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Loving Columbus
I'm all choked up. Amazed, delighted, humbled, joyful... All tears & giggles... People ask me if we've "started anything" in Columbus yet, and sometimes I get the sense they might feel let-down by my answer. And then...
if i don’t live it, i can’t write it
Meet our friend, Tennessee. He's a fun, sweet guy in his 50s, far from home. He has an infectious laugh, and greets his friends with a distinctive "yay-ey!" that lets you find him easily, even in a crowd. He loves his freedom, loves to travel, yet he has also been feeling a need to settle down.
changes under the bridge
Things have been very different since we lost our friend James last month. The atmosphere has been dark. Several people who lived near the park have left, and the ones who remain are quieter, and more scattered. Also, the rain is here, and that means we move back to the area that’s covered by the overpass, [...]
A Beautiful Gathering
The memorial service was a beautiful gathering. It was crowded, bigger than anything we’d done in that park before. But we had just enough food to go ’round, beautiful flowers, and lots of connection. Tears flowed, and I had the feeling that folks really got to do the mourning they needed to do. Here’s a news [...]
James David Pelfrey Memorial
Please note the time change We’ll be having a memorial service on Labor Day for James David Pelfrey. His family has provided flowers, music & fried chicken in the hopes that he’ll be remembered the way they’d like to remember him. If you’d like to help remember James (David) please come. If you have the [...]
insomnia
James Pelfrey was among the first men I got to know in this “park” ministry, and over the past seven months I spent a fair amount of time with him. Yesterday, James died, in the very park where we met. So, now I’m remembering James losing sleep over another man’s death. Last may, a homeless man [...]
we lost a friend yesterday
We lost a friend Tuesday night. James was stabbed in broad daylight in the park where he lives. And if you don’t know Eugene, please understand that this is not something that happens every day here. We don’t have places where people are killed on a regular basis. We are a pretty quiet town, though [...]
some things are hard to remember
Among the dozens of drunks we’ve met in the short duration of our ministry, only a few have told us that they hate it and hope to stop living in that pattern. Among those, only one has shown serious effort in that direction, that we’ve seen. Len has reached out to us in his efforts, [...]
under a bridge, mourning
It was early spring, chilly outside. We'd been coming to the bridge for several weeks, but not long enough yet for it to feel like home. We still felt... different. We arrived with a stack of pizzas to share and a smile, as usual. We stood under the bridge while the rain came down outside. A young woman sat staring at her pizza, tears running down her face.
Sometimes it’s hard to know how to love
We were in the park with our friends, and a guy walked up. I got a very creepy feeling from him, like he was really dangerous. Or like he didn't see me as a person. As he walked away, my friend said he was a "psychopath", which had been my thoughts exactly.