know Keith had died for several days.

Keith came into our lives a couple years ago when our church did an outreach of making 500 burritos and handing them out to homeless people in various spots around downtown. One couple, Lauren & Chris; quickly started up a relationship with Keith and his friend John. They worked with the coalition for the homeless to get Keith and John their social security numbers, identification, and even housing. The coalition helped with counseling and all kinds of services to help Keith and John get off the street and live an engaged life in the community.

Over the course of the last couple of years much has happened between Keith and John and Lauren and Chris and the coalition. The most noticeable has been everyone’s growth. Bouts of depression, slipping back into addictions, injuries from falls, and hospitalizations have all been the impetuous for people to engage with people in this journey of life. Chris doesn’t see homeless people in the same light he did 5 years ago and Lauren has learned how to love unconditionally and still maintain healthy boundaries. Everyone would say they are eternally different because of their journey with Keith. Lauren and Chris risked entering the life of a couple homeless men –and they don’t regret a minute of it.

Today we had Keith’s funeral at the church. Lauren & Chris, John, other friends, and workers from the coalition were all there. The workers at the coalition don’t often get to stop and mourn the loss of one of the homeless. Unfortunately, more times than not, a homeless person will die and very few people outside of the ER doctor and coroner ever stop to take notice. Each person has their own story; each is someone’s son/daughter, a friend, a sibling, an ex spouse. But most depart this physical world unnoticed.

Today we stopped to take notice for Keith and for all the others that come and go without being seen. People cried, laughed, and remembered what Keith has meant to them through the years. We told stories of about Keith, I spoke about the river of life that Christ offers us where we will no longer thirst, we ate lunch, and then we all went down to the river to release Keith’s physical body back to the earth. Water has meant a lot to Keith through out the years. Fishing, living near the Platte when he was homeless – good times and bad, the river has been a constant in his life. Now Keith is swimming all around in that eternal river of life. The rest of us walk away pondering the mystery of life and death and the engagement in our spiritual journey as we continue to walk physically here on earth.

New Underwear

I’ve been thinking a lot about underwear lately. I know that seems like an odd topic during one of the most sacred seasons of the year for Christians. Underwear seems so…common…kind of shameful…dirty. You see I always stuff my children’s stockings with underwear. The boys always laugh and put theirs on their head. The girls check out if I got the right kind and what size they are. And it’s gotten much more difficult to find the right type since everyone is growing up and has opinions about such things. This practice started years ago when they were babies and I didn’t want to put too much candy in their stockings, so I stuffed them full with underwear and socks. Now it’s more of a tradition than anything else.

Restoration Community Church has “adopted” a family so we can provide Christmas gifts for them. The family consists of a single mother and her two sons, 9 and 14. They have been living on the streets for the last year and a half. They just moved into an unfurnished apartment. We have asked the mother numerous times what she would want for Christmas gifts. Her consistent answer…. underwear. She’s not asking for a mattress, furniture, silverware, blankets…simply underwear. I’m going to get her underwear as well as a few other necessities. As she receives the gifts on Christmas day, I hope she senses God providing for her in the most ordinary and sacred ways.

As we’re all scurrying around this season going to parties, buying gifts, and preparing food; I can’t help but think of the 10,000 plus people living on the streets of Denver who primarily just want a clean pair of underwear for Christmas. And I think about Jesus who came into this world in physical form through the birth canal of a young unwed teenager in a dirty stable. It seems so dirty…kind of shameful….common. The sacred and the ordinary all wrapped in strips of cloth. My prayer for myself this season is that I don’t loose sight of the mystery and majesty of God entering our world one night 2000 years ago.

The Extraordinary in the Ordinary

Thursday night as I was buying every can of pumpkin the grocery had to offer, I walked out of the store into a mystical setting. Outside my ordinary grocery with 50 pounds of canned pumpkin in my hands, I was transported to another realm. The sky was encased with a pink glow and wispy clouds as the sun was setting. I stopped and actually exclaimed, "Wow the heavens declare your glory". The guy behind me stopped short of bumping into me and took a moment to stand in awe too.

I started driving through my neighborhood with my eyes darting all around the horizon just taking in the serenity. Then in the eastern sky I saw this huge, clear, bright full moon rising. My immediate response was to start clapping. There I am alone in my car with cans of pumpkin rolling around the floorboard and I'm clapping at the sight of the breath taking full moon rising in a pink glow. Unbelievable majesty.

Isaiah says that the mountains and hills will burst into song before God and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Jesus says that if we don't testify about Him that the very rocks of the temple will cry out and Paul stated that since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities (eternal power - divine nature) have been clearly seen through nature.

Every morning I stand at my kitchen sink and sip my coffee while watching the sunrise. I remember afresh how His mercies are new everyday. But as the day progresses and I am stuck in traffic late for a meeting, or discussing immense pain someone is experiencing, or resolving conflict with people, I forget to clap at His majesty. I forget to take in the pink glow and the fact that He has me incased no matter what is happening. As I walk in and out of ordinary circumstances doing ordinary things, I forget that there is an extraordinary realm at work around me/us. I forget that those cans of pumpkin are connected to this earth He created and will sustain our bodies for His glory and facilitate the fellowship that he created us for. So today as I walk through my day doing ordinary things, I am going to remember to clap my hands at the ordinary, understanding he has an extraordinary plan at work through it all.

IT WAS WORTH IT

450 patients in 3 days treated by 2-3 doctors and a physical therapist. That's how many people were helped by the medical team that went to the slums of Kolkuta. "My body hurts" was the predominate complaint as they came into the clinic. Of course their bodies hurt. They bend over working in the field all day or carry cement on their heads for a living. Their harsh lifestyles would make any body hurt. Just listening to their complaints, rubbing their backs, touching their skin, and giving them some relief with pain killers was doing more for them than they had ever received.

One 90 year old man who came into the Physical Therapy clinic all hunched over from years of literally "back breaking" work put it this way, "I have gone to the doctor before but never have I received the kind of treatment this team gave me". That was our hearts desire, to treat the people of the slums with the dignity and respect they have never before received.

In 10 days in Kolkuta we:

1. Visited Mother Theresa's home for children with special needs,

2. Conducted 3 days of medical clinics,

3. Facilitated a day-long family camp,

4. Speaking all day on Sunday to two different groups and one night at an all night prayer vigil in the largest church in the city,

5. Built a false roof for the school to create a barrier from the heat,

6. Visited an organization working in the Red Light District -

If you are wondering how we each faired, let us unequivocally tell you that despite the heat, long days, jet lag and flu - we all thought the trip was well worth the sacrifice.

From 10-year-old Macy whose body needed more sleep than we could allow - she continually tossed around balloons and blew bubbles with the kids and thought the trip was worth it!

To J'Nai from the inner city of Annapolis who gave up her all expense paid trip to Scotland that she won as a leadership award to come to Kolkuta - she thinks the trip was worth it!

To Cole whose Eagle Scout project turned into a 2-day sauna-like construction nightmare - he thinks the trip was worth it!

To Dillon with sensory integration difficulties immersed in a country that is an assault to every sense -he played with children from sun-up to sun down and thinks the trip was well worth it!

To Nate who worked 24-7 the week before we left to get his visa cleared - the trip was worth it!

To Albina and Brendan who gave up their vacation time from work and ended up getting the flu in India - they both think the trip was worth it!

To Ron and Nanci who gave up two Sundays at Restoration -they know the trip was worth it.

To each of you who sacrificed by helping us pack, praying for us, donating money, encouraging us along the way - please hear us say that your sacrifice was worth it. Touching people who are untouchable, looking them in the eyes and telling them they are loved, worthy and deserve dignity and respect is one of the most powerful things we could give them. And your sacrifice helped us do that.

We want to tell more stories and explain more about what we saw and how we want to continue making a difference in Kolkuta- but for now....

Thank-you Thank-you Thank-you --because you helped us change a piece of the world.

The kardashians and the slums

I got really sick this week. I usually don't get sick in India, but when I do, I make up for lost time and get really sick. It started with a stomachache, "intestinal disturbances" (I won't say more about that), and then a bone aching fever. I didn't sleep at all that night and had to spend the entire day in my hotel room the next day. As I writhed around in pain I was looking for some sort of distraction to take my mind off how miserable I was.

I turned on the hotel TV and flipped through the channels looking for anything in English. The station landed on a show called "Keeping Up with the Kardashians". It was either that show or fishing on the discovery channel so I stayed with the Kardashians. As I watched this family of young women manage their clothing store and pay someone to take their father out shopping to revamp his wardrobe, I couldn't help but think of the stark contrast to their lifestyle and that of the people I had just spent days with in the slums. I mean no disrespect to the Kardashians - but the massive amounts of money that was spent on seemingly unnecessary things could have gone to such great use here in India.

The families I have just spent the last week with struggle to eat food a couple times a day. Most only have a few changes of clothes -- some don't have any. Their houses are not much more than a reinforced tent. In fact, on Friday I got caught in a rain storm (and by that I mean torrential downpour) on the opposite side of the slum from the medical camp. So I took refuge in one young man's "home". It was 4' x 8' -- yes four feet by eight feet. Just long enough for his wood shelf that he uses for a bed to fit across the entire length. His house was actually an outhouse that he claimed for himself. He cleaned it up and spent quite some time trying to get the smell out -- and now he lives there. He is very happy to have a home -- and it did a fine job of keeping the rain out.

I'm not sure the Kardashians would understand how much good to be done in this slum with the money spent on their fathers' new wardrobe. I wonder about all the ways I carelessly spend money not considering all the good it could accomplish. As we started the day off today summarizing our experiences so far, J'Nai chimed in saying at home she used to say she has nothing. Now she really understands what nothing is. She is going to start saying a new phrase "I have enough".

Enough -- what is enough? Is having three meals enough? One or two outfits to wear? A home big enough to fit a bed? We all have enough -- but when does it become too much? Our team is considering how simplifying our own lives could help bring life to others. What do you think?

Dreams and Emancipation

Dreams and Emancipation

There are lots of graduations happening these days. I had two daughters graduate from college this year and my son just graduated from high school. I have friends who have children graduating from junior high school and I have even heard of kindergarten graduation ceremonies -- really!!! It doesn't seem like there is much work involved in graduating from kindergarten -- but maybe the requirements have changed since my kids were that age :)

As children progress through their life, these graduations are markers in time that they are slowly but surely emancipating from their parents. They are developing through a normal sequence of independence. It comes by making their own decisions about what to wear to school, to pack in their lunches, courses to take in high school and college, to what jobs to take when they graduate. These small and large decisions help them individuate into the people that God has created them to be. When all works in a healthy way, it's a beautiful thing.

But sometimes there are forces that restrict, bind, or imprison us in systems that enslave instead of emancipate. These restrictive systems could be as minimal as over protective parents and as severe as slave labor or sexual slavery. The physical, emotional, and psychological process that brings about emancipation for the enslaved is what fascinates me. What is the developmental process that happens - that needs to happen - for a person or people group to be fully emancipated? What stages along the road of emancipation influence people to either be empowered or entitled? What components are true markers of emancipation?

I thinking dreaming is a significant marker on the road of emancipation. When a person or people stop dreaming of what life could be -- they have lost hope. Hope that they could move into a way of life that resonates with their soul. They are so bound and restricted in their everyday life, their paradigm about themselves and circumstances, and the chains that bind their heart that they have lost hope in dreaming for something different. When the chains can be broken - physically, emotionally, and/or psychologically, then a true graduation of sorts has occurred.

I spoke to a woman this evening about what her dreams were. She has been in a job for a few years that has worn her out. She has been caught up in the routine day to day and the enormity of her responsibilities and lost sight of the future. She said she didn't have any dreams right now. She stopped dreaming a while ago. But she quit her job this week. I pray that now her soul will have the space it needs to start dreaming again.

What are you dreaming about these days?

Aching for what could be

I woke up crying this morning.

It is never a good sign when I start the day with tears on my pillow before I even get out bed. But this was a familiar pain that I woke up with -- a pain deep in my soul that I have carried for a decade now. An ache for the way I wish things were versus the way I know they are and what is missing in the "in between space".

I went to bed thinking about the medical trip we are taking to Calcutta in July. Having been on many of these trips before, I know we are going to be overwhelmed with all the desperation. I know there will be hundreds of people who will need our attention. I know that we will have deeply moving, tough, fun, and very ordinary experiences all wrapped up in every hour of every day. And unfortunately I know that we won't have enough time, people, or resources to do everything that needs to be done.

That's why I woke up crying.

I was dreaming about being in the slums and wanting to help everyone but in the dream, we didn't have enough people to help out.

Some people look at all that need and divert their eyes, it's just too much for them take in and think about. Some people look at the need and give necessary finances. Others see the need and respond with their time --God is calling them to be His hands and feet to the Dalits in the slums of Calcutta. All responses are acceptable - and God's grace is at work transforming us all in the midst of our responses. We need a couple more physicians, a nurse or two, a counselor, and at least one dentist to round out this team. For those of us that are going on the trip, I know we will touch and be touched in ways we never dreamt possible. There is a deeply mysterious beauty that happens when we sacrifice ourselves for the benefit of others -- we all end up transformed.

Some of my ache comes from those who are NOT going on this trip. I ache for what is missing - their presence. I long for them to experience first hand what God is doing in the world, and see and feel their own transformation in the midst of meeting the needs of the poorest of the poor. I long for the Dalits to be touched and helped by them. I long for our Indian partners to be encouraged by them. And I personally long for them to be part of the moment in time when we work side by side with brothers and sisters in Christ for the transformation of everyone - myself included.