A Mission Story...

I simultaneously feel zealous to share our lives with all of you, and insecure of anyone wanting to hear it at all. I often say our life is a movie, where God is the director and He feeds us lines one at a time so that none of us know what’s coming next. It keeps us humble and genuine. We’ve wanted to quit the set many times, but then he brings on a victory or a love story or a dramatic moment that simply must be followed through because our hearts are once again invested. So we soldier on, we show up, we say the lines that He puts in our hearts and we watch the scenes unfold. It’s an incredible life that we get to live, a true testament to “those who lose their life will find it.”
We counted the cost, gave it all up and jumped all in - and man has God been faithful to lead us into our Life.

I’m the wife, Kalon, and I write about 85% of what you read online and in print regarding our ministry. I love writing and collecting all the stories, but these past 2 years they have come so hard and so fast that I’ve barely been able to capture them at all. One leads into the next and the sun rises and sets and before I know it, dozens are lost to time alone. But the character they have built in us, the faith that has grown through the wounds and the heartbreaks and the wins and the salvations we’ve seen… those things prove that the stories have happened and that things have changed… that the Lord is King and His story is true. Perhaps this year I will get to write more of them down. 

Banana Fosters & The Lost Daughter

A few weeks ago, we had a guest chef (and great friend) join us for our weekly breakfast in the park with the homeless community. He’s pretty famous by now, and we laugh about it. He was full of joy to provide one of his signature dishes - Loaded Banana Fosters Waffles. They are vegan, gluten-free, organic and high level stuff. And our homeless were blessed with them! It warmed my heart, honestly. Every person is worth feeling loved and seen.

When people think of feeding the homeless, I’m afraid it's become some glorified concept of altruism. It’s not though. It’s rough and raw, full of life-ruining mistakes, loneliness, anger, and sometimes addictions. We say the “homeless community” as if they are unified in solidarity and of one accord, a community. But this isn’t so. It is often every man and woman for themself, an eat or be eaten kind of life. Loyalties exist for mutual benefits - such as protection, companionship, sex, money or resources. Unless they were committed to one another prior to becoming homeless, partnerships are mostly transactionary. What can you do for me? People steal from one another, hurt one another, betray one another. If you attend only a single “feeding” (I don’t like to use this word, because they are not animals. They are human beings.) you might easily think they are all friends! But no, they know much more about one another's doings in the night than you ever will, and they have learned to be around one another with an uneasy tolerance. There are a few safe ones though, a few who carry themselves with integrity and look out for the newly homeless or the vulnerable. A few who only hurt others when they fall back into addiction and then they hate what they do. A few who are here without papers and live in a type of homeless limbo because they have no way forward with our government’s system. A few who have been so hurt by others in their life, that they don’t want to be part of normal society anymore and find comfort in being a vagabond. A few who are homeless only for a season, but do everything needed to get back on their feet in a decent timeline. Often, these are the ones who walk with others peaceably and work to bring order in this lawless layer of society.

On the Banana Fosters Waffle day, we arrived at the park and I immediately saw her. She was quite young and beautiful underneath the grime that life had coated her with. She had affixed herself to Keith, a young man we knew well, and it didn’t make sense. As I approached them I saw it - the hospital bracelet on her left wrist. Here it was 52 degrees out and she was wearing a tiny skin-tight spandex dress, no shoes, and a hand filled with hospital papers.  She’d been Baker Acted and released this morning into the world, which greeted her coldly in more ways than one. Keith is one of the peaceful people I mentioned earlier, and he allowed her to cling to him out of kindness. Clearly, she was a lost and deeply wounded woman. Did I mention her black eye? Shaved head? That she borrowed Keith’s phone to call 4 different people and each of them refused to come pick her up or welcome her in? I served her the waffle and drove straight home to grab her some clothes, toiletries, and boots. It doesn’t matter what she is guilty of in the darkness of night. If Jesus our Lord was here, He would wrap her up and tell her she is beautiful, and she would actually hear it. His words would penetrate through the grime and dirt, the layers of abuse, prostitution and the hurt. He’d be able to make it right and reclaim His lost daughter. Oh how I long for that day with all my heart, come soon Lord, come soon!

As for me, I got to wrap her up in a sweater. Tell her she is precious and beautiful while she looks away in an anxious fog. But I did get to pray over her, she said I could. Oh I prayed with all my heart that the Lord would wrestle her into His love, that He would reveal to her her worth and the sacrifice He made on her behalf. She trembled as I prayed, and then she went on her way to more of the same. I believe in prayer, and that it goes with her into the dark. I believe that the Lord will watch over her soul in the midst of the terrible madness. I have to believe in these things you see, because otherwise my soul would be overcome with grief every day that we are out here.

God is so good. He knows all of these stories and He invites us to play a part in them. You are all a part of them too. You are a part of this one, and many more in your own daily lives that I will never know. Your support of us makes a difference. You pay for our precious time, that we may continue to give it freely. You equipped me to pray for this lost daughter on this day - to be Jesus to her for a moment, a small respite from the enemy. 

You are making a difference, please know this! We thank you and pray for the Lord to continue to bless you abundantly so that you may know He is King and sow more into the Kingdom. Thank you, thank you so much for your obedience. 

May God be with you today and always, 

Kalon & Jesus