At a Sacrifice

In the first centuries
of Christianity
the hungry were fed
at a personal sacrifice,
the naked were clothed
at a personal sacrifice,
the homeless were sheltered
at personal sacrifice.
And because the poor
were fed, clothed and sheltered
at a personal sacrifice,
the pagans used to say
about the Christians
"See how they love each other."
In our own day
the poor are no longer
fed, clothed, sheltered
at a personal sacrifice,
but at the expense
of the taxpayers.
And because the poor
are no longer
fed, clothed and sheltered
the pagans say about the Christians
"See how they pass the buck."

-Peter Maurin

Only Here

This morning I was riding to work with Will. He was telling me this story of the day he met one of the homeless guys that come around the lounge here a lot. Will said he was behind the HUB cleaning a screen from his screen printing with the timothy initiative. He said 'The guy walked up and I would have sworn he was going to ask me for something but he just starting chit chatin' with me.' Will told me that he just kept waiting for it and then instead of asking for anything the guy turns slightly and starts pissing on the building! The dude is standing right next to will, looking back over his solder still talking to him. Classic. He asked me, 'seriously, what other church could I spend my time at were that could possibly happen.' Its true. I really love the absurd things that happen around us on a day to day basis. Some are humorous, some are extremely sad, but life is so eventful. Last week my friends saved a mans life by just being available to help drag his beaten body out of the woods and get him to a hospital (he had been beaten up and basically left to die and had laid there for two days before they found out and got him to the hospital for surgery). This week I sat with a friend over dinner at the good sam and he told me that he woke up the night before having nasty dreams about mrs. obama! He was cracking himself up with embarrassment as he confessed his dreams.
Only here.
This month we have had vomit on the sidewalk out front and poop in the alley out back.
I asked a mentally ill man about the hundred keys he weares around his neck. 'What can you get into with these?' I asked. 'I can get into your heart. I can also get into your head.' He replied as he smiled with delight.
A few weeks ago a neighbor broke into my car and stole some cds. One of my housemates caught him red handed so he said. 'I just want the cd's, can I still have them?'
There are a million stories like this that we never tell because it is the air we breathe. This is our daily life. Its our daily bread. I so love the life we live. It is a fun adventure.
Only here......

Invisible

Homeless. nameless. faceless. invisible.
God break our hearts!

just taking Jesus seriously

Breaking Through to Community

In confession the break-through to community takes place. Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disastrous is his isolation. Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light. In the darkness of the unexpressed it poisons the whole being of a person. This can happen even in the midst of a pious community. In confession the light of the Gospel breaks into the darkness and seclusion of the heart. The sin must be brought into the light. The unexpressed must be spoken openly and acknowledged. All that is secret and hidden is made manifest. It is a hard struggle until the sin is openly admitted. But God breaks gates of brass and bars of iron (Ps. 107:16).

Since the confession of sin is made in the presence of a Christian brother, the last stronghold of self-justification is abandoned. The sinner surrenders; he gives up his evil. He gives his heart to God, and he finds the forgiveness of all his sin in the fellowship of Jesus Christ and his brother. The expressed, acknowledged sin has lost all its power. It has been revealed and judged as sin. It can no longer tear the fellowship asunder. He is no longer alone with his evil for he has cast off his sin in confession and handed it over to God. It has been taken away from him. Now he stands in the fellowship of sinners who live by the grace of God in the Cross of Jesus Christ. Now he can be a sinner and still enjoy the grace of God. He can confess his sins and in this very act find fellowship for the first time. The sin concealed separated him from the fellowship, made all his apparent fellowship a sham, the sin confessed has helped him to find true fellowship with the brethren in Jesus Christ.

Moreover, what we have said applies solely to confession between two Christians. A confession of sin in the presence of all the members of the community is not required to restore one to fellowship with the whole community. I meet the whole community in the one brother to whom I confess my sins and who forgives my sins. In the fellowship I find with this one brother I have already found fellowship with the whole congregation. In this manner no one acts in his own name nor by his own authority, but by the commission of Jesus Christ. The commission is given to the whole and the individual is called merely to exercise it for the community. If a Christian is in the fellowship of confession with another brother he will never be alone again, anywhere.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together

How I found the Lake House

I came to Tampa a short while ago. I felt I was called here, but when when I got here I wasn't sure why I was here or what I was doing here. I ran into someone on the streets who like me was homeless. We were walking by hyde park and ran into some ladies handing out some flyers for this place called the underground. I didn't think much of it at the time so I folded up the paper and put it in my pocket. We went to find something to eat and a place to lay our heads for the night. The next day we decided to walk to ybor. Don't know why, I guess we didn't have anything better to do being homeless and all. It was about 1pm and we where tired of walking so we sat in front of this building. This guy came out and said you can come in and watch tv or use the computers, his name was jon. Though at the time we forgot about the piece of paper in our pocket. Jon told us about where we were, told us about the well and the underground and we remembered the lady handing us a flyer about the conference they just had there. He sat with us for a while talking and getting to know each other a little bit. He invited us over to his house for dinner. He called his house the Lake House. At the time I didn't know about micro churches and what they did. I just knew that I needed to go trying to make new friends in Tampa area. I was also trying to find some peace of mind by finding out why I felt called to Tampa. Well we went to dinner at the Lake House and found much more than just dinner. I found friendships and fellowship I've never encountered throughout my travels across the USA. Though I already had the Lord in my life it came even stronger. Jon told me what his community was about, how he had 10 people living together in community and how they try to help the homeless community. I stayed for their time of worship that night and felt a peace that I have never felt. Then and there I wanted to be a part of what they do to help their community in tampa. Even though I am homeless I felt called to stay around and help in any way I could. So jon showed me how I could help and I started to volunteer for with the banquet and again I felt that sense of peace. I still go go over to the Lake House and am friends with everybody there. They are all good and kind people and I've learned a lot from all of them. So thank you lake house, you've changed my life

-Tomas

A Sustainable Faith...the lake house way?

These past few weeks have brought to light many changes that we are all undergoing in each of our lives and how they impact us individually and in turn communally. I am learning that we must continue to strive, in spite of these changes, only 0n the heart of God. Life can weigh us down and we will burden ourselves with bringing the kingdom of God to our surroundings. We will do this, so often, without first pursuing God then all of what we do becomes efforts of the flesh, and my friends we are not strong enough, eloquent enough, or wise enough to accomplish even one step towards that kingdom. In fact we will fall backwards and do more damage than we could any good. We have to stay focused on seeking and discerning the plan for our lives and building a faith that is sustainable through the mess that we live in. The fact that we choose to live in the messiest parts of this mess carries with it a knowledge that we make life harder for ourselves for the benefit of others. But knowing at any moment we have the means to run away can become a temptation when we are burnt out, tired, betrayed or cold hearted. Sustainable faith is a faith dependent on God and seeking his will not what we imagine his will would be. There is a difference between helping a person because the bible says to help people, and being prompted by the spirit to help someone, or tell someone something, or just listening to someone. The later is much more effective, much more after the heart of God because he knows what each man needs within each moment. That is not to say we should not do work until we "feel God calling us to do work," we are always called to work and live in the mission field, whatever field that may be for you. But I have learned that we must seek God first. We must pray and fast and seek to hear from Him. He is our focus. If we maintain an active pursuit of a vertical faith in God, the horizontal love for each other will come naturally, and as we grow with Him so will we grow with each other. Our love will go beyond the brother in front of you and extend to the one you don't even know. Sustainable faith, dependent on the pursuit of God first will give us the strength to handle the tough changes in life and community. It will also give us direction in the areas we remain stagnant in. He will give us direction.

BTW, I am not sure of the way this conference will use the term sustainable faith, I just really like the term and felt it applied. Even more than that I love the poster itself...Jon D. reppin the Lake House. He tried.

inspiration from those who have gone before us. [urban homestead]

Robby's Secret Rat Hole

Gif maker

Πράξεις Σπίτι Λίμνηόλων

Then they returned to the Lake house from the store called OK Liquor, which is near Nebraska, a brisk evening walk from Ybor City. And when they had entered, they went up to the dining room in the house where they were staying, Patrick and Jon and Sam and Andrew, James and William, Nature, Robert and Natalia, scions of Bair. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the chickens and rabbits and dogs.

When the day of Wednes arrived, they were all together in one overcrowded living room. Their interpretations of the scriptures were varied, multifaceted, distractingly ill-conceived, and all were confused. Then a wind blew through the house-and no one thought much of it. One of the women who had been reluctant to speak amidst the brash and self-aggrandizing banter of the men did find the strength of conviction to speak to all gathered there. And behold, another who had pontificated beyond his understanding now found his understanding caught up in the truth he had hitherto only mindlessly echoed. And yet another heard a voice burn through the pages of an antiquated near eastern text, singeing the cynicism and aloofness by which he had hidden from his brothers. And though few knew it, they were all of them filled with the same Holy Spirit and began to speak each of the grace shown to them, and of their commonly felt command to give of themselves.  And at this sound the neighbors came together, and they were bewildered and astonished, saying, "Are not these who are speaking street folk? And yet they speak as ones who are blessed of God. And how is it that we hear wisdom from those who are fools? Homeless and poor, prostitutes and frat boys, students and knaves, scoundrels of suburbia and vagabonds-we hear them telling in their own words of the mighty grace of God." And they were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" But others mocking said, "They are filled with green herb and the blood of bunnies."

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ and prophets' teaching and to unlikely fellowship, to the breaking of organic bread and popcorn prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many plants were grown and cold bodies warmed by those learned and illiterate believers. And all who believed were together and loosed their grip on things in common, giving up more of their possessions and belongings and distributing to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the morning prayers together and breaking bread in their home, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having something akin to favor and sometimes hostility with the people. And the Lord added to their number month by month those who were being loved.