Well, i had...

...a really witty, intriguing, intelligent, insightful, progressive and contemporary idea for a blog post.

Then i woke up.

Isn't it amazing how we can have something all sewn up in a dream and it vanishes upon awakening?

This seems especially true when i head downstairs to face a howling-for-her-breakfast KidaMosquito and dirty dishes in the sink.

So what was this post about that in my dream was so witty and etc.?  If i'm remembering correctly, i had come up with the key that would have solved all the world's problems, and it had something to do with the leftover oranges from the homeless ministry outreach on Sunday.

It made sense in the dream, whatever it was.

This past Sunday, though (unless i dreamed it) i went to the parking lot where Pastor M preaches to the homeless at noon and found we were not just bagging up our usual offerings of fruit and water and whatever had been donated.  There was also a huge amount of fruits, veggies, eggs, healthy frozen entrees -- in short, it looked like a small grocery store.  The local food pantry had been most generous.

In the foreground, 250+ bags of food, and under the two tents, a mini-grocery.

The people who attended were thrilled, and i didn't even pull out all of the bags of oranges i had brought, deciding instead to bring them for the outreach at church that evening.

When i went back for that evening outreach, we had 15 chicken spaghetti casseroles and sides and oranges and cake, enough to feed many people.

Not too many showed up, however.  Pastor M took a lot of meals to go, and everything was consumed or brought to a family that needed it, so there was no waste.

One of the men who did come to eat, however, said something i'd never thought about.

"This area is very generous," Lee noted.  "I've lived in a lot of places, and in many of them, they won't deal with the homeless, they just put you in jail.  They tell you to move along, they won't feed you or anything.  Here, though, there's no reason you can't get a meal every day, even if you are homeless.  The people are so generous it can cripple people!

"And that's the problem.  See, people here are too generous.  For example, the ones out on the streets who are on drugs.  Why should they save what money they get for food when they know that there is food available?  Some church or homeless outreach or someone is feeding people every day.  They don't need to save their money for food, they can spend it on their drugs, because they know they won't go hungry for long.  If they went hungry more, they might spend the money on food and be motivated to drop the drugs.

"And the other thing," he continued, "you have this meal on the first Sunday of the month, when people still have money and food stamps.  If you have it on the third or fourth Sunday, instead, when nobody gots any money left, this place would be busting at the seams!"

He gave me a lot of food for thought, and when Pastor W gets back from his vacation, i'm going to bring it up with him.  We might do better to move our evening outreach to a time later in the month.  Helping Pastor M won't change, there are two different churches assigned to each week of the month.

Whether anything will come of it or not, i do not know, but it is worth contemplating -- 

the idea that too much help is crippling people and keeping them down.

Today is

Arbegnoch Qen -- Ethiopia (Patriots' Victory Day)

Arrival Day -- Guyana

Bevrijdingsday -- Netherlands(Liberation Day)

Bonza Bottler Day™

Cartoonists Day -- celebrates the first color cartoon ever published, The Yellow Kid, on this day in 1895.

Children's Day -- Japan (Kodomo-no-hi); South Korea (Orininal)

Cinco de Mayo / Anniversary of the Battle of Puebla -- Mexico, and anyplace that beer brewers want to make a minor battle into a big deal to increase beer sales today

Constitution Day -- Kyrgyzstan

Coronation Day -- Thailand (crowning of King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 1950)

Day of Adoration of Anubis -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar

Europe Day -- Council of Europe

Fairy Ring Day (Receiving) -- Fairy Calendar

Give Local America -- US (encouraging people to support local charities with the largest crowdfuning event in history) 

Halfway Point of Spring/Autumn

Hidirellez  -- Turkey (arrival of spring and a religious holiday of the Alevi peoples, celebrating the meeting on Earth of the Prophets Al-Khidr and Elijah; begins this evening and goes through tomorrow)

International Day of the Midwife -- in some places, they just don't get enough respect 

Lusophone Culture Day -- Community of Portuguese-speaking countries

National Chocolate Custard Day

National Ferret Day -- UK  (Ferret Education & Research Trust)

National Hoagie Day

National Teacher Appreciation Day -- US

Perfect Game Day -- Cy Young pitches baseballs first officially recorded perfect game on this day in 1904

Save Lives Clean your Hands Day -- WHO (the day gets its own web page)

Senior Citizens Day -- Palau

St. Judith's Day (Patron of Prussia)

Totally Chipotle® Day 

World Asthma Day -- International (Global Initiative for Asthma) 


Anniversary Today:

The American Medical Association is founded, 1847


Birthdays Today:

Harry Cavill, 1983
Danielle Fishel, 1981
Tina Yothers, 1973
Brian Williams, 1959
Richard E. Grant, 1957
Jean-Pierre Leaud, 1944
Lance Henriksen, 1943
Michael Palin, 1943
Tammy Wynette, 1942
Michael Murphy, 1938
Pat Carroll, 1927
Ann B. Davis, 1926
Alice Faye, 1915
Tyrone Power, 1913
James Beard, 1903
Nelly Bly, 1864
John Batterson Stetson, 1830
Karl Marx, 1818
Soren Kierkegaard, 1813


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Damn Yankees"(Play), 1955


Today in History:

Rebel barons begin a chain of events that leads to King John of England's eventual signing of the Magna Carta, 1215
Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire, 1260
Jews are expelled from Speyer, Germany, 1430
Christopher Columbus lands at Jamaica and claims it for Spain, 1494
In France, the Estates-General convenes for the first time since 1614, 1789
Citizenship is denied to Jews of Canton of Aargau Switzerland, 1809
Mary Kies becomes the first woman issued a US patent, for a method of weaving, 1809
The American Bible Society organizes in NY, 1816
Emperor Napoleon I dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena, 1821
In Belgium, the first railway in continental Europe opens between Brussels  and Mechelen, 1835
The American Medical Association forms in Philadelphia, 1847
Cinco de Mayo in Mexico: troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion  in the Battle of Puebla, 1862
The first train robbery in the US occurs in North Bend, Ohio, 1865
Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army, 1877
The Music Hall in New York City (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor, 1891
Cy Young pitches the first perfect game in modern baseball history, 1904
Coco Chanel introduces Chanel No. 5, 1921
John T. Scopes is arrested for teaching evolution in violation of Tennessee's Butler Act, 1925
West Germany gains full sovereignty, 1955
Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, 1961
Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27, 1981
The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army, 2006
Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the Greek debt crisis, 2010

Awww Monday: Crackers for Crackers!

Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.  It's easy to participate, just post a picture that makes everyone say, "Awww!"  After all, we can all use some cute stuff at the start of the work week.

The first Sunday of every other month, our church hosts a community outreach meal.  We prepare a huge, hot meal and it's free.  Each person who comes is escorted to a table and served a meal, including refills, and given time and attention and a listening ear.  Most of the people who come are homeless or live on the side of town where many have "food insecurity," to use the new term.

There's plenty of room for all who come.

One family that came had a sweet little four-year-old girl who decided to get creative with the gumbo and crackers.  She made the funniest little cracker and rice sandwiches by carefully fishing grains of rice out of her gumbo!

Cracker-rice sandwiches!

She ate her gumbo, too, but decided to save her little snack cake for later, having me put it in her pocket.  Her three-year-old brother gave us all a run for the money when he decided to run around the playground outdoors. 

They were fun kids, and i got to talk to several adults in the community who are homeless for one reason or another.  Their stories will break your heart.  It makes me wish we could give them a hot meal and a respite from life every day.





Today is:

Apple Howling Day -- Henfield, West Sussex (Held at Gill Orchard, always on Epiphany Eve, horn blowing and howling at the trees is said to wake them up and yield a good crop.)

Armenian Christmas Eve -- Armenia (Old Chrismas Day in the West)

Can Opener Day -- one of the earliest forms of can opener was patented this date in 1858 by Ezra Warner of CT, US (tin cans had been around for over 50 years by then, usually opened with a knife or hammer and chisel)

Epiphany Fair -- Piazza Navona, Rome, Italy (toys, sweets, and presents among the beautiful Bernini Fountains)

Get on the Computer Day -- obviously dates back to a time when people didn't have to check email daily or get inundated 
Guru Goyind Singh Jayanti -- CR, HR, and PB, India; Sikh celebration

Handsel Monday -- Scotland (traditionally a day to exchange small tokens of good luck with friends and neighbors; celebrated in rural areas on the Monday after Jan. 12, where they did not want to deviate from the OS/Julian Calendar)

Harbin Ice Festival -- Harbin, China (with a theme of "Happy Ice Snow, Exciting City," a festival of illuminated ice sculptures, ice sports, and fun through Chinese New Year and beyond; in 2015, through Feb. 28)

Joma Shinji Festival -- Kamakura, Japan (ceremony and festival to keep evil spirits away)

Mungday -- Discordianism (festival of St. Hung Mung)

National Bird Day -- US (National Association of Audubon Societies incorporated today in 1905) 

National Whipped Cream Day

Nones of January -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also
     Festival of Vica Pota (ancient goddess of victory)

Review Your Wrestling Holds Day -- internet generated, and weird

St. Gerlac of Valkenberg's Day (Patron of domestic animals)

St. Simeon Stylites' Day (The original and most maniacal of the "Pillar Saints")

Take the Cake Day -- a day to do something, anything, over the top, just because

"Thank G-d It's Monday" Day

Trettondagsafton -- Sweden (Epiphany Eve)

Turn Up the Heat Day -- all over the internet, but no one explains it

Twelfth Day of Christmas -- and thus, Twelfth Night (Although by some reckonings, this is actually only the 11th day of Christmas, and thus Twelfth Night Eve.  Take your pick.)


Anniversaries Today:

George Washington marries Martha Dandridge Custis, 1759


Birthdays Today:

January Jones, 1978
Bradley Cooper, 1975
Warrick Dunn, 1975
Carrie Ann Inaba, 1968
Pamela Sue Martin, 1953
Diane Keaton, 1946
Charlie Rose, 1942
Juan Carlos I, King of Spain, 1938
Umberto Eco, 1932
Alvin Ailey, 1931
Robert Duvall, 1931
Walter Mondale, 1928
George Reeves, 1914
George Dolenz, 1908
Jeannette Ridlon Piccard, 1895
King Camp Gillette, 1855
Edmund Ruffin, 1794
Constanze Mozart, 1762 (wife of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
Pietro Filippo Scarlotti, 1679
Shah Jahal, 1592 (Mughal emperor of India, built the Taj Mahal)


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"All My Children"(TV), 1970
"Bozo the Clown"(TV), 1959
"The Member of the Wedding"(Play), 1950
"Pepe LePew"(cartoon character, in "Odor-able Kitty"), 1945

Today in History:

Edward the Confessor dies with no heir, leading to a succession crisis that ends with the Norman Conquest, 1066
Felix Manz, a leader of the Anabaptist congregation in Zürich, is executed by drowning, 1527
Pope Clemens VII forbids English king Henry VIII to re-marry, 1531
A petition in Recife, Brazil leads to closing of their 2 synagogues, 1638
Anne Clarke of the Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted the first divorce in the colonies, from her absent and adulterous husband, Denis Clarke, by the Quarter Court of Boston, Massachusetts, 1643
The first Swedenborgian temple in the US holds its first service, in Baltimore, 1800
The Ohio legislature passes the first laws restricting the movement of free blacks, 1804
Davy Crockett arrives in Texas, just in time for the Alamo, 1836
The US House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the UK, 1846
The first US school of librarianship opens at Columbia University, 1887
An Austrian newspaper makes the first public report on Wilhelm Roentgen's discovery of xrays, 1896
The National Association of Audubon Society incorporates, 1905
Colombia recognizes Panama's independence, 1909
The Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage of $5 for a day's labor, 1914
British premier Lloyd George issues a demand for a unified peace, 1918
Nellie Taylor Ross is sworn in as governor of Wyoming, the first woman governor of a US state, 1925
Mao Tse-tung writes "A Single Spark Can Start A Prairie Fire," 1930
FM radio is demonstrated to the Federal Communications Commission for the first time, 1940
The Daily Mail becomes the first transoceanic newspaper, 1944
Warmest reliably measured temperature in Antarctica of +59°F (+15°C) recorded at Vanda Station, 1974
Eris, the largest known dwarf planet in the solar system, is discovered, 2005

Well, i was gonna do an Awww Monday...

...and then i met Jeff and Stan.

See, the first Sunday every other month our church has a Community Outreach Meal.  Pastor W. or Mr. Alfred cook up a big entree, and others bring desserts and bread, and a free meal is served to all who want to come.

Most of the people who show up are homeless, including homeless families.  Each volunteer has a name tag, and each person who comes is given a name tag and is escorted to a seat at a table, and served a meal.  Volunteers bring them whatever they need, and we sit with them and talk to them.

As i was plating up desserts, Jeff walked up to me and Mary, who was working with me.  He has been on the streets for many years, the pastors all know him, but i hadn't met him before.  He can barely speak, but he indicated to me and Mary that his side is hurting, his ribs and his lungs.  He asked for prayer, so we prayed over him, then made sure he sat down for a meal.  Jeff looks like what you typically think of when you think about a homeless person, and he does have many health issues, made worse by the years on the streets, and the fact that he can only stay sober occasionally.  He tries, though, and last night, he came for prayer and food, and for someone to actually lay hands on him and pray, because he probably doesn't get much physical contact with people.  He got it last night.

Once i was done setting all the desserts out on plates, i noticed a table with only one person sitting there, so i went over and introduced myself and sat down.

Stan and i started talking.  He asked if i had any brothers and sisters.  Yes, i told him, i have two younger brothers.

He asked if i loved them, and i told him that indeed i did.  He then told me, "I don't have any family except my father in Mississippi, who isn't in the best of health, and my sister, who hates me."

When i noted how sad it must be for him that his sister feels that way, he continued his story.

"When I was three years old, she tried to choke me to death with a pillow, and when I was eight she split the back of my head with a baseball bat.  Both times, she was trying to kill me.  After that, my mom kept me with her and sent my sister to live with my dad, so we wouldn't be near each other.

"Then, when our mother died, and we were at the funeral, she wouldn't even hug me.  She told me to stay away from her.  One of my uncles asked her why she treated me that way, and she told him she hated me because I was born, and that me being born meant she wasn't an only child any more, and so she would never like me because I was born!"

He and i commiserated about how awful it is to have such a hard, hateful heart.  We discussed family, and the importance of love, and a few other things.  When he left i made sure he got an extra plate of food to take with him for later, and i gave him my word i would pray for his sister's heart toward him to heal and be changed.

The evening was a long one, as we served meals, and packed meals for another pastor who works with the homeless every week to take out that evening.  He gave every one of them out that night, he goes into the woods, and behind the places in the city where most of us don't even think to go, and he fed the homeless who live there the meals we had packed.

After that, the youth group and the children's choir came in and had their dinners, too.  They had brought more food for their groups and all of the food got shared, and nothing went to waste as any extras will be given to people who come to the church during the week asking for help.

So i didn't get an Awww Monday picture, because of Jeff, and Stan, and the homeless children and their parents for whom we packed extra boxes, and our own children's choir and youth group, and thinking about how it all fits together that we need to raise our kids to be of service so that maybe someday there won't have to be people who wait for the Community Outreach Meal to get a good dinner, to find people who will sit and talk with them and hear their stories, to find someone willing to lay hands on them and pray.  We all need that stuff every day, not just once every couple of months.


Today is:

Area Code Day -- US (went into effect this day in 1951)

Day of Russian Militsiya -- Russia

Dia de la Tradicion -- Argentina (birth anniversary of Jose Hernandez)

Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Beacon Lighting -- Split Rock Lighthouse, Two Harbors, MN, US (memorial for the Edmund Fitzgerald and all who have lost their lives in Great Lakes shipwrecks)

First Cry of Independence Day / Los Santos Uprising Day -- Panama (an official flag day)

Forget-Me-Not Day -- informal day to spend a bit of time with relatives you don't see often

Goddess of Reason's Day (Revolutionary France)

Guinness World Records' Day -- celebrating ordinary people who do extraordinary things, go try for a record! anniversary of the day in 1951 that Sir Hugh Beaver got the idea to create a book supplying answers to much debated questions, such as which game birds are the fastest fliers
     The Guinness World Records Book now holds the title of the best-selling copyrighted book of all time, and is one of the most frequently stolen books from US libraries!

Hari Pahlawan -- Indonesia (Heroes' Day/Warrior's Day)

Heir to the Throne Day -- Tuvalu (Prince of Wales birth anniversary celebration)

Martini -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (beginning of winter festival that starts on Martinmas Eve)

Maputo Day -- Maputo, Mozambique

National Toothpaste Appreciation Day -- not official, but i'm sure the dentifrice industry loves this one

National Vanilla Cupcake Day

National Young Readers' Week -- US, sponsored by Pizza Hut's BookIt! Program and the Library of Congress; listen to a different celebrity read a book each day through the 14th

Sleep Dangerously Night -- internet generated, a night to switch sides of the bed with your spouse and see who falls out of bed first

St. Andrew Avellino's Day (Patron of apoplexics, for a holy death, stroke victims; Badlato, Naples, and Sicily, Italy; stroke victims; for a holy death; against apoplexy, strokes, and sudden death)

St. Martin's Eve -- Germany; Portugal (Martimas Eve)

Tori No Ichi -- Japan (a "rooster day" in which to wish good luck and prosperity at temple and shrine ceremonies around the country)

Tree Festival Day -- Tunisia (equivalent to Arbor Day, as well as an agricultural festival)

USMC Day -- US (anniversary of founding in 1775, includes the Marine Corps Birthday Ball)

Wish-Spoiling Sports Day -- Fairy Calendar (Imps, Gremlins, and grumpy Goblins)

World Orphans Day -- originally an initiative of The Stars Foundation; cannot find a current sponsor, although there is a Facebook page for this day, and a site where you can find out more about orphans in the developing world

World Science Day for Peace and Development -- UN


Anniversaries Today:

Establishment of Badlands National Park, SD, US, 1978
Establisnment of the United States Marine Corps, 1775


Birthdays Today:

Ellen Pompeo, 1969
Vanessa Angel, 1963
Neil Gaiman, 1960
MacKenzie Phillips, 1959
Sinbad, 1956
Roland Emmerich, 1955
Ann Reinking, 1949
Donna Fargo, 1949
Tim Rice, 1944
Russel Charles Means, 1940
Russel Means, 1939
Roy Scheider, 1932
Richard Burton, 1925
Jane Froman, 1907
Claude Rains, 1889
Friedrick Voon Schiller, 1759
Oliver Goldsmith, 1728
William Hogarth, 1697
Martin Luther, 1483


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Microsoft Windows, 1983 (sometimes so slow, it's called "win-doze")
"Sesame Street", 1969


Today in History:

Rene Descartes has the dreams that inspire his Meditations on First Philosophy, 1619
The Dutch formally cede New Netherlands to the English; it is renamed New York, 1674
France ends forced worship of God, substitute the Goddess of Reason, 1793
The US state of Kentucky outlaws dueling, 1801
Stanley presumes that he has met Livingston in Ujiji, Central Africa, 1871
The first Woman's Christian Temperance Union meeting is held in Boston, 1891
The first Gideon Bible is put in a hotel room, 1908
Hirohito ascends the throne as Emperor of Japan, 1928
The Hope Diamond is donated to the Smithsonian Institution by New York diamond merchant Harry Winston, 1958
The 729-foot-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board, 1975
A 106-car Canadian Pacific freight train carrying explosive and poisonous chemicals from Windsor, Ontario, Canada derails in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada just west of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, causing a massive explosion and the largest peacetime evacuation in Canadian history and one of the largest in North American history, 1979
The communist regime of Bulgaria falls, 1989
The "Codex Leicester", the only Leonardo da Vinci manuscript owned in the United States and the only one in the world still in private hands, was sold at auction to Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, who paid $30.8 million, 1994
Thousands of people people march toward the royal palace of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur to hand over a memorandum to the King demanding electoral reform, 2007
Vietnam evacuates about 600,000 citizens under the threat of Typhoon Haiyan, 2013