Norm’s Notes                                                                                   August 29, 2017

More People Stories
 
These are the stories of some of the people God brought across my path in recent days.
 
1. A 23 year old lady who is eight months pregnant. She called the church twice after office hours (5 p.m.) and left a message on voice mail. Then she called the next morning twice before anyone was in the office and left two messages. She called two more times between 9 and 11 that day. I was not in that morning, so we finally connected on the phone about 1:30 that afternoon. She is living in a pay by the week hotel in town. Her boyfriend had left her two weeks ago. The last job she had was two months ago. She has no car and her family is unable to help her. 
 
She was given my name by the hotel where she is staying because FMC sometimes helps people with their rent there. At first I told her no, we could not help (yes, Norm does say no sometimes). She called back about an hour later and said we were the only church in town that even answered the phone. I listened to more of her story. I had a change of heart and agreed to pay one week’s rent while she figures out what to do next. I met her in the hotel lobby and was pleasantly surprised at how well kept her appearance was. She was confident and looked me right in the eyes as we talked. She is a “fighter” and is going to figure out what her next step is. She does qualify for emergency housing at Angola Housing Authority if they have an opening. Her step mother is in the picture a little but not with financial help. As I left her I asked her to keep in touch with me; I want to help if we can. Yes, that is a 180 degree turn from where I was just thirty minutes earlier. She has never gone to church in her life. 
 
As I drove back to the church that afternoon, I thought if there was a group of young mothers who wanted to take this 23 year old under their care for about 2-3 years, yes, years, there may a be a changed life here. My prayer: if there is a group of 3-4 young ladies who have the gifts of mercy and helps and can stay with this for the long term, contact me. This one has potential. I have lots of ideas for you. 
 
2. A 51 year old man called the church. He had heard that we let people work for two hours to get a $15 Wal-Mart card. We said he could come in to work. He had to get a ride because he does not drive. When he arrived I showed him where to work. I could tell life had been a challenge for him. After he had swept for about two hours, I sat with him to talk and asked him to tell me his story, what he had done in life, where he had been. He summarized his life in one sentence. “When I was a teenager, I got run over by a semi and dragged down the road for about a mile. Life has been a trial since then.” I gave him his Wal-Mart card and he went outside and sat on the stones, waiting for his ride to come.
 
3. A 72 year old grandmother called because someone told her to call Pastor Norm at Fairview, he will help you. She had just adopted her 7 year old grandson who has lived with here since he was 3. It took all of of her Social Security check to get the final legal work done and she needed food and clothing for the child to go to school. Very nice, sweet, “classic grandma” asking for help for the first and only time. I told her to meet me at Project Help after hours and I would get her all the clothes she needed and a lot of food too. Sheri, the director of Project Help, was still there. As we talked we found out this grandma did not know anything about any assistance network in our area. Being able to connect her with the right services and people made me feel good all over.
 
With each of these stories I am giving you just a brief part of a long conversation that included lots of questions. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for helping.
 
One more real good story. This is from our own Steve and Linda Gibson. This link is about what their son does in Los Angeles. Someone here needs to pick up this good deed and run with it.
 
_________________________
 
See you Sunday!
 
Norm
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