The Fabric of our Lives

Ever notice how amazingly our lives are knit together? We spent some time last night noticing how God has brought us together. So many of us, from so many different places and times, different financial situations, different ages, different relationships and yet there we sit, every other Thursday night, our lives intertwined - these are the best friends i have in the world! They are amazing! We talked through a couple of them - it baffles the mind to think of how we have come together. Now, all of us, dong our best to look behind the usual of the American dream, to find something More out of life - to savor and appreciate the wonder of a God who would love us so much as to bring us together in the midst of our lives!

So, if having some friends who actually accept you no matter what you offer them sounds good, or if you are sick of life as usual in the US, and are looking for something More, you might want to join us - we will be hanging out December 1st, 645-800pm at MCAllister Recreation Center, just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette.

and, if you are already trying to live this way you might just happen to notice the people around you who you love and who love you and how your lives have come to be woven together, you might just take a second and thank the God who loves you enough to fill your life with those people - and invite Him into the moment with you - it might just change your perspective!


hope to see you soon

More Pix from Shoes

Love via Shoes

What if there was a group of people that loved? Really loved? What if the questions that lie in our hearts about our country and whether anyone really cares about anyone else anymore were answered by a simple group of people learning to live life differently than the rest of the country? What if that love got demonstrated in a tangible way, with something that would be meaningful to almost anyone?

After all love requires giving of yourself. Sacrificing. Being present when it is not easy. It involves forgiving and trying to understand someone else. It involves spending time when it is not easy and there is little to gain for yourself. love is focused on the other person's needs, not your own.

But love is also the greatest thing in the whole world. The joy in love exceeds any other joy that there is - the pain in love may exceed any other pain that there is too, but the joy is bigger than the pain. The joy is well worth the pain, no question.

Well, all of these things are happening, right here in Lafayette and last Friday we had this wonderful chance to share the love we are learning to expeerience in daily life. We are sick of everyday Americanism of get more and more and more. But, we are also ready to do something different about life, or more specifically WITH life.

This was exemplified this past Friday at our 2011 Love Your Feet Day. About 20-25 of s took the day off from work and our schedules to be together and share the day with some of the folks in our own town that needed help the most. We invited anyone who needed help afffording shoes to join us and they came - at the end of it all, we were tired, but we had given love and been witness to the giving of love to hundreds of people. We gave away around 700 pairs of new shoes!!!

As part of my time on Friday, I had the joy of being able to tell people who werre coming to pick up their shoes that they were not being given shoes by some big fancy organization with government funding, but rather, they were being given shoes that were paid for by the money from the bank accounts of the people who were handing them the shoes! The expression on their faces melted. They were shocked to tears, and they exploded with gratitude and near disblelief that anyone would value them that much to spend hard earned money to buy shoes for them. They sensed the love in the room - it was no longer about shoes anymore, but about love and meaning. You see, they left with new shoes but mostly with new found respect for who they are made to be. For, at More than more, we value them. And if we do, maybe they should too!!

We spent time sitting on the floor and reading books with kids. We spent moments observing people as they removed their rag-like shoes in the hallway and slipped on their new shoes, then took a second to just look at their feet in them - smiling - feeling their feet feel good and their spirits feel valued. We saw children with little hair, grin widely when reminded that they are beautiful. We saw people confused that any simple group of people could really love like this without an agenda of some kind and without expecting anything in return. We saw individual members of More than more so broken hearted over those who came to late to sign up, take the names themselves and go buy the shoes after all the Love Your Feet was over. We saw people who had really never heard of More than more before crying tears of joy as they simply observed the giving of the day. We saw people who felt so little like they mattered that they did not want shoes for themselves, even though they needed them, only for their kids - only to be overwhelmed with gratitude when they realized that the shoes (and the love and value) could be for them too!

In short, it was a great way to spend a day! It was not all easy - there were some who were less than thankful, even hurtful. We were tired at the end, after it all, giving that sacrificially is not typical, or lightly done. But it was sooooo worth it!

In the evening, we spent a long time sitting around a campfire and sharing stories and challenges - with one end result:

We are going to do everything we can to live out this kind of love and mission in our everyday life, not just on Love Your Feet Day!

If this sounds like something you would like to be a part of, we would love to have you join us - we will be hanging out together at McAllister Recreation Center - just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette, from 6:45-8:00 PM this Thursday - the 3rd of November - of course there will be free,excellent childcare!