Monthly Archives: February 2006

NightWatch: Birthday Party

Posted on February 25, 2006 by Michele (CM)| Leave a comment

At midnight last night, the NightWatch team went to Ricky’s house for a birthday party, complete with cake and ice cream. Ricky turns 50 today.

Ricky is one of our friends who lived under a bridge for four years, until recently. Then one of the Night Watch team members, who is also part of a ministry called MOVE (Men of Vision & Excellence), helped him and a friend move into a house. They are now working on the issues that caused them to be homeless.

Ricky was happy to see all of us, but a little overwhelmed to have so many people in his house at one time too, I think. I watched quietly while he entertained everyone, and tried to imagine what he must be feeling. Expectations, even imagined ones, can be burdensome.

 

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NightWatch: Uno Olympics

Posted on February 25, 2006 by Michele (CM)| Leave a comment

At NightWatch last night, we met a mom with three young children at the train station. They were traveling from eastern North Carolina to Alabama to see her mom. They faced a long wait for their train. So we decided to wait a while with them.

We had an Uno Olympics. I won three silvers and a bronze, but the gold eluded me. The 7-year old got three golds, so she was happy. The 5-year old and I split a pack of gummy fruit, which was surprisingly delicious. (The texture is odd, but the taste… mmmm.) He dropped one on the floor and we discussed the 5-second rule, but decided against it and threw that one away.

And of course I held the baby for a while. She just stared at me, very seriously, like “Who are you?” But she let me hold her warm, cuddly, non-wiggly little self, so that was gold for me.

Hello Kitty Uno cardsOh, and just P.S., I really enjoyed playing Uno, and I remarked that I wanted to get some Uno cards. We were playing with Pooh and Tigger Uno cards, so I said that I wanted to get Hello Kitty Uno cards and of course, everybody just insisted that there was no such thing, but when I got home, I looked online and found some!

I will never forget that family and midnight Uno Olympics at the train station. Thank you, God.

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NightWatch: Doing Less, Seeing More

Posted on February 25, 2006 by Michele (CM)| Leave a comment

I went on NightWatch last night for the first time in a few weeks. I’m dealing with arm and shoulder pain right now, which is limiting me in what I can do. But my heart is with my friends on the street, and with our team, and I needed to go, so I went.

Taking a less active role allowed me to really watch the team in action. I couldn’t climb into the canteen (mobile kitchen), so I rode in the van, but I got to see how well the group in the canteen functioned as an assembly line, handing out hot meals, coffee, snack bags, toiletry bags, Bibles and blankets, all while working in a very small space. It was like watching choreographed dancers. :)

When we went to visit some friends who live under a railroad bridge, I could only go halfway up, because you have to hold on and pull yourself with your arms on the last part, so I sat quietly and listened as the guys from our team talked and prayed with the guys who live under the bridge. It was so peaceful. And then a train came and we all turned and for a few minutes, all of us on that hill focused silently together on that train as it went by, lost in our own thoughts.

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