Krumly said, "That's Jesus, how long has He been there?"

Good morning,
I pray the day finds you well.

We are getting ready to emerge next week. Our YMCA will be ready to have our "Y" family come back in!

One of the things we have been doing is moving things around so we can provide a socially distanced environment.

We moved a piano.

Krummly (Not his real name, you get the gist) looked at the spot where the piano once lived, as he looked at the spot his gaze went up to a picture that hung above the piano. The picture is of Jesus with a kid on His lap and a bunch more surrounding Him.

Krumly said, "That's Jesus, how long has He been there?"

Esmeralda replied, "Jesus has always been there. He never left."

I was not here when this took place, Esmeralda recounted it to me later when I came in.

She explained to Krumly that it is the same with Jesus and himself; that Jesus was always with him and has never left.

Krumly told me later, recounting the experience with Esmeralda, that while he was a little embarrassed that he had not noticed Jesus he loved how Esmeralda used the experience to explain that Jesus was always with him.

During these times it might be easy to forget to talk to Jesus, to talk to God. Just know that Jesus, God doesn't forget about us and is their for us.

We are opening our doors next week.

It is good to know that Jesus has had His door open all along.

Something to ponder.

Blessings,
Roger

Anybody out there that wants to help me feed hungry kids?

Good morning,
I pray the day finds you well.

A mobile food truck. What if the YMCA (the"Y") took meals to people in need?

That was the question I posed to my buddy Jamison who runs the free meals program for Portland Parks and Rec. He loved the idea.

I posed the same question to my friend Becci who runs the free meals program for Clark County Washington, she loved the idea too.

We have plenty of locations that if you go to them they will feed you. What we don't have is food that will travel to those communities that do not have a location in them.

I quote Richard Foster all the time, "Self-righteous service is, here I am. This is what you need, so this is what I will provide. True service is, here I am. I do not know what you need, tell me, I do not know if I can provide it, but I will try."

Self-righteous service is saying, "We provide meals but you have to come to us."

When we asked the community they said, "Having places to go to get a meal is great, but we have kids that cannot get to those meal sites. We need a meal site that comes to us."

We said, "Ok, we heard you. We do not know if we can do that, but we will try.

So we went to work.

We have the opportunity now to feed kids that are going hungry in our most desperate Neighborhoods in our community.

We will partner with the food/meal groups.

We will reallocate a bus/van.

We will get volunteers.

We will find money to do this.

We will feed hungry kids.

We will feed hungry kids because it is the right thing to do.

I know all the metrics on how kids that are well fed do better in school/society.

We will feed kids because they are hungry, but we will also come into right relationship with them and their families.

Why do we do these things?

We do these things because that is what Jesus did.

Anybody out there that wants to help me feed hungry kids?

Something to ponder.

Blessings,
Roger

You can't touch me

Good morning,
I pray the day finds you well.

I had writer's block this morning. Usually my routine is to write the bread before the day gets in the way but this morning was different.

God hadn't given me anything yet so I took that as Him saying, "Go to work, I will talk to you later." So I did.

I got to the "Y" and it was it's usual quite self.

Virtual camps were going, Eddie was off doing whatever it is that Executive Directors do in the morning. I did my walk through of the building. Old habits die hard.

When I got back to my office Esmeralda (Again, not her real name, but a story always goes better with a name attached.) was there.

We decided to go get coffee at the local Starbucks.

Side note: Trevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvor you will understand this; Esmeralda picked her own Bread name. I would have named her Sue for the ease of writing it, but no she had to be Esmeralda. At least I get to pick the spelling.

Back to our story:

We go through the drive through of Starbucks and order our drinks.

When we get to the window the Barista hands out our drinks inside another larger cup. Immediately M.C. Hammer comes to mind and I start singing!

But me being me I changed the lyrics to fit the moment. Of course Esmeralda joined in.

It goes like this:

You can't touch me
You can't touch me
You can't touch me
You can't touch me
My, my, my my music hits me so hard
Makes me say, "Oh my Lord"
Thank you for blessin' me
With a mind to rhyme and two hype feet
It feels good, when you know you're down
A super dope homeboy from the Oaktown
And I'm known as such
And this is a beat, uh, you can't touch
I told you homeboy (You can't touch me)
Yeah, that's how we livin' and ya know (You can't touch me)
Look in my eyes, man (You can't touch me)
Yo, let me bust the funky lyrics (You can't touch me)
Fresh new kicks, and pants
You gotta like that, now you know you wanna dance
So move outta yo seat
And get a fly girl and catch this beat
While it's rollin', hold on!
Pump a little bit and let 'em know it's goin'…

The Barista was not impressed. I am sure the person behind us who I am sure was ordering for the entire office was not impressed either.

God liked it though.

He said, "You know Roger people like going to church, singing songs, being with people and some even like listening to the message. But when I say something like, "maybe you might consider doing this differently, or thinking about that person differently, or changing an action, I get 'You can't touch me' it is like they are singing that silly song."

In this time of social distancing, don't social distance from God.

Not only listen to what He has to say, but do what He asks you to do.

Something to ponder.

Blessings,
Roger

Things I have learned from a Chinese menu.

Good morning,
I pray the day finds you well.

It is raining today.

I like the rain, it is like God is giving the world a shower. The pollen gets knocked to the ground, the air smells fresh and new. The plants seem like they like the fresh drink.

Now don't get me wrong, I like the sun as well. A nice sunny day is the best day for a canoe ride.

But I can still find plenty of fun stuff to do in the rain. Hiking in the rain is not bad at all. And working in my office always feels a bit cozier when it is raining. In fact, I don't mind working in my office when it is raining; as opposed to working in my office on a nice sunny day, which can be hard.

I have heard myself say, "Ugggg, it is such a nice sunny day I wish I was outside." I do not seem to say that when it is raining, just say-in.

I know some people don't like the rain. It gives them the blues.

I seem to get more counseling done on rainy days.

I have a friend who suffers from melanoma, he is afraid of the sun. He actually prefers drizzly days.

I guess we are all different.

Whether it is the weather we prefer, or the food that we eat, or the things we like to do, we all have different opinions on things.

And that is ok.

Things I have learned from a Chinese menu.

They have Mandarin Chinese food.
They have Cantonese Chinese food.
They have hot, spicy food.
They have mild food.
They even have an American option on the menu.

Have you ever wondered why a Chinese restaurant would have so many options?

Because they have learned that not everyone likes Mandarin Chinese food, or Cantonese Chinese food, or Chinese food altogether.

They have also learned that when families, or a group of people come in to eat, that this disparity of food preferences exists in the family or group. The restaurant doesn't care what your food preference is, they just want you all to eat in their restaurant.

The Chinese restaurant listened to the people in their community and gave them the "Chinese restaurant" experience they wanted.

If a Chinese restaurant can listen to the people in its community so can we.

We need to do a better job of listening.

When I say we I mean me, you, us, our communities, our organizations...all of us need to listen.

It is only through listening that we can become more like a Chinese menu.

Which will give people the feeling that we are one.

Something to ponder.

Blessings,

Asphalt or Cedar Shakes

Good morning,
I pray the day finds you well.

This cancer/chemo thing has lost its novelty.

It was a few years ago now that the commercials started to come across the T.V. about the Chickenpox and how if you had them when you were a kid then you are at risk for shingles as an adult. I went to my doctor and said, "I had chickenpox, do I need a vaccine?"

She said, "Roger you have been so heavily vaccinated in your life and you are so healthy you don't need to worry."

Skip forward a few years.

Throw in a few bouts of cancer

Add 7-months of Chemo.

Walla, my immune system is so depressed that now I have shingles!!!

They are located right on top of the incisions from my lung surgery. They are on my side so every time I bend or move they say hello.

People ask me silly questions, "Does it hurt?"

I reply, "Yes."

They ask, "How long do they last?"

I say, "I don't know."

The funny thing is as much as shingles are a nuisance, having shingles doesn't stop me from doing anything.

I feel like Paul, He said, "Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated" (2 Corintians 12:7b)

While it is true that I am not elated to have shingles, I am still in good spirits.

I cannot help but see God's wondrous mystery around me. I hiked the upper portion of the Cape Horn trail yesterday and saw many wondrous things.

I came home to phone calls from my kids telling me they love me.

Covid-19 and the seclusion it brought showed me that my wife does not get tired of me, that is a good thing."

I may have cancer, which lowered my immune system to the point that I breakout in shingles and have to watch out for Covid-19, I am still happy though.

Maybe Paul had shingles. Shingles feel like a thorn.

The funny thing that I learned about pain. I can still help people even if I am feeling pain.

We are getting ready to feed kids for the summer. The pain of going hungry is worse than my pain.

I will do my best to alleviate their pain.

I am looking for a few good people to help me.

Something to ponder.

Blessings,
Roger

The Impossible Dream

Good morning,
I pray the day finds you well.

The year was 1844 and a young man was about to do something that was about to become a life changing movement all across the world. He dreamt of a world where young men did more than fight and bicker. Did more than just live for the moment. He dreamt of changing the world.

He dreamt the impossible dream.

He dreamt:

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest, to follow that star
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far
To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march
Into hell for a heavenly cause

And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lay peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this
That one man scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To fight the unbeatable foe
To reach the unreachable star

That man was George Williams, the founder of the YMCA.

We have more men and women just like George in our "Y's" today.

People that want to see:
Families not torn apart by drugs and violence.
Kids lives not destroyed by alcohol and drugs
Communities not torn apart but coming together to solve issues
People not living in fear

We have men and women in our y's" that want to see:
People helping one another
People caring for one another
Entire communities loving their neighbor.

We too dream the impossible dream.
We too fight the impossible fight.
We too reach for the unreachable star

And the world will be better for it.

Our CEO Tyler (Yep that is his real name. People need to know you) sent me this song, it says how we feel.

If that one man scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To fight the unbeatable foe
To reach the unreachable star

So can we.

Something to ponder.

Blessings,
Roger

Trevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvor makes a statement

Good morning,
I pray the day finds you well.

Our CEO Trevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvor and a team of people at the YMCA of Columbia-Willamette have come together and written a statement regarding the events of the near past.

I am so glad they did!

Here is the statement:

The YMCA of Columbia-Willamette stands in unity with all who are protesting the killing of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and countless other black men and women across our nation. We support the drive to equity and justice and believe that Black Lives Matter.
We are listening, curious, and devoted to taking responsibility in benefitting from racial injustice in our community, and will no longer stand idle in the face of these inequities. We proclaim through our core values of love, respect, honesty, responsibility and service that our Y is truly FOR ALL, and commit to the following:
· We will listen more closely to those whose voices haven’t been heard.
· We will stand up and speak out against injustices.
· We are dedicated to removing any institutional systems or barriers that result in discrimination.
· We will create a passionate culture of diversity and inclusion for our staff, our members, and our volunteers.

Trevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvor also said:

Regarding the statement, I've heard some of you say it's too late. I've heard some of you feel it isn't strong enough. I've heard some feel it doesn't say enough. I truly appreciate your comments and please continue to share with me.

I offer though this quote for you to ponder;
"The real difference between the United States and other nations lies not in the words of the preamble to the Constitution, but in the fact that the substantive clauses are enforced by individuals independent of and not beholden to the elected branches."

His recognition that there are many in the room with a variety of feelings, shows not only his emotional intelligence but also his willingness to not only listen but that those speaking have been heard.

I am proud to be part of such a committed team that is focused on loving their community.

Blessings,
Roger