Notes from my Knapsack 1-26-23
Jeff Gill
Five years, progress still needed
___
Five years ago as January was nearing its end, something new was heading our way.
A "polar vortex" was forecast to rumble across central Ohio, with lows in the negative two digits. I'd been involved in housing and homelessness responses in Licking County since 1992, and knew from recent work in the community we had at minimum dozens of unsheltered homeless, people who for a variety of reasons were outside of the hatful of emergency shelters we had and blessedly do have in our area.
Whatever the reason, the expected ten below and half a foot of snow was going to put unbearable stress on the lives of people living without shelter, so I did some checking around, by phone and email, for what our emergency response plan was. To boil down a slew of communications, the replies came down to "yeah, we need to think about that, too; maybe next year."
So I called a few leaders of the church I served in 2018, and another person seeing the same grim prospects heading our way did the same. Over the next three nights, a motley array of volunteers and donated materials came into two church basements that opened hearts and doors to sheltering people who had nowhere else to go.
I'll be blunt: when people ask me if it worked, my reply was "no one died." That's really what was at stake. It got to minus thirteen at my location, and not my tongue but my fingertips did, in fact, stick to the metal of the church sign as I was putting up a notice that we were open. I went inside to warm up before I did the other side. It was dangerously cold. We were not trying to save souls or herd people into recovery or even urge folks to sign up for housing programs, though information was made available, and a few individuals asked to pray upstairs.
But we did this simply to ensure that, unlike some other places around Ohio and the Midwest, we didn't let death end a person's story. I heard those nights myriad reasons why people were homeless; some stories made sense and put a chill down my back in a warm basement, and others didn't quite add up, but I heard them out, offered what support and guidance we could. Most of them had a plan, some realistic, others less so, but they all had a dream of not living like this, sooner or later. The point of the warming shelter was to give them a chance to work out those dreams in practical terms, in due time.
That's still why we do it. Later on in 2019 we were blessed with the support of the Licking County Foundation to put together a Warming Center Task Force. It's still volunteers and church basements and bits and pieces of a plan. We set a guideline of opening up if it got colder than 10 degrees overnight, bumped it up to 15 degree overnight lows, and this past year pushed it back to 10 degrees simply because we are NOT trying to stay open all winter.
The emergency warming centers are not a solution for anything, honestly. They exist, when the steering committee decides to open, to save lives. You could make a case for being open whenever it's below freezing at night, but that's a different program and frankly it can't work on an all volunteer basis. Thank you to the many of you reading this who have helped out, in large ways and small.
The work continues, the solutions imperfect, but where there is life, there is hope.
Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he's been cold, but not that cold. Tell him how you keep your heart warm at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.
Thursday, January 05, 2023
Tuesday, January 03, 2023
Faith Works 1-20-23
Faith Works 1-20-23
Jeff Gill
Faithful fitness deep in wintertime
___
How's that resolution going?
Yep, rhetorical question. I know, it's not going well, because they rarely do. You haven't read me recommending resolutions for a new year, because I just don't see them as a good tool for self-change. Great for gym memberships, terrible for transformation.
Speaking pastorally, I've got to start out by saying, and as a Christian I'm going to Jesus this up a bit: you really need to do some spiritual surrender to see your life change, and not try harder. Seriously. (Or srsly, if I were texting you this.)
It all starts with God, and about God. It's a God thing, I'm saying. So much personal improvement runs onto the rocks of "me"; not so much in terms of selfishness, but in framing the issue as something you can and should and must do. I must put myself on the path to change, I must do the work, I must be able to . . .
Look, I have a gospel message for you. God loves you. Exactly as you are. Period.
Yeah, I hear the chorus: but God hates sin, God doesn't love brokenness, we are called and chosen to . . . fine, all true, but let's start where Jesus started. Not where most personal trainers start. You are a beloved child of the Most High right where you are, whatever your weight or resting heart rate is. God loves you, and has a plan and a purpose for you. Rest in THAT, please, and get rooted in that. Now. To start with. As you are.
Got it? God loves you, and yes, loves you so much that you might just find God working to move you somewhere different than where you are right now. Where? I may not be the best person to answer that. You and God can, though. You don't talk to God much? Well, that's my one personal trainer, physical fitness mandate to offer. You should spend more time getting in tune with, in listening to God, until you have some faint sweet sense that you are hearing where God wants you to go.
I strongly doubt that will mean running for most of you. But I have a friend who finds God out there on the running track or plodding along the slushy streets even in winter, putting in miles, and communing with the Lord. That's not a commandment for us all, that is his communion.
Again, the point is not that you put more effort or work or will power into trying to do what God wants out of you: God loves you. Know that. And in accepting that knowledge, and living into it, I firmly believe you will find a path opening for you.
That path might go to and through a gym, a program, a coach, a friend or accountability partner; God might guide you around the block, to the park, or just around your living room in high-stepping during the commercials as you watch TV. You may adjust your diet, but I have to admit I don't even like that word. Too much baggage, I say, and I'm a preacher who likes to try to renew words with baggage, like repentance and salvation. But the word diet may just be beyond redemption.
Just eat, eat what you like, and more importantly, eat what blesses you. And I do believe that if you come to an awareness of how God is at work in you already, you'll figure out what to eat to live, and be blessed, and in communion with God's purposes.
Maybe even with some bread and wine.
Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he's working on both surrender and acceptance, and praying for health as a consequence, not a reward. Tell him how you stay fit for God's glory at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.
Jeff Gill
Faithful fitness deep in wintertime
___
How's that resolution going?
Yep, rhetorical question. I know, it's not going well, because they rarely do. You haven't read me recommending resolutions for a new year, because I just don't see them as a good tool for self-change. Great for gym memberships, terrible for transformation.
Speaking pastorally, I've got to start out by saying, and as a Christian I'm going to Jesus this up a bit: you really need to do some spiritual surrender to see your life change, and not try harder. Seriously. (Or srsly, if I were texting you this.)
It all starts with God, and about God. It's a God thing, I'm saying. So much personal improvement runs onto the rocks of "me"; not so much in terms of selfishness, but in framing the issue as something you can and should and must do. I must put myself on the path to change, I must do the work, I must be able to . . .
Look, I have a gospel message for you. God loves you. Exactly as you are. Period.
Yeah, I hear the chorus: but God hates sin, God doesn't love brokenness, we are called and chosen to . . . fine, all true, but let's start where Jesus started. Not where most personal trainers start. You are a beloved child of the Most High right where you are, whatever your weight or resting heart rate is. God loves you, and has a plan and a purpose for you. Rest in THAT, please, and get rooted in that. Now. To start with. As you are.
Got it? God loves you, and yes, loves you so much that you might just find God working to move you somewhere different than where you are right now. Where? I may not be the best person to answer that. You and God can, though. You don't talk to God much? Well, that's my one personal trainer, physical fitness mandate to offer. You should spend more time getting in tune with, in listening to God, until you have some faint sweet sense that you are hearing where God wants you to go.
I strongly doubt that will mean running for most of you. But I have a friend who finds God out there on the running track or plodding along the slushy streets even in winter, putting in miles, and communing with the Lord. That's not a commandment for us all, that is his communion.
Again, the point is not that you put more effort or work or will power into trying to do what God wants out of you: God loves you. Know that. And in accepting that knowledge, and living into it, I firmly believe you will find a path opening for you.
That path might go to and through a gym, a program, a coach, a friend or accountability partner; God might guide you around the block, to the park, or just around your living room in high-stepping during the commercials as you watch TV. You may adjust your diet, but I have to admit I don't even like that word. Too much baggage, I say, and I'm a preacher who likes to try to renew words with baggage, like repentance and salvation. But the word diet may just be beyond redemption.
Just eat, eat what you like, and more importantly, eat what blesses you. And I do believe that if you come to an awareness of how God is at work in you already, you'll figure out what to eat to live, and be blessed, and in communion with God's purposes.
Maybe even with some bread and wine.
Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he's working on both surrender and acceptance, and praying for health as a consequence, not a reward. Tell him how you stay fit for God's glory at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.
Faith Works 1-13-23
Faith Works 1-13-23
Jeff Gill
Considerations post- and pre-Christmases to come
___
When I was in elementary school, and Walt Disney World was newly opened in Florida, it was a point of amazement and no little envy that one of our classmates announced her family was going to spend Christmas, as in Christmas Eve and Christmas Day itself plus another day or two, at the Magic Kingdom.
It was a mix of fascination with Uncle Walt's creation in those swamps and orange groves, and a touch of horror at the idea of not spending Christmas, well, at home. Home, be it ever so humble, et cetera. Your own house, with your own tree, and your family traditions no matter how peculiar (don't ask, we all have 'em). To spend Christmas walking past Cinderella's Castle and Mister Toad's Wild Ride just seemed borderline unimaginable.
Later on I would start to find out what it is like to Christmas, if I can verb that noun, in a strange place. It's not all bad, you bring your traditions with you to the degree that you can, and you learn about those of others. It can make Christmas feel more special, and helps you think about "the reason for the season," the birth of that child whose life would transform the old familiar broken world.
This past holiday season made me think very sternly about the holidays I have ahead. Practically speaking, while I'm blessed with relatively excellent health and full mobility, it would be foolish not to realize I can't assume at 86 or so I can, well, walk ten miles a day as a tourist, or feel confident about navigating whatever travel logistics are necessary when I'm another couple of decades older.
Which boils down to this: I've got about twenty years left where I could do something away from home. Two-zero, two decades' worth. A very envision-able number. Realistically, there will be family needs which trim that number down, let alone costs and budgets restricting just how wild I can get. But if I want to do a different sort of Christmas, I'd better get cracking.
Epcot can take care of itself, I don't want to spend a Christmas there, but I'm reliably told it can be great fun. But my wife and I have pitched Paris and London back and forth for years, just to go in the first place, let alone during a holiday season. We band-parented our way to Manhattan during Thanksgiving week a few years ago, and that box is checked. But would we want to see the Eiffel Tower decorated for Joyeux Noel, or see Westminster Abbey adorned for Advent?
We've been blessed to visit Santa Fe a number of times, but always in the summer. I've long wondered what it would be like to see the Sangre de Cristos in the winter, and Archbishop Lamy's cathedral at Christmastime. An internet acquaintance with no more Spanish than I have went to a small village in Mexico, and intrigued me deeply with what that experience would be like in some future December. My wife got to visit Finland for work across a first weekend of Advent, and loved it, and would love to take me there to experience more of it.
And I really can't explain it, but I'd love to visit Vienna around Christmas. I can't explain it, haven't heard a great deal about it, but what I have heard has me wanting to go there. Oh, and Mackinac Island, which can be seen as December ends, but it takes some planning.
If I'm even going to do a couple of those, I need to start planning now. What have you long dreamed of experiencing during the holidays?
Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he's imagined all sorts of trips he's not likely to take. Tell him what your grand tour looks like at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.
Jeff Gill
Considerations post- and pre-Christmases to come
___
When I was in elementary school, and Walt Disney World was newly opened in Florida, it was a point of amazement and no little envy that one of our classmates announced her family was going to spend Christmas, as in Christmas Eve and Christmas Day itself plus another day or two, at the Magic Kingdom.
It was a mix of fascination with Uncle Walt's creation in those swamps and orange groves, and a touch of horror at the idea of not spending Christmas, well, at home. Home, be it ever so humble, et cetera. Your own house, with your own tree, and your family traditions no matter how peculiar (don't ask, we all have 'em). To spend Christmas walking past Cinderella's Castle and Mister Toad's Wild Ride just seemed borderline unimaginable.
Later on I would start to find out what it is like to Christmas, if I can verb that noun, in a strange place. It's not all bad, you bring your traditions with you to the degree that you can, and you learn about those of others. It can make Christmas feel more special, and helps you think about "the reason for the season," the birth of that child whose life would transform the old familiar broken world.
This past holiday season made me think very sternly about the holidays I have ahead. Practically speaking, while I'm blessed with relatively excellent health and full mobility, it would be foolish not to realize I can't assume at 86 or so I can, well, walk ten miles a day as a tourist, or feel confident about navigating whatever travel logistics are necessary when I'm another couple of decades older.
Which boils down to this: I've got about twenty years left where I could do something away from home. Two-zero, two decades' worth. A very envision-able number. Realistically, there will be family needs which trim that number down, let alone costs and budgets restricting just how wild I can get. But if I want to do a different sort of Christmas, I'd better get cracking.
Epcot can take care of itself, I don't want to spend a Christmas there, but I'm reliably told it can be great fun. But my wife and I have pitched Paris and London back and forth for years, just to go in the first place, let alone during a holiday season. We band-parented our way to Manhattan during Thanksgiving week a few years ago, and that box is checked. But would we want to see the Eiffel Tower decorated for Joyeux Noel, or see Westminster Abbey adorned for Advent?
We've been blessed to visit Santa Fe a number of times, but always in the summer. I've long wondered what it would be like to see the Sangre de Cristos in the winter, and Archbishop Lamy's cathedral at Christmastime. An internet acquaintance with no more Spanish than I have went to a small village in Mexico, and intrigued me deeply with what that experience would be like in some future December. My wife got to visit Finland for work across a first weekend of Advent, and loved it, and would love to take me there to experience more of it.
And I really can't explain it, but I'd love to visit Vienna around Christmas. I can't explain it, haven't heard a great deal about it, but what I have heard has me wanting to go there. Oh, and Mackinac Island, which can be seen as December ends, but it takes some planning.
If I'm even going to do a couple of those, I need to start planning now. What have you long dreamed of experiencing during the holidays?
Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he's imagined all sorts of trips he's not likely to take. Tell him what your grand tour looks like at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.
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