These two… their smiles, laughter, brutal honesty, their beauty… think they made me fall in love with Jackets for Jesus all over again.

That happens some Sunday nights.  When it does, I realize how fortunate I am, how genuinely blessed to be who I am, doing what I do.

This transparency, the open vulnerability on their part, telling their stories for the whole world to hear.  It wasn’t like that when we began.  It wasn’t like that in the first decade of our work together.  We never knew what the night might bring – from angry people with weapons to uncertain police officers needing to keep the peace – we had some very, very scary moments on the streets in that first ten or twenty years.  years…

My parents were alive then and they would stay up late in prayer – waiting for the phone to ring – mom always expected the worst to happen.

She would’ve loved these two.  The Sunday night video’s would’ve kept her riveted in disbelief at what God has done.  We use to get threatened if we brought a camera.  It’s why there are so few early photos of our work together on the streets.

Now we broadcast live – with a telephone – worldwide… every Sunday night.  And I doubt any of my own family watches it all.

It’s like we’ve become numb to the pain and suffering of others.  Don’t we have enough of our own.  Isn’t something on Netflix?

In the last three weeks I’ve interviewed a friend, a young Hispanic woman, who’s fought hard to get it together in the midst of urban poverty and somehow just can’t find her way out.  She’s amazing and my heart breaks for her.  I talked with a middle aged white guy who’s lost everything – he’s talented, educated, has family – but prison happened, drugs happened, and he’s spent the last five years on skid row.  And this couple – so full of life – so lost to their addiction – so longing for more…

I watch the interviews and I see God in them.

I hear the laughter of friends – poking fun at me – so old, so many Sunday nights – and I feel Grace radiate out from them.

I look at myself, at this point of my life and calling, doing something brand new… running an interview while trying to be the camera man… in the midst of dtla… while the team works in the background and this last Sunday night, hundreds of people go through line and are loved as they receive a meal, someone greets them and friends connect again.

Watching this I fell in love again; with God, the people I serve with, my calling, the people who allow us to serve them and with this young couple… they’re us… in many ways, the very best of us…

They Just Don’t Know It Yet.

We’re blind – or just busy looking at something else – if we miss it.

Jesus said “as you have done it to one of the least of these My brethren, you have done it to Me”  and welcomed folks into the Kingdom.  (Matthew 25:40) and conversely, to those who turned their heads and did nothing… well he had some eternally harsh words.

It’s the reason you “feel good” when you do good things.  You Were Created To Do Good.  It’s what we’re here for.  It’s our Ultimate Purpose in the grand scheme of things.

Even still… there are those moments that spark something new in us again, even when it seems like we’ve done the same thing and heard the same stories so many times… happened to me last Sunday night – I fell in love again with the amazing lives we get to live.

Couldn’t be happier about it.  Nothing like having that “sense of wonder” kindled anew… in hopes that it’ll break out into an all consuming fire within us.  The Fire that never goes out.

Watch the video.  Imagine they’re your kids, siblings, grand kids… then whisper a prayer for their safety and healing.  When you’re done, whisper a prayer that God would wake up a new sense of wonder in you again.  Wonder enough to get you out of the house and onto the streets with us this Sunday night.

Because we didn’t get to spend the last 30 years of Sunday nights together doesn’t mean we can’t make a great effort towards the next 30.

You’re Invited!

Eric