Computer Lab payoff, showers, and answered prayers!

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." -- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Showers are a hit with clients

We have prayed for years that we would be able to provide shower facilities for our clients, and this summer we have had the chance. And we didn't want to offer showers that had a bad reputation so we have really good rules and high expectations so they remain safe, sanitized, and clean. We've had no problems and in our first week 10 people took showers. That's the maximum number of slots we have. At least two other groups that serve our clients might follow our lead and offer showers. And we have two facilities where showers could be part of the offering if we had sufficient volunteers and interest.

"Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart." -- Mahatma Gandhi

The computer lab is paying off!

Our computer lab seems to be a hit and is accomplishing good things. We had nine computers that are continually in use this past week, and we even have a printer! We admit that our clients mainly want to relax and have fun using the computers. That's fine with us. However, we do require them to demonstrate one cloud-basic computer skill from our list every hour for them to be able to use our computers. We have a list, and they can pick from it. And so far, there's been no pushback, and lots of skills have been demonstrated.

It may sound like a small thing, but people who haven't remembered their email passwords in months are creating new (and well-named) accounts. They are using them to register for PayPal and Amazon. They even have demonstrated that they can create an Amazon Wishlist. All this may sound trivial, but it's just the beginning. We will be making sure they know how to set up alerts on Craigslist, use eBay, sell some of the items we no longer need on Amazon, receive payment (from us for selling some of our no longer needed items) on PayPal, etc.

This is a big confidence booster, and we know it's leading toward change for our clients. We also are making sure they know how to look up information online from reasonable sources.

Goals Achieved Fall 2015

Do We Ask Big Enough?

My daughter has unusual pets. She loves rats! 

One day, she was riding her bike home from her university class, when she was hit in the crosswalk by a careless driver. The careless driver turned out to be a jerk as well because they didn't stop to give aide. Thankfully, my daughter was only bruised and shocked. She told me, "Another inch and I would have been in the hospital."

But something far worse happened. Her companion rat was riding on her shoulder. She is a young thing, only about 6 weeks old, and she freaked out when they were both thrown to the ground when hit by the truck. The rat scurried away and past a bridge barrier and down into a river canyon under the bridge. My poor shocked daughter could not follow and could not find the rat.

My daughter was devastated. She didn't sleep. And she didn't want to return to school or class. I talked with her on the phone the morning after all this and asked if she was afraid to ride. "No. I can do it." I talked some more and asked if she wanted to go to class. "I think I will sleep now, skipping my first class, but I'll go to the second class and my yoga. That will help me." So that was the plan.

When I hung up, my heart was so heavy. She has had such a rough time and lost her previous companion rat to a death. It was a sweet and wonderful little thing. This was due to a  freak accident only weeks before. I feared the new loss would send her into depression or worse. 


I hurt so much for her. And I prayed all sorts of things all day long. Prayers for protection for her. Prayers that the little rat hadn't suffered too long, since it had frozen that night. Prayers that my daughter would find inner strength. Prayers that someone would reach out to my daughter in just the right way to help. It went on and on.

That night, I got an amazing text. Things were better. And I called her to get the whole amazing story.

My daughter did sleep after emailing her professor to let her know she would be skipping class because she had been in an accident. Then she pulled herself together and began to ride to school. She would have to pass the place where she had almost been seriously hurt the day before. And where her little rat had frozen to death. 

She steeled herself for the strip. About 2.5 blocks from the place, she stopped. There, off to the side of the road was her rat. ALIVE! She was still totally freaked out and my daughter couldn't catch her. But she bought a piece of fruit from a nearby convenience store, and the rat was so hungry that she ran to the smell of a freshly opened orange. (Did I mention that my daughter is smart!) 

The little rat was cold, dehydrated and noticeably smaller than 24 hours before. My daughter turned around and biked home. She watered the little rat, fed the little rat, and fixed her up a little nest to warm in. Then, daughter and rat were upstairs napping together.

Never in my prayers, did I even imagine asking God to save her rat and allow them to reunite. I had not hope or even though of such a thing. Now I see that I didn't ask big enough.

I frequently ask my client, "What do you want God to do in your life?" And it's a hard question to ask. And I will be telling this little story of the miracle rat for a long time. I hope it stands as a reminder that we need to imagine bigger things. We need to ask for bigger things. 

And we need to have faith

 that our Father wants wonderful things for us, 

things more wonderful

 than we expect.

Do you see what I see?

I got a phone call from a client named “Tommy” in the evening. He started, "Something strange is happening on the Drag." I braced myself as Tommy continued, "I want you to see what I see! I think really good things may happen soon." 

My client is not the first to have asked me "Do you see what I see?" About two years ago, a pastor from a church on the Drag once informed me that he had come upon a group of clients praying. Someone had just gone to the hospital, and a group was sitting and praying, some distressed and crying and others leading a prayer. The pastor had never seen this before.

All the credit goes to God's glory, but we began teaching our clients how to pray every week almost four years ago. We also placed emphasis on taking prayer requests from them and sharing them with prayer warriors. We have poured countless hours into nurturing their prayer lives so they feel comfortable sharing with God... their needs, the good times, the bad times, and the ugly. And God has changed their lives.

A pastor that I meet with for supervision remarked during one of our sessions, "I have to stop and simply give praise that the street youth have become a praying community." It was a very promising sign. Do you see what I see? Tommy's news promised to be even better!

Tommy said, "People are talking about Jesus tonight. I don't mean preachers. I mean that street youth are talking to each other about Him!" 

Many street youth have come to Christ over the years. We know because they write to us from wherever they have settled down and tell us about their successes and transformation. But lately, we've seen clients come to know Christ on the street.

Again, all the glory goes to God. Many people work with street youth in their daily lives and it is always our goal to get them plugged into local churches. The people we have poured into for years have become saved!

But even more is going on. I want you to see what I see! There are at least five clients who are regularly going to local churches and sharing their faith on the street. 

• One is a Saul-to-Paul story of intense persecution of Christians until his conversion.
• Another is a story of black-arts magician to Christian. 
• One was a drug-crazed person constantly going to jail and now is totally transformed.
• Another is the story of a shy young lady who could barely speak in public now sharing her faith openly. 
• And Tommy is a man healed, once crippled by mental health issues and now fully in love with God and loving others. 

God has met each of these people with his transforming power. Oh the joy of seeing what I see!

And fruit has begun to multiply. I couldn't be more excited that these people are taking their street friends with them on Sunday, and helping them receive the Gospel. At least one more has been baptized through their work (and is now away at a rehab). Another has renewed her faith and joined them in spreading the Gospel.

Do you see what I see? I can hardly believe my eyes! It is so wonderful to see the strength of these young people turned into Gospel tools for His Kingdom. 

Thank you so much for being a part of this!

Creating a praying community on the street

Some supporters ask how we approach our clients about prayer requests. Many are not Christian, and most do not pray on their own regularly. We simply ask "What do you want God to do for you?" at an appropriate point in our conversations. We like this question because it places emphasis on God's provision, which is available to believers and unbelievers every day. It also puts God in an active role. Often the answer is "whatever He wants" or "just bless me." To that we reply, "That's fine, and we'll pray. But the more specific you can be, the more helpful it may be. I believe God really wants to know what you want. Maybe He won't do it, but He wants to hear it." 

Another way we get into prayer requests is when we are asked for something (like shoes, guitar strings or a backpack). If we have it, we simply say, "God provided one of those today, and I'd be happy to give it to you if it will help." If we don't have the thing they have asked about, we never promise to go buy it. We turn it into a prayer request. We write it into our prayer book. And we share it with a prayer team member. The street youth have come to value that a lot. One client puts it this way, "When things go into that little book of yours, Terry--they just happen!" We also usually give them a little homily when they ask for things. We tell them: "Jesus said 'Ask, seek, and knock.' The ask part is what you just did. We'll ask God for it with you, too. The seek part means you start looking for it. We'll watch out for it, too. And nobody who wants the door opened knocks once and runs away. It means keep looking and keep asking." More frequently than not, the street youth finds the item before we meet them again, giving us an opportunity to talk about God's provision for them even on the street. And that's awesome!

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New Beginnings

The first time I saw him, I was afraid. He had wild hair, talked to himself in an animated way, and didn't make eye contact. It took me repeated times to work up the courage to speak with him. But it was the beginning of something surprising.

Nick had come from Dallas and was living on the streets. He didn't have any ID because he had left it at his previous place of residence. He kept his money in his shoes. We served him a street lunch every Friday for weeks. Unfortunately, Nick began to change. He got wilder and began using drugs. His hair grew into artful dreads, with a few ornaments inserted. On several occasions, we found him passed out or overdosed, and he went to jail many times as well.

But recently I found myself sitting in prayer time, and Nick was the only participant. I figured God had cleared our everyone else for a reason, so I kept asking questions. Soon, Nick was telling me his whole story. It started out typical for a large segment of my clients: he lived at home with his mom. After puberty, his mind began to betray him. He suffered from delusions and visions. As a 17 year old, he felt that the medications he took almost destroyed his personality, and so he stopped taking them. He learned that heroin somehow helped his mind become calmer. To mediate the heroin, he began to use cocaine. These things led to his leaving home, living with a girlfriend, various drug addictions, criminal offenses, and eventually going to prison.

In prison, Nick joined a brotherhood and learned Islam. As a young man, mostly without medication, and mostly without drugs, he survived seven years in prison. Upon his release, he lived in a halfway house in Dallas. Without help with his transition, Nick found that he couldn't live by the rules and left one night. That's when I met Nick in the streets of Austin.

During prayer time, Nick expressed a desire to get his life together. After hearing his whole story, I realized this would be a completely new life for him. And so, we made a plan. First step was to review his taking his medication again. Nick--typical of many of my clients as they reach brain maturity at 25--was willing to reconsider medication. He knew how to get them from MHMR. The next step was getting his disability benefits started. We agreed that, for now, Nick was in no shape to work because of his mental challenges and lack of soft skills. We hoped that eventually he will go back to work, but for now, God might provide for him through disability benefits. Nick wants a place to live, where he can do his art and music. And so again, we developed a plan. I left Nick to take the first steps, and I got his permission to follow-up regularly to see if he's doing it.

After that, I asked Nick about his Muslim beliefs. It turns out that Nick believes in Jesus today. I explained the Gospel and asked if he understood it; he did. Then, we prayed that God would reveal himself more fully and that Nick would begin trying to live a new and grateful life as a Christian.

Since our conversation, I have seen Nick many times. He has obtained medication. He has applied for disability. He is exercising great restrain to stay away from damaging drugs and activities. And he is trying to walk closer with Jesus. According to Nick, it's difficult. He told me the other day, "I need to take a vacation. This is hard." And I understood him. Rebirth is not easy. Renewal is not usually immediate or occurs overnight. It requires patience, strength, endurance, and strong faith. I don't know what the future holds for Nick, but I am so privileged to walk alongside him.

It’s a time for rebirth and renewal. I pray you see it in nature. I pray you see it in your faith, community, and even in your family. Furthermore, I pray you sense renewal in your personal life.

It's a privilege for me to be your representative in this work! And, together on a daily basis, we can encourage people who are often ignored, invisible, and unwelcomed. Thank you for your support.

"To know, love and serve street dependent youth."
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Unexpected Mercies

We keep records as a ministry. It's been a growing burden as we serve more clients more frequently and more volunteers help out. We are dedicated to being a "Class A" organization and I think that means we keep count, records, and monitor ourselves closely. Every month we know our finances, our reach to supporters, prayer team members, newsletter readers and followers. And we know how many and what types of contacts we had with clients. We don't serialize or violate our clients privacy with our records. We simply record them in a prayer book. If they share a name or a birthday, we record that. If they tell us how we can be praying for them, we write that down. We share the requests with our prayer team later the same day.

 

Recently, a client passed away. The client has mentioned his real name in a conversation with us... something that shows that he trusted us. And we had written down the name of his dog. These things allowed us to search the Internet for his obituary after we got wind that he might have passed away through the grapevine of clients. We searched diligently and daily, hoping and praying that we would not find confirmation, but we did, three days after his death.

 

From there we were able to find the funeral home. We placed a carefully worded sympathy note for the parents and family on-line. We don't know what they know or don't. Sometimes grieving parents want nothing to do with their child's street life. We express sympathy, mention that we served their child, give a way to contact us, and wait. Frequently they call.

 

In this case, the mom called the very next morning. She wanted to know more about her son's recent travels. She didn't understand her son's decision to start traveling after three years of college but she knew. She didn't like his drinking and more recent experimentation with drugs, but she knew. She knew what drug addiction can do to people, so she simply wanted to know what her son was really like on the street.

 

We were so delighted to tell her that her son was sweet, respectful and kind. Addicts can lose everything as the drug takes over, but her son wasn't like that. He was the only kid to thank a donor at the Christmas party. He didn't steal. He didn't lie. His charm and intelligence was evident in his interactions with people.

 

The names of our clients fill 13 little books so far. But worn little books allowed us to share with this mother a little picture of the the son she lost. It comforted her. And it will help comfort his younger brother and sister and entire family. We found the day we met her son. We found the day we last met him in the pages. We found a time we were able to give his dog a saddlebag pack. We found a record of how he interacted with us over more than 15 months whenever he was in Austin.

 

We will miss this client. We grieve alongside the family. And we are grateful to be in ministry to all street-dependent young people who pass through Austin. And we will continue keeping records and praying with our clients. Unexpected mercies flow from the pages of our little prayer books that we would never have expected. They are worth it. Our clients are worth it. God is entirely worthy of it all.

 

Support our work.

 

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July Story--What amazing work God can do

During our weekly Bible study, a young man came in late. I was glad to see “Dillon,” but I didn't have high hopes for his involvement since he looked like he had been using heroin. He got a sandwich and some snacks provided by one of our volunteers and settled in without disrupting the lesson. So far so good!

 

Dillon is about 20, and he's been through the wringer. After a parent died, he lived with siblings as long as he could but ended up in CPS where he had a very troubled experience. Dillon turned to drugs and alcohol. He's been in a couple of very serious relationships with women, but they have been destroyed by drugs. He tried to go to college twice, but drugs got in the way. He's been in and out of jail.

 

While teaching through Luke 12 that day– actually in the midst of a very hard parable about what happens to misbehaving servants if they aren't ready when the master come back--Dillon said loudly, "I love you, Terry!" Everyone froze, waiting to see what I would do. I thought and responded, "I love you, too, Dillon!" The room remained completely still. I added, "Do you want a hug?" People snickered. Dillon got up and came across the room and gave me a big bear hug. Then he sat down, and we finished the lesson together. He even shared some great insight on the value of coming clean with our sins now and not waiting for the time of final judgment. Amazing what can happen when we challenge street youth to do better. But the story doesn't end there.

 

In a few days, Dillon came to me and shared that he wants to go to college again. I advised, "I believe in you. I really do. I know you can do this, but you are not able to continue using heroin and go to college. What can I do to help you?" He answered, "Motivate me. Kick me in the pants. That's what I need." I suggested that we pray together. Dillon had let me and our interns pray for him before, but this time I asked him to lead the prayer. And for the first time, he did. It was a very honest prayer of confession and requests. He began to do better in the coming days.

 

Dillon again came for advice. "What am I supposed to do? I'm afraid." He began pouring out all the things that worried him. Volunteers on outreach and our interns encouraged him that he could overcome these things and that they were important. Again we prayed. Afterward, Dillon just sat on the curb and cried. He couldn't seem to make up his mind about which life he wanted.

 

Each time we met Dillon for the next few weeks, we asked how he was doing. It was a mixed bag, sometimes staying away from heroin and sometimes not. We continued to remind him about the life he wants for himself: free from drugs, college educated, his own business, and his own house.

 

Yesterday, Dillon told me that he's decided to go to a Christian rehab. It means leaving his girlfriend behind. It means no drug use. It means no drinking. It means daily immersion in hard work and prayer and worship. But he's excited.

 

The best thing he told me is that he wants new socks and underwear before he goes. Volunteers will provide them along with much prayer. Dillon has rising expectations in his life. How many hands, I wonder, have helped get Dillon to where he is now? How many more hands will be needed to see him through to recovery? Praise God for all those hands providing food, books, Bibles, clothing, help, prayer and more. What amazing work God can do when we work together to help his wounded children to expect more of their lives– to no longer be deceived that they are throw-away youth.

 

Join us in our work: SYM

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Sam's Boots

Needs and prayers answered.

I have known Sam a long time. He's well known on the Drag. When we met three or four years ago, I would rarely see Sam sober. Although detox was very painful, Sam did it. "If it wasn't for Terry, I would probably have been dead a long time ago," he shared in a recent interview. Sam is working now in exchange for a roof over his head and three "squares" a day. It's a great arrangement. It leaves him with very little free time (probably a good thing). I don't get to see him much, but that means he's not hanging out on the Drag -- definitely a good thing.

Sam's girlfriend messaged me on Facebook about possibly getting a pair of steel-toed work boots for Sam. I wrote it into our prayer book and told her I would try. I thought I had some so I went to our storage place. I looked through 8 boxes of shoes--we don't horde or waste anything, but it takes time to find the right owners for some of our donations. I didn't find any size 11 boots. I broadcast the need on FaceBook. Nothing.

A couple more weeks passed.  Sam and his girlfriend told me that they still needed the boots. I still didn't have them. A week later, I went to the storage unit (which is locked) to pick up supplies for Friday outreach. I gathered up what I needed. But as I turned I noticed a pair of work boots sitting on top of the boxes. Sure enough... size 11 and steel-toed and Doc Martens. 

I don't know how the boots got there, but I was able to deliver them to Sam and his girlfriend this past Monday at our prayer time. I told everyone the story of how I found them. Few had any doubts that it was the result of an answered prayer.

Share your stories of answered prayers.

"To know, love and serve street dependent youth."
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Arrange a meeting with me: tungle.me/terrycole

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