Dear Friends,

In my eleven years at Christ’s Body I’ve been asked for many things but this was a first.  We had just met and Heather was immediately pleading with me to buy her a flute.  With desperate earnestness she said, “I really need a flute.  When I had my flute I could make money playing on the Mall. I could play my flute when I was alone and feel peace.  I really need a flute, I’d do any work you needed to get a flute.”  I laughed and said “Heather, I get that you really want a flute, but I think you need Jesus more than you need a flute.  I have never even considered buying someone a flute and I can’t see doing it now.  I’ll pray about it and you come back and see me tomorrow and we’ll talk some more.”  I hoped that would be the end of this, but as soon as we opened the next day there was Heather waiting for me.  Breathlessly she said, “Pastor John, Wedgles Pawn Shop has the perfect flute for me and it’s only $80.”  Much to my surprise I took $80 of God’s money and Heather and I went to Wedgles to get her flute.  She bounced out of Wedgles and as soon as we got in the car, she put it together and started playing it.  She continued in the day room at Christ’s Body until one of our guys asked me, “Please Pastor John can you ask her to play outside.  She’s driving us crazy with that flute.”

This was over a year ago and many weeks would pass by with no sign of Heather and then suddenly without warning Heather would drop in.  She was always a small, intense young black-haired bundle of energy.  In bits and pieces we came to know a little more about Heather.  She trusted no one, struggled with both mental illness and addiction to heroin.  Occasionally she was with a young man but never for long.  Sarah, Deb and myself all tried to break thru the walls and connect with her to try and get her help.  We heard that she had a daughter somewhere in Oregon.  Whatever family she once had she had lost all contact with.

Six months ago she showed up with a black eye and a broken nose.  We did everything we could to try to get her into the emergency room.  But she was too suspicious to go.  We called the hospital and found out that if her nose wasn’t set within 10 days it could not be fixed without an operation.  So from then on Heather’s nose had a permanent bend to it.  We were worried about her safety before and after this happened every time we saw her we tried to convince Heather to let us help her.

A few weeks ago the Denver Coroner’s office called Sarah Newell because they found her card on Heather’s body.  She had been dead 1-2 weeks when a passer by happened to spot her remains by the Platte River.  We never did hear what the cause of death was or whether they were ever able to locate or notify any next of kin.

There was no way Heather would ever let her picture be taken.  The only thing we have left is her flute, which I look at every day and pray for all the Heathers out there alone and scared.  Heather you drove us crazy, but we loved you and know God loves you even more.  I’m sorry we weren’t able to do more for you Heather.  This newsletter is our memorial to you.

This was and remains our prayer for Heather.  Psalm 34:18:
“ The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Dear Friends,

Last month I shared about one of our respite patients, Larry.  He has battled many things in his life including an alcoholic abusive father.  Praise God Larry is moving out of the darkness and into the light of God’s mercy and love.  In response to that newsletter a dear sister in Christ wrote this letter to Larry and agreed to share it with all of you.

Dear Larry,

I don’t know you and you don’t know me.  The only thing I know about you is that you are my brother in Christ and I felt compelled to write to you.  The other connection we have in common is Christ’s Body.

I used to volunteer there and make lunch every other week.  Because of my husband’s alcoholism, he lost his job and the family income.  I was faced with the obligation to find a job to provide for my family which led to a full time job and not being able to volunteer anymore.

Like you I heard the abuse from my husband when he was drinking.  The only difference was that I believed in a good God who loved me, so I refused to believe the lies my husband would spit out when he was drunk.  I knew that all this was orchestrated by Satan, and refused to hear that I was useless and worthless.

Through the grace of God, my husband is free of the disease.  He has been sober for a year and a half.  He knows that he will never be able to drink again and I pray to God that He gives him freedom from it.  I have forgiven him and every time I feel the anger rise up as I think of the situation he put us through (things are still hard financially) I run to God and ask Him to change the anger to compassion.  It works.  Our relationship is stronger and more real than before.  We still have a long way to go, but I see how God has tended my husband’s soul as well as mine.

Pray for your father (if he is still alive).  Forgive him, and know that he was angry at himself, but you were an easy target.  Those closest to the alcoholic always are.  Refuse to believe the lies that Satan used your father to tell you.  You are worth it, and you can accomplish anything with God, because everything is possible with Jesus.

I pray for you and your father.  May His grace and mercy indwell in you always.  Your sister in Christ.

Thank you for sharing this.  As we tell our stories of both pain and divine healing we encourage and help each other on our journey through this fallen world.  May our merciful Lord continue healing each of us because we all need it.

Galatians 6:2  “Carry each other’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the Law of Christ.”

Dear Friends,

If we don’t have accurate answers to these two questions our journey through this life is inevitably confused and difficult.  There are various reasons why many of our friends at Christ’s Body have wrong answers to these questions.  Some of the sources are absent/abusive parents, the lies of the enemy or their own struggles with sin.

Larry is just one example of someone who carried the burdens of wrong answers.  When he first came to our respite care two years ago his answer to the first question was “I was born in sin and because of my continued sin I am worthless.”  His answer to the second question was “God scared the Hell out of me, so I ran away from Him.”  With Larry these wrong answers started with an alcoholic father who told him he was worthless and would never amount to anything.  This was reinforced by time in a church that preached only about God’s judgment and anger.

Because of these false beliefs Larry’s life was full of fear, pain and shame.  It was so bad that he would walk and stay in alleys just to avoid people seeing him.  Because of his past mistakes he felt that all he deserved was death.  “I used to look at the trees in City Park to decide which one I would look good hanging from.”

Over the past two years Larry has been in and out of our respite care as he has been treated for various medical issues.  In the process, Deb Butte our respite care counselor, has spent much time with Larry.  Larry for the first time has felt cared for and appreciated by all of us here at Christ’s Body.  There is nothing more healing than personally experiencing God’s tender mercies.  With Deb’s help and counsel Larry has been able to get Social Security Disability and with that move into his own apartment.

Larry definitely has received physical blessings from God but the spiritual blessings are even greater.  Larry has a huge smile as he tells me “I now know God is loving and nurturing.  Now I have a loving relationship with Him both ways, meaning I love Him and He loves me despite my sins.  I think maybe He even loves me more because He knows I need more nurturing.  I now know Jesus died on the cross for my sins, before I thought that was just B.S.  My whole life has changed.  I no longer have to walk down alleys to hide from people.  I know God is a real good God and I can run to Him instead of away from Him.  He is even a good God to people who don’t believe in Him, they just don’t understand because they haven’t connected the dots.  I smile now and feel like I deserve life when before I deserved death.  I am so grateful to Deb and this place for showing me how much God loves me.”

We are in turn grateful to each of you who make it possible with your support for us to know and love friends like Larry.

Isaiah 46:4  God says “I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”

Dear Friends,

I continue to be amazed by the many different people with incredible stories who come to Christ’s Body.  Some of them I’ve seen for many years but if they don’t cause trouble or ask to speak with me I often don’t know anything about them.  Sam was just such a person.  He would come in occasionally for a meal.  He was always sober with a big friendly smile but I knew nothing about him until the day he sat in on my Bible study.

We were looking at John 5 where Jesus healed the lame man at the pool of Bethesda.  Before ending as always I invited anyone to share whatever thoughts or comments they had on that day’s story.  Sam raised his hand and began to speak.  “When I was four years old in Egypt I had an open hole in my cheek that would not heal.  I spent one week in the hospital but the doctors couldn’t make me better.  My Grandmother heard of a Christian man in the mountains who could heal people.  We borrowed a car and it was a long drive to this little village.  My mom and Grandmother brought me to this old man sitting in front of his house.  He prayed for Jesus Christ to heal me.  He then carved and made a wooden cross out of green wood and put it around my neck.  My mom was told to keep the cross around my neck and as the wood dried out the wound would close up.  We spent the night there, drove back and in 3 days as the wood dried the wound healed.  Our neighbors said it’s from Allah and my mom said no, it’s Jesus.  My father was away working and he came back after I had the cross for 2 months.  He doesn’t believe in God so he took the cross off and threw it away.  By then the hole had closed completely but I still have one dark scar where it was”, then Sam points to his left cheek.  There was dead silence in the room when Sam finished talking until Curt said, “Wow!!”  then I told Sam that now I understood why he was always happy.  Sam replied, “I know Jesus is my Savior.  Ever since then my mom and I believed in Him.  Muslims say he is just a good man, but I know only God could do what he did for me.”

I am so grateful that I am able to meet and get to know our Savior through friends like Sam.  Thank you and may we all, in some way, experience the healing of Jesus.

Luke 6:19 “The people all tried to touch Jesus because power was coming from Him and healing them all.”

Dear Friends,

Christ’s Body has many helpers and supporters who help us care for our hurting friends.  They each bring their own unique gifts and desires to serve others.  One of these helpers is my dentist, Dr. Neil Dobro of First Avenue Dental.  Neil has been my dentist for over 25 years.  A combination of not caring for my teeth and what Neil calls the world’s worst case of Bruxism (teeth grinding) created a dental disaster in my mouth. Neil has over the years rebuilt my mouth with implants and crowns, in the process we have gotten to know and respect each other.  I am an Evangelical follower of Jesus and Neil is a practicing Orthodox Jew.  I have been an honored guest at his synagogue and he has honored me by coming to hear me preach the gospel at Christ’s Body.  When I have questions about the meaning of old testament passages,  Neil’s knowledge of Hebrew is very helpful.  He has donated his time to serve our Christ’s Body Christmas dinner.  He has also given us  countless toothbrushes and toothpaste.

The toothbrushes and toothpaste help but most of our clients need real time help from a real dentist.  Neil recognized this and generously offered to start seeing those in greatest need several years ago.  Since then he has freely given hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars in free dental care.  Without Neil’s attention my friends would have just had to continue living with infected painful teeth.  There are some dental clinics in Denver but they are difficult to get into and have long waiting lists.

I am very grateful to Neil for giving his time.  Our hurting friends are also grateful but what they most appreciate is the care and respect they receive from everyone at First Avenue Dental.  First of all they walk into a very nice Cherry Creek dental office where,  no matter how they look they are greeted with a smile and offered tea, coffee or juice.  The entire staff listens to and cares for them in a way that values and honors them.

I know our God is pleased when the poor and hurting are cared for.  Thank you Neil and all your staff and may God continue to bless you!

 Deuteronomy 15:10  “Give generously to the poor and do so without a grudging heart,
then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in every thing you put your hand to.”

Dear Friends,

Sometimes in a still small voice, sometimes in a very strong rebuke, sometimes through others if we listen for it we can hear God’s voice.  Here are some recent examples from Christ’s Body.

It was a busy time at the counter.  I was in full Martha mode (Luke 10:38-42) focused on tasks and impatient with people.  One of our homeless friends said to me, “Pastor John, I need to see you.”  I gave him a short rude answer, “ No, I don’t have any bus tokens.”  With a hurt look on his face he said “No, I came to give you my tithe” and pressed two twenties and one five into my hand.  Suddenly I heard God’s loud voice and it wasn’t a voice of praise.

One of our respite patients, Robert, lived a life full of shame and guilt as a registered sex offender.  Deb Butte, our respite care counselor, visited him in the hospice a few days before his death from cancer.  Deb sat and prayed by his bed, after a few  moments Robert opened his eyes and softly whispered, “I heard him Deb, God is love.”

A couple has been faithful volunteers at Christ’s Body and also unemployed for the past year.  Despite many efforts and prayers God so far has still not provided a job.  With a small child they had to make some difficult financial decisions.  They put their home up for sale and when it sold they  moved into an RV on their parent’s lot.  When the sale closed they gave Christ’s Body a $650 check because God told them to tithe on the sale.  I stammered a thank you and their reply was God had given them complete peace, they were trusting in Him and no longer anxious about the future.

It was a cold morning just before Christmas and one of our resident staff, Hal Bell, came to tell me what had happened to him.  “God woke me up at 4:00 am this morning.  He told me to get up and get dressed.  I grumbled but got up and left my room.  When I started down the hall, He told me to go the other way down by the respite stairs.  I went down the stairs, outside to the sidewalk and literally bumped into Birdie.  She was crying and I said Birdie what’s the matter?  Through her tears she told me she was alone because Wazee, her husband, was in detox and all their stuff was taken.  I brought her inside and gave her blankets to make it thru the night.“  How  much does God love Birdie?

When we hear God’s voice how can we know it’s him?  If what you’re hearing does not line up with the heart of God as stated in His Word, you are emphatically NOT hearing from God.  If it does then the question is, how much do you trust Him?  Listen to that voice and then obey.  He will bless you and amaze you.

John 15:14  Jesus said, “You are my friends if you do what I command.”

Dear Friends,

Last month I was honored one Sunday to conduct a memorial service for Tony Martinez and the next Sunday marry Gerald and Stephanie Wilganowski here at Christ’s Body.  Let me share with you a little of their separate journeys towards Jesus.

I wrote about our special friend, Tony, in last March’s newsletter.  He had been hit by a taxi, God spared his life and he wrote to me from the hospital.  Here are some excerpts from his letters.  “Pray for me in the church Sunday.  I was hit by a taxi.  Let the church know I’m OK.  I’m crying because I miss church.  I am getting better because I prayed to the Lord.”  After visiting Tony he then sent me this letter.  “John, I love volunteering at 850 Lincoln church.  Tell everyone I am sorry that the devil tried to kill me by a taxi in December.  You know what saved me is I had a small Bible I read every day in my back pocket.  That’s why I am here today and I walk with Christ.  John 3:16 and Acts 4:12, Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, Amen.  Tony Martinez.

Tony recovered completely from this accident and returned to help us clean.  A few months later he started experiencing severe abdominal pain.  After admitting him to the hospital and many tests, he was found to have inoperable cancer.  For several months, Pastor Bruce and I visited Tony in hospice as he got thinner and thinner.  He always asked Pastor Bruce to sing hymns to him and he wanted both of us to read something from the Bible.  Tony knew he was going home to Jesus but it was still scary at times going through that process.  As he neared the end we thanked God that he was not in much pain and prayed the Lord would take him soon.  It’s very sad watching a friend die but it’s an honor to be involved in a special friend like Tony’s life and death.

At the same time we are praying over Tony’s leaving this world, Gerald and Stephanie came to ask me to marry them.  I’ve known Gerald for years as he struggled with his addiction to crystal meth.  I rejoiced with him as he returned to God and Jesus started the process of freeing him from bondage to this horrible drug.  Stephanie was dealing with an earlier failed marriage and its residue of drugs, pain and shame.  I thanked God for his healing in both their lives as they have now both been clean of drugs for several years.  As I spent time counseling them for marriage I was encouraged by their trust in Jesus and commitment together to leaving the mistakes of their past in His merciful hands.  They need each other but they also both know they need Jesus even more.  On their wedding day Gerald told me, “Pastor John, I never lost hope because I always remembered 6 years ago when you told me you believed that with God’s help I could one day get clean of drugs.  Thank you for not giving up on me.”  What a blessed and encouraging time it was for all of us when these two new lives in Christ were united in marriage.

At this time of celebrating Christmas we are especially thankful for all of you.  You (our supporters, friends and volunteers) are collectively the body of Christ bringing His light and hope to a dark and desperate world.

Isaiah 9:2  “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”

Dear Friends,

Deb Butte does a quarterly report to Mile-High United Way on our respite care ministry.  Here are just 2 stories from this Quarters’  report..

Since we are a small program, with only 5 beds, the guests that stay at Christ’s Body Respite get a lot of attention and help.  Because of this, many of our clients come to trust, work hard with us and then stay in touch with us once they are discharged.  One such client “Terry,” turned to us in July because he was notified that his housing voucher would be terminated in August because of a police charge the previous year.  He turned to his housing case-manager and his mental-health case-worker for help, but both had client loads that are so full they were unable to get back to him and do the work that needed to be done in time.  So he turned to us.  We were able to help him with the necessary paper work and attend a hearing with him in order to renew his voucher.  He would have had to leave August 1st but instead has been given another years lease.  However, this gentleman has been given two months to live.  We are currently walking through the death process with him as he approaches the end of his life.

A current respite care client William, is a 43 year old truck driver.  Last winter he was involved in an accident where his license was revoked.  In order to get it reinstated he has to pay a $1200 fine.  Prior to the accident he lived in his truck, but that was no longer an option so he began staying at the overnight shelters and doing day labor each day to begin saving money to be able to pay his fine.  Unfortunately however, while walking the streets one night, William fell into a ditch and shattered his leg leaving him in need of surgery and unable to do day labor.

Thankfully William came to our respite care to begin healing.  We talked about his accident, his truck driving career and his desire to become self-sufficient again.  He realized that his career made it hard for him to kick his Meth habit since he needed to stay awake for long periods of time.  William desperately wanted away from that addiction.  After realizing that his leg was going to take months to heal we began brainstorming other ways to meet his goals.

Christ’s Body has helped William pay to apply and begin attending a technical school where he can work on trucks rather than drive them.  He thinks this will provide a more stable life-style for him, as he gets older and one that will support healthy living apart from drugs.  William has been attending class daily from 7 am to noon and studies in the evening.  We are currently helping him pursue an internship in the afternoons so that he can get some “on the job” training to help him when he graduates in a year and a half.

Deb and I are so thankful to all our faithful supporters who make it possible for us in very practical ways to surround folks like “Terry” and William with the love of Christ.

Psalm 40:17  I am poor and needy: may the Lord think of me.  You are my help and my deliverer.

Darrell

Dear Friends,

Darrell is tall and lanky and walks like he talks in a slow graceful way. He never seems rattled and always at peace. One day I asked him to share the road he traveled to get to this place of peace. With his soft southern voice he told me he was born in Mississippi in 1962. At the age of 4 his dad was killed in a car accident and his mother died of a heart attack when he was 6. He was raised by loving grandparents and his granddad was a Baptist preacher for 42 years. Darrell did HVAC work for 22 years until a pinched nerve and carpal tunnel made it impossible for him to continue. He moved to Denver and worked for Gart’s Sports until they sold out and he got laid off. Since then he’s just been able to get short term temporary work. I asked him how he keeps from getting discouraged. His answer, “I just like to sit with my back against a tree in God’s creation and journal the thoughts and blessings God gives me.”

Ever since then Darrell often stops by and shows me his journal entries for that day written in his careful precise hand. I’m always amazed and blessed by Darrell’s thoughts, but this day I was especially touched and asked him if I could copy it and share with all of you. So here unedited is Darrell’s page for that day…

The things I like about myself:

My green eyes.
Daily, I spend time in relationship with Jesus.
I am saved and redeemed.
I am creative-can mix and match fabrics.
I am an encourager.
God’s favor.
I won’t give up.
Strong roots in God.  For I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
I am unique.
I am righteous through the blood of Jesus.
God uses me to talk to others.
I am both; a miracle and a survivor.
I am a victor.  I am a conqueror.
I am an overcomer.
And I am unstressed and blessed.
Thankful each day to God, for another day.

Darrell is unemployed and homeless and still knows God’s many blessings. May all of us never forget them either.

Sarah

Dear Friends,

I know from God’s Word that He loves and wants to bless the poor and hungry. The exciting thing about Christ’s Body is that here we continually get to see God’s blessing first hand. Sometimes in small ways and sometimes in huge ways our God continues to amaze us. I pray we will never take His blessings for granted. In the same way that the Psalmist says in Ps 89:1, “I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.” I want to proclaim to you just four of God’s recent blessings here at Christ’s Body.

Parking is very scarce here at Christ’s Body so for the past four years we have paid a neighboring restaurant $500/month to park in their lot during the day. For various reasons the restaurant told us we could no longer use their lot. It looked like the only thing we could do was tell our staff and volunteers to find metered street parking. Then God blessed us with a phone call from the owner of another nearby parking lot. He offered us free parking in his lot in return for picking up trash once a day. So thanks to God’s blessing we still have ample parking and are saving $500/month.

We get groceries from COMPA every Thursday and Friday which we give out to needy families every Saturday. On Wednesday we heard that due to construction COMPA would be closed that week. That was going to be a problem as we would not have enough food to give out on Saturday and many people depend on this food. One hour later the mail arrived with a $100 one-time grant from Food Bank of the Rockies for us to buy groceries from them that week.

Our Waste Management dumpster fills quickly so we pay to have it dumped 3 times/week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. One Monday morning just after it was dumped I went out back and it was full of two mattresses and a bunch of scrap plywood. Someone had come down the alley and filled our dumpster with their trash! The only thing we could do was hold our trash until Wednesday morning. Early Tuesday as I pull in, much to my surprise, our dumpster some way, some how has been emptied. We never got billed for this and I have never known us to ever get an extra trash pick-up before. The only thing I could say to our staff was, “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.”

After a long illness it finally became a reality that our long time staff member, Sally Vigil, would have to quit working. Sally was the only female on our full-time staff, so she left a big hole. We prayed and asked God to send us another woman with the heart and experience to help our friends. In less than 2 weeks my friend, John Hicks, called me about a lady, Sarah Newell, he has known for many years. Sarah needed a full-time job and she had 25 years experience working with and helping the homeless and poor. No one can ever replace Sally’s unique gifts and experiences, but God sent us a lady with her own unique gifts. Once again we are amazed by God’s provision and blessing on His ministry.

We thank each of you who God has used through your prayers, gifts or talents to bless us in His merciful name.