Norm’s Notes                                                                                   August 11, 2017

More People Stories
 
These are the stories of some of the people God brought across my path yesterday.
 
I am the one who makes the decisions concerning the benevolence cases we help at Fairview. The secretaries take the initial phone call and then the call gets transferred to me.These are the brief stories of the people who called on Thursday morning, between 9 and noon. 
 
Individual #1. A lady whose father was in an Indianapolis hospital with a blood clot needed gas money to get down to see him. She has no job. We helped.
 
#2. A man called to see if there was any work we had at the church for him to do. He sweeps the church often. He only works about two hours at a time. He is unemployable anywhere else. We got the whole church swept.
 
#3. An FMC person called to see if we could help a person who lives in her apartment complex who had lost all of her $700 social security check at Wal-Mart after she had cashed it. She had it all in one envelope. Because I knew the person who was calling, I said yes, we’d help some.
 
#4. Someone needed money toward their electric bill. We helped.
 
#5. Someone moved out of town and wanted to move back to their former apartment complex. She had a past rent bill that needed to be paid before she was accepted. We said no to this one. They are not homeless.
 
#6. Someone called to see if we could help with their rent payment. They are desperate. She had called four times before she got to speak to me. We helped some.
 
#7. We had a young man stop by who needed gas money. He has worked for us before and he is a very good worker. He is out of a job while he waits to go into the Air Force. We gladly put him to work getting wood ready for the hot dog roast next month.
 
Above I am giving you just a brief summary of what can be a 10-15 minute conversation with someone I have never met and I have to discern if they are telling me the truth. About 95% of the people we help do not attend Fairview Missionary Church or any church.
 
#8. On my way home from the volunteer banquet I drove by Project Help and I saw a person going through the dumpster there. I stopped by to talk to him. I did not know exactly how to approach this situation so as I walked up to the dumpster I asked, “Can I help you find something?” He responded, “No, I just go through dumpsters to find things I can repurpose.” I asked him how long he had been doing this and he said about five years, right after he returned to this area. Then he proceeded to freely tell me his story. He is from a prominent family in our area, once studied law, has six grandchildren he loves. Every name he listed as his friends I knew. He has relatives that attend FMC but I don’t think he knows that. He said he lived in a town on the other side of the county. I told him I was one of pastors at FMC and he said he has been here for the fall craft show. He told me he always cleans up the area outside the dumpster and closes the lid when he is done. I did notice he brought his own grocery bags. It was almost 7:30 at night and we talked for about 20 minutes. He was riding a bike and it was going to get dark soon. I asked if he was going to ride his bike home in the dark or where was he going to stay? He was going to stay in one of his rentals in town. He had been in a serious car accident some time in the past and that is the reason he does not drive. He played football at an area school in the early 1960’s. He told me about the legacy he is going to leave to the community. He did not give me any specific details, just that he was going to leave a legacy. He was unkempt in appearance as you might expect but certainly wanted to talk. He talked and I listened. I think he has never had anyone seriously listen to him and be interested in his story. I am the one who had to cut the conversation short. 
 
Those are the stories of some of the people who came across my path on Thursday, August 10, 2017.
 
_________________________
 
See you Sunday!
 
Norm
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