We have it pretty good, you know. Yesterday was kind of a rough day, some ups, mostly downs. As I fumed and fussed, utterly without perspective, it wasn’t until I thought about serving today that I was able to recognize that no matter what went wrong for me yesterday, I am still blessed and more fortunate than a lot of folks.

This model was “fully loaded!”

What’s better than riding with friends to serve in the community? Making some new ones. (That’s my cheese-ball bit.) Today we were joined by a very enthused new rider, who I think we’ll be seeing more of. Matt came out this morning and rode with us and was a great new energy and spirit for the group. None of us take for granted what we do, but at the same time it’s still very refreshing and inspiring to see fresh eyes get to experience our outreach. Awesome to have you Matt, we look forward to riding with you again soon!
We were very fortunate to be able to hand out 195 burritos this morning! Our burritos came from several volunteers who we are privileged to know and have along for “the ‘ride.” It’s a blessing to us to be able to do this, but it’s never enough. Even when we give out 195 burritos, we still have folks who approach us after we’ve run dry and we have to just hope we get them next time. As you can see from the photo above, our trailer was so jam-packed with burritos and water that we had to bungie a cooler bag to the top! (And almost lose it in the street! Good catch, Dunlap!)
One of the folks we met today, a new person for me, was Eric Thomas. Eric is homeless and has been since, I believe, 2008. He’s in the process of trying to get back on his feet, hopes to start a non-profit, and wants to get working again with craft. He creates art and objects out of driftwood. He has a small website that he’s not updated since 2008, which is how he marks the beginning of his homelessness. I hope to get a picture of Eric soon, and learn a little bit more about him. In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more about Eric’s art, you can check out his site. Eric also has a mountain bike that he’s pretty proud of, and he says he’s going to come out and serve with us sometime!

Didja know that: We’ve posted on Craigslist and we’ve peppered coffee shops with fliers, and we’re getting some real return on those investments! Just in the past 24 hours we’ve gotten 8 or 10 new “Likes” for our Facebook page, and a few subscribers to this email as well! We’re stoked to have you!

They Like us!

Murphy’s Law states…

I won’t bore you with the minutiae of our lives, but I will potentially entertain you quickly with some of yesterday’s lighter curve balls! I had to make 3 batches of burritos yesterday for today’s ride, plus a small portion of eggless burritos for our allergy folks. So, we’re looking at about 10 cans of beans that needed to be open. Our can opener, which had been limping along at best up to this point, completely imploded before I’d gotten the first can open! Have you ever used a “churchkey” opener (above) for a can? I’m not even sure I did it the right way, but it was a bear opening 10 cans of black beans with this thing! Plus, prior to beginning, I walked into the kitchen and flipped on the lights, only to be rewarded with a buzzing noise and flickering; switch shorted out. Old houses, what are you gonna do? Without the time to run out to the hardware store and buy switches to replace the old ones with, I had to resort to clamp-on lighting (below) to get the job done…

Is God telling me to “Lighten up!”

ARGH!! Deep breath, focus on tomorrow…