Des Moines Dream Center

Matt and I helped the Des Moines Dream Center with their food distribution program on Saturday. We have never worked with this organization before but I was VERY impressed. Their volunteers were so nice and made Matt and I feel very welcome. And considering the task of putting together 170 bags of food, they were very organized. The first thing we did was assemble the bags which basically meant putting one brown paper bag inside of another, putting a Dream Center stick on it, and then stacking half of them on one side of the room and half on the other. Then we packed half of them with dry foods and the other half with frozen foods. We had all of the food on tables and then we walked along the tables putting the food in. I only packed the dry foods so I can't tell you for sure what was in the frozen bags. In the dry bags, they received 1 large can of juice, 2 cans of veggies, 2 cans of fruit, 1 bag of rice krispies, 2 small cans of tuna, 1 can of tomato sauce, 1 jar of italian seasoning, and a box of pasta. In the frozen bags they put in a combination of pork patties, scrambled egg squares, cheese, hamburger, sausage, and chicken. I think there might have been some bread too. After we got the bags all packed, we loaded them onto a truck and drove over to Evelyn Davis Park. At the park, those in need would come up to the tent and provide us with information about their family size, names, address, ect, and we would give them food in accordance with their family size. If they had 1-4 people they received one dry bag and one frozen bag. If they had 5+ members in their household they received 2 dry bags and 2 frozen bags. Many people are regulars at this distribution and their information is already compiled so we just checked them off. The Dream Center does food distribution like this twice per month. They mail flyers to everyone who uses their services to let them know what dates and times they will be at the park. My job was to greet people and either check them off the list or help them fill out the correct form. I had so much fun! Every person I met was so friendly. They were funny and sweet and very grateful for the help. It was a wonderful experience and I look forward to my next visit with the Dream Center.

PEACE, LOVE, CURE

Our Race for the Cure team is called "Peace Love Cure" this year. We have a team of over 20 people, but the really cool thing about our team is that we designed these t-shirts from Smash and we've almost sold 100! The t-shirts are $20 each and each purchase includes a $10 donation for breast cancer research via Susan G Komen for the Cure. Do the math people... we've almost raised an extra $1000 through these t-shirt sales! That's so cool. If you want to order one, let me know. Tomorrow is our last day for placing orders!

"Contemplation"

Twenty-five years ago, my friend Richard Exley read me some words I've never forgotten.

Here they are:

If I had my life to live over, I’d try to make more mistakes next time. I would relax. I would limber up. I would be sillier than I have been on this trip. I would be crazier. I would be less hygienic. I would take more chances. I would take more trips. I would climb more mountains, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets.

I would eat more ice cream and less beans.

I would have more real troubles and fewer imaginary ones. You see, I am one of these people who lives prophylactically and sensibly and sanely, hour after hour, day after day.

Oh, I have had my moments and, if I had it to do over again, I’d have more of them. In fact, I’d try to have nothing else - just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead each day.

I have been one of those people who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a gargle, a raincoat and a parachute.

If I had it to do over again, I would go and do and travel lighter.

If I had my life to live over, I would start barefooted earlier in the spring and stay that way until later in the fall. I would play hooky more. I would ride on more merry-go-rounds.

I’d pick more daisies.

(These words have been attributed to Nadine Stair, Don Herold, an unnamed monk and countless other authors. The only person that I’m sure didn’t write them is me. - RHW)


Richard's reading of those words still echoes in my mind. I can hear his unique inflection on every syllable.

I was twenty-four when he read to me. We were sitting in his office, working on an ad campaign. On Saturday I'll be fifty.

I consider those words to be some of the most wondrous I was ever given.

And now I've given them to you.

Roy H. Williams (Wizard of Ads)
From the Monday Morning Memo - March 24, 2008

Created Not To be Broken

Last Saturday, I went with a group of 15 other people from my church to do a service and mission project for Hope Ministries. Hope Ministries is an organization in Des Moines that serves homeless men, women, and children through a variety of programs. They offer shelter and recovery programs that are all Christ based. They also run the Hope Bargain Center which takes donations similar to a Goodwill and either sells, recycles, or gives away items to those in need. Our group worked for two hours at the Bargain Center on Saturday, then we ate lunch with the community at Hope Cafe, and then we took supplies to homeless tent camps along the river. It was an eye opening and heart breaking experience. People who live in the tent camps usually choose to do so because they are struggling with alcohol or drug addiction. They have shelter available to them, but they don't want to have to follow rules or give up their addiction. You can see the sadness and hopelessness on their faces and you want so badly to shake them and tell them that there's a better way. Instead we brought new socks and underwear, beef stew, sandwiches, bottled water, and cookies we baked and we sat down and talked with them for a little while. They are used to having people come visit them on Saturdays so they were open to us being there and they were pretty friendly. A few of them wouldn't come out of their tents, but they allowed us to leave supplies for them and pray over their tent and camp.

It was a great experience and it really made me want to do more to support Hope Ministries and all that God is doing through this wonderful organization! More than that though it made me so thankful that I understand that all things are possible through Christ and nothing is too hard to overcome through Him. It breaks my heart to see people struggling through life when they don't have to. According to the book of Ephesians, "even before God made the world He loved us and chose us to be Holy in Christ and without fault in His eyes." God didn't create anyone to be miserable and broken, he's given us a way to be complete and perfect in his eyes and all we have to do is accept the free gift of salvation that Jesus offers us. If we can humble ourselves before the Lord and confess that we mess up and we need help, the Holy Spirit is available to us and Jesus is there for us. I saw my father struggle through alcohol addiction and I saw the shame and hurt that he felt and even thinking about it now makes my heart hurt. He wrote a letter before he passed away detailing the things that he was most proud of in his life. Events or accomplishments that to him showed he was worthy of having lived. I wish I could have told him that even if he'd never accomplished any of those things, God found him worthy and there was nothing he could do to earn God's love. It's a free gift. No matter how much we believe or don't believe in God, God believes in us. My dad and I didn't have many heart to heart conversations, but I wish I would have told him about God's love for him because maybe it would have made a difference. That experience and that memory is one of the things that really makes me want to help people and really makes me want to share the message of Christ. I don't want to see people hurting and I don't want them to miss out on the greatest relationship of all time... a relationship with the creator of the universe who says he chose you before he even created the world. Wow, that's powerful.

Your Life Changes the Moment You Decide It.

I watched a Tony Robbins web video a few weeks ago. He said "Your life changes the moment you decide it." So true.

Stop and Think

Jolynn's Birthday Photo

We celebrated Jolynn's golden birthday over the weekend. She turned 27 on the 27th!