Update Tuesday - Jackson Street

Just yesterday I had the opportunity to send a note to a faithful prayer partner who, along with others from her church, have been faithfully praying for one street in our neighbourhood.  They had the opportunity to visit this past summer and did some work and a lot of praying on the street.  Since their visit, there have been some interesting developments.

One of the tasks I gave them was to spend some time on a lot which holds an abandoned building awaiting rezoning.  It is an eyesore situated on one of the main intersections and the lot is left uncared for and full of weeds.  The ladies spent a morning weeding the side of the lot that faces Jackson St., the street they have been praying for.  Since their visit, the weeds had begun to creep back and I was just about to organize a time to go and weed it again.  When I passed the property the other day, however, someone had already attended to it.  I am not sure whether it was the owner (who I met while weeding the property with the team) or some other neighbours who did it.  Regardless,  I am confident that whoever did it were inspired by the team of ladies (as well as a team from the summer before who also helped us work on the property) who would see a need and step up to meet it.  Our teams have helped us to help our neighbours recognize that we can all be a part of chipping in and contributing to the good of our neighbourhood and city.

A very similar thing occurred on another abandoned lot that our teams from the summer worked on.  One of our teams helped us to weed and plant flowers in an abandoned planter on the corner of a very busy intersection while another team helped us to weed the rest of the property a few weeks later.  Since that time there has begun a weekly event at which Food Trucks use the abandoned lot to host a charity fundraising event each Saturday.  Colourful pic-nic tables now adorn this once derelict property where a lively food extravaganza takes place each week in support of local causes.  Although I cannot say for certain that we had anything to do with it, I like to think that as we tried to see the potential in the spot, and to bring the beginnings of redemption to the lot, it may have inspired others to see things differently and see a once overrun, forgotten spot as usable space for the good of the city.

Lastly, and on a more personal level, I was able to report about one of the residents that our team of ladies met, who has since recognized a need for help to treat an addiction.  He is a neighbour of some of our Fellowship members, and our members  have been loving and caring for him for some time.  He has now decided to take steps towards addressing his addiction.   There have been many ups and downs, and there will continue to be ups and downs, steps forward and steps backward, but we would ask you to also consider joining us in prayer for his journey towards health.

So those are some of the reports since our busy summer.  Now we take time looking forward as we prayerfully consider what God has for us in the next few months and, importantly, the upcoming year.  Kim and I had a great opportunity to attend a leadership boot camp last week and I am eager to begin to apply some of what we learned to our work here in Hamilton.