ON THE ROAD 11:53 PM

We're in nashville!!

Sunday Morning Love Addiction 11:50 PM

Sunday morning we went to church at the True Purpose Thrift Store. They added a bunch of folding chairs to the furniture section, and turned it into a makeshift church where we all sat in a big circle. The service was one of the coolest ones I've ever been to. Pastor Jeremy led for the most part, but was constantly opening up the floor to anyone who had something on their heart, something they needed prayer for, etc. Lot's of people were prayed for, lots of things were shared, and God's presence was strongly there through the whole thing.

You could tell that the guys in the program used to be living in a very different kind of lifestyle. There was a "rough around the edges" feel to them. But you could also tell that that wasn't who they were anymore. They were cleaned up, and had a gentleness and peacefulness that you could clearly see. That is why Tommy, the older man who was sitting behind us when we came in, stood out. He had all of the former, without the latter. Facial hair scruff, bloodshot eyes. He looked like he had just walked in off the street.

At the end of the service, Pastor Jeremy was asking if anyone had anything else they need prayers for, or if there was anyone present who had not ever asked Jesus into their hearts as their personal Lord and Savior. That's when Tommy spoke up.

Tommy had been addicted to drugs and alcohol since he was 13. A period of almost 30 years. He'd been in and out of jail, living on the streets, all alone. He had no family, both his parents were dead. He told us how he woke up in the middle of the night the night before, face wet from apparently crying in his sleep. He lied there in bed, sobbing, realizing that something in his life needed to change.

When he got out of bed in the morning (this same Sunday morning), he couldn't get a friend of his (who runs a local homeless shelter) out of his head. Everything he did, everywhere he went...there was his friends face. So he finally went to see his friend. Tommy told him that he was seeing him everywhere, that he couldn't get him out of his head, and that he wanted to change. He wanted to break this three decade addiction that had been running his life. His friend pointed him to True Purpose, and told him he should come to the church service.

And so Tommy spoke up, and told us all of this. He then went on to say that he was ready to ask Jesus into his heart. He knew he couldn't do it on his own any longer, but was ready to change with the help of God. He went up front, and Pastor Jeremy walked him through the steps. Everyone clapped and applauded, and many tears were shed by all.

It takes $200 to enter the program at True Purpose. This gets them into the program, and then they work at the thrift store, cut lawns, etc to help pay through the rest of it. We had decided yesterday as a group that we wanted to donate $200 to True Purpose for the next person who wanted to enter the program, but didn't have the money to afford it. After Tommy got up and shared his story, and accepted Jesus into his heart, we all knew immediately what we needed to do with the money.

After the service, we went up to Tommy to congratulate him, hug him, and encourage him. And then we told him that we just gave Pastor Jeremy a check for $200 for him to enter into the program. If we thought he was crying before, that was nothing.

He collapsed into his chair and just started weeping into his hands, overcome with joy and disbelief. Emotions overwhelmed all of us, and we just all stood there together crying and smiling. He was so grateful, both to us and to God. He told us that he had told God that he was ready to turn over a new leaf, if God would only provide the means.

I can very honestly say, that that was the coolest, most important thing I feel that I have ever done in my entire life. For just $200, we completely changed this man's life. That night Tommy ate a warm meal, and slept in a bed. He is on a path of new beginnings in his life, for the first time in 30 years, all because of an act of love.

The crazy thing is, we weren't even supposed to go to Tennessee. It was a last minute change. But I know now that we were and are exactly where we're supposed to be doing exactly what we we're supposed to be doing. I'm so thankful that we were able to be used in such an amazing way, touching a life that I know will go on to touch many others. That is an experience that will be with me for the rest of my life.

:) Jason

looking back... 4:13 PM

" LOVE MUST BE OUR REGULATING IDEAL. " - martin luther king jr.

" There are three words in the Greek language for love, one is the word eros. This is a beautiful type of love, it is an aesthetic love. Plato talks about it a great deal in his Dialogue, the yearning of the soul for the realm of the divine. It has come to us to be a sort of romantic love, and so in a sense we have read about it and experienced it. We've read about it in all the beauties of literature. I guess in a sense Edgar Allan Poe was talking about eros when he talked about his beautiful Annabel Lee with the love surrounded by the halo of eternity. In a sense Shakespeare was talking about eros when he said ` Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove: O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken; it is the star to every wandering bark. . . .´ (You know, I remember that because I used to quote it to this little lady when we were courting; that's eros.)

The Greek language talks about Philia which was another level of love. It is an intimate affection between personal friends, it is a reciprocal love. On this level you love because you are loved. It is friendship.

Then the Greek language came out with another word which is called the agape. Agape is more than romantic love, agape is more than friendship. Agape is understanding, creative, redemptive, goodwill to all men. It is an overflowing love which seeks nothing in return. Theologians would say that it is the love of God operating in the human heart. So that when one rises to love on this level, he loves men not because he likes them, not because their ways appeal to him, but he loves every man because God loves him. And he rises to the point of loving the person who does an evil deed while hating the deed that the person does. I think this is what Jesus meant when he said ` love your enemies.´

I'm very happy that he didn't say like your enemies, because it is very difficult to like someone bombing your home; it is pretty difficult to like somebody threatening your children; it is difficult to like congressmen who spend all of their time trying to defeat civil rights. But Jesus says love them, and love is greater than like. Love is understanding, redemptive, creative, goodwill for all men. "

- Martin Luther King Jr. Love, Law, and Civil Disobedience

i thought this was really cool :)

~ginger

A.BEAUTIFUL.MESSAGE 3:55 PM

TRUE PURPOSE THRIFT 3:25 PM

My Aunt put us up here in Knoxville.   The top of a mountain is a much different place than the suburbs of Miami.  It's beautiful.  

Outside of banana pudding and eclair pie, Tennessee has been amazing because of this place.  True Purpose Recovery is a group that is helping men clean up their lives after the disasters that come with drug and alcohol addiction.  Their hearts are so tender.  They are thankful.  They had to be some of the most genuine people I have ever met in my life. Alot of these guys are coming from tough situations and life threatening addictions.  You would expect them to be calloused and hopeless.  On the contrary, they seemed to be some of the most pure examples of unconditional love I have ever met in my life.

The thrift store helps fund the recovery program.  In the program, all the guys live, eat and work together.  They generate the money through the store and jobs, like mowing lawns, and spend the rest of their time learning how to live a more controlled life and growing spiritually.

The guys we got to work with were awesome.  Their stories left me in tears.  We hope to have footage up soon.  We asked one of them what love is.  The answer was so genuine.  He was one of the most loving people I have met.  He told us his story, which included almost losing his life to drugs, doing prison time, and getting shot in both of his legs in a drug deal gone wrong.  He described it as a miracle that he was alive and walking today.

He's been through so much and because of it, he was so thankful.  He went on about how great it is just to be alive.  He looks forward to finishing the recovery program and being the dad he has always wanted to be for his baby boy.  He said that just being alive was reason to be happy.  He said that even a smile can be loving someone.  That day, I saw him greet everyone that came into the store so lovingly.   He really cared about people.  He said if his smile and his reaching out to the customer could brighten their day, that's all he wanted.

 As we left the store, they were so kind to us.  They told us that coming their and helping without expecting a thing really touched them.  I think they changed me more.

:) 3:21 PM

this is for a special friend :)

<3333

GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS 2:57 PM

The trip has been amazing. It's only been a few days and i feel like my life has been changed. All the places we've gone to are places I've been before. Its interesting how the mindset we go to a place with changes what happens there. I'm walking the same streets but seeing them in different ways.

Our mindset has been love. Looking for people to help. The people that we've encountered here in Tennessee are changing the way I think.

As we drive along the highway I see every car and I'm trying to think about how that car isn't just a car cluttering the highway. It's a person. It's a mother. It's a son. It's a person with fears, and hopes, and needs, and dreams. Maybe something I do can help them reach their dreams. Maybe something I do can lead them to a Love that could calm their fear.

By the end of this trip I want to stop using the word I. It seems that 90% of my thoughts are about myself. I want to make it the other way around.

In LOVE EACH ONE news, here are our business cards!! :) They are much better than writing the blog name down on scraps of papers like we have had to. The cards feel so nice in the hand. They represent a dream coming into reality. They make me feel like this trip is bigger than us. We are handing them out where ever we can. Every act of love is accompanied by them.

I can't wait to see what the next few days hold. :) <3 Stan