Prayer, Hospitality, Community, Sweat, and Initiative

So yesterday I woke up early to pray and eat breakfast with my community. We all gathered in the family room and had a great time of prayer. While we were praying 'Empress' Mary came to the door. Natalia went and sat with her while we continued praying. We just met Empress Mary the other day through a guy that was crashing at our house for a few nights. She is also on the streets and we have been doing our best to find female friends to put her up since we can't really host women guests in a house full of guys. She dropped in to get a shower and spend some time with us. We all chipped in after prayer to make a big breakfast to eat together and had her join us. It really was an awesome morning and I realized later how opportunities to love people literally just knock on our door. I am so grateful.

Then the day was filled with work at the HUB and a few meetings throughout the day. The Banquet (our thursday meal for neighbors that need it) was scheduled for the evening and the two main guys that run it were both gonna miss for different reasons. I made a few calls and friends that have my back came through to take care of the meal and make sure everything was taken care of and that all of our guests felt loved. It is so wonderful (and necessary) to have community in mission. I am so grateful.
I came home pretty exhausted from a full day. When I arrived I saw the lot next to our house full of cars and wondered what was happening. As I came in, the house was alive! David was teaching a spanish class in the library/eating room for about 6 or 7 friends. Robby was in the back yard with a bunch of friends/students/alumni from USF working on building a solar hot-water heater. Meanwhile Natalia was wandering the yard doing odds and ends throughout the gardens, cliff was washing a mountain of dishes and then a bunch more people showed up to go for a jog together and a few more to meet empress mary and hang out for a little while. God has given our community such favor. I am so grateful.

I also think it is worth mentioning after all of the air conditioning debates, our air is still off. We have wondered many times if people want to be at our house when it is this hot. I think last night was a glowing response to that question. They were hot and sweaty with us but they stayed there with us too. It afforded us countless opportunities to answer the question 'Why are you guys doing this?' I really believe God is at work in peoples hearts as we answer 'To break our addiction to comfort, to lessen our ecological footprint, to stand in solidarity with the poor, to save some money, and to learn creativity over compromise.' For a community and friends that chose each other over comfort, I am so grateful.
I laid down to sleep with sweat beading on my forehead and just smiled in gratefulness for such a wealthy and blessed life. God has been so good to us.

From a quick list i just jotted down I know of 22 people that were around the house last night!I am so grateful.