Living Hazzardously

Little pieces of our journey with Jesus

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nobody missed him

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I was reading today about a man named Chase. Chase was not from our area but could easily be one of many folks around your very own neighborhood. He could have been the retired “hermit” in the north woods, the “bum” you saw outside Target today, the woman pushing a stroller that holds all her worldly possessions as she walked along the road, or the grandmother that got scammed for all she had in life. 

Chase was challenged in this world to “fit in” he wasn’t trying to be “odd” he wasn’t trying to be a burden, he wasn’t trying to scare you and he wasn’t trying to “ruin your neighborhood”…  He did get into trouble, he did steal from time to time, he did ask you to help him… He did smell funky, he did look unkept, He did have value. 

Chase died alone, behind a Target store, nobody knew he was dead, nobody missed him. He was discovered days later, by accident. 

This story is all too common, our system is broken, so many “un-homed persons” are given a huge check each month. Spending this check in only a few days, maybe getting a motel room for a night to shower and sleep like royalty. As they slip over to the local homeless shelter to wash clothes for free, get a free meal from the mission or local “community action” group. Eventually, this outcast will head back over to the corner of the county park, set up as a “tent city”… Month after month, year after year until one day, after seeking shelter in a fish house in the back yard of a local person, they quietly die and are discovered days or weeks later as the owner starts setting up his spear house for that big muskie. 

Yes, many times this person will take advantage of everyone. Whether you are trying to help them or just ignore them, so often they will burn every bridge. BUT there is always that one “inconvenient truth”… Our government will pay them to be homeless! That’s right! Living on the streets is much more profitable that taking up residency in a home where people care and love them….

If I can get $1000.00 and get handouts for dinner, free clothes, as many tents and blankets as I want… Or, go to a house and pay $600.00 in rent, that only leaves $400.00 for smokes, food, utilities and “habits”… Loosing all the free stuff? Living in the county park for free, the freedom to go anywhere at anytime, folks buying you a meal at a restaurant you cant  afford…. You might learn pretty fast how to manipulate the world too. 

Don’t get me wrong, every homeless person we encounter that chooses to be on the streets has a counterpart that works to get off the streets…  It’s not a one size fits all equation. 

But the reality is this, it’s a challenge to be homeless, but many would rather be homeless and have the monthly paycheck than to live in a house or apartment and give that paycheck to a landlord. 

I think our government should start attending “co-dependent” counseling and learn a bit about “enabling”. I am no “expert” by any stretch, but the solution is not more money poured into a system that clearly doesn’t work! 

What was the ancient proverb? “Doing the exact same thing over and over and expecting different results each time is the true definition of insanity”?

Sam’s Place is one place that is trying to make a difference. We are not operating on some big budget, In fact it costs Jess and I every month to keep our doors open, yes, I pay to keep it going. One day we know we will reach a net zero, one day we know we will get to the point of making a difference and hopefully we will one day be able to reduce our rent price and meet those folks that “don’t fit into society”… I hope one day read about the Chases of this world, and how a small act of caring and kindness helped them overcome the challenges they face daily and become a vital part of society that gives back to the next person in the line of despair and solitude. 

Not everyone that dies alone behind Target has to be there or should be there! 

A young man that was brilliant, started his masters degree, excelled in mathematics, theoretical math, but struggled to fit into the society around him. A man of 60 plus, another brilliant mind, who lived behind his mothers house in a camper for two years, but never fit into the cookie cutter world we have. Another man who finished his degree with top honors and found himself alone and hearing voices, losing touch with reality, collecting pop cans. A mother who can’t get along with people, not receiving help because she doesn’t exactly fit the bill, she is almost to the point of getting help but doesn’t qualify. The motivated person who did some bad drugs and now lives with the constant looming cloud they may very well one day slip away into a psychosis that never ends. 

We can’t help everyone, and not everyone can be helped by Sam’s Place, but we can help 15, we can help some become stable, independent and some to just be safe and loved. 

Sam’s Place can’t change the entire world, but it can help change the lives of those we serve. Maybe one day, we can help more “brothers and sister” that are ready to come in out of the rain, a retired “man or lady” that is looking to find a home that doesn’t break the bank, a “cousin” that suffers from childhood trauma and needs a safe, secure place to live… At Sam’s Place, we don’t just take the ones that are homeless, outcast and don’t fit in, we take anyone that is looking for a loving home, but they must want to succeed, be safe and live clean. 

God blessed you, if you can read this, God has blessed you. C

is it me? 9-11 special addition

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I can not believe this week, is it me or is the world getting worse?

Every generation has said “The world is going to hell in a and basket”

I’m saddened by all that has happened in the world this week, but I still have the hope of Jesus in my heart. Do not let the destroyer take the joy away, even when the night approaches at mach speed, just remember this, God is good, always. The lives lost this week and in weeks past will never be in vain, even if we cant see it on this side of heaven.

Join me this Saturday at 8 am CST for a silent prayer to strengthen the families suffering and to change the hearts of those that are filled with hate. I don’t mean the anger we all feel, I mean the hate that drives murder.

At 8AM every Saturday, Our kids get together with us as a family on zoom, we pray and catch up. Make this Saturday the day you pray and catch up with someone, even if you are alone, God is always with us.

God bless the US, C.

When time stops

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As the 3 year mark hits we stop and reflect, a lot has happened in three years, but one thing has remained absolutely unchanged, Sam. It’s hard to believe it’s been  3 years, and yet it seems like it was a lifetime ago. The head stone is always in need of a bit of cleaning, the grass is in need of a bit of trimming, the pine needles fall on the bench and the birds chirp as life continues. Life continues and yet it is still frozen, timeless, still, cold and dark. The hole in the heart that never will be filled. It may seem a bit smaller as our hearts fill with grandbabies. The newest additions to the Hazzard clan that will never meet folks like:  great grandma and grampa, great-aunty Laurie, my niece Ellie and… uncle Sam. I wonder who is next, I think about who is gone, I think about who might be the next to check into eternity… Me? Jess? A brother or sister?… There is always a “next” and it seems to be gathering momentum as time slides forward… As if it were an avalanche, picking up speed, gathering  souls on it time stopping journey down the mountain.

Time stopped that night and even though it moves on everyday, it’s frozen, frozen in time is the scream, frozen is the loss of strength, frozen is the darkness of the early morning phone call, frozen is the brother that doesn’t understand and can’t process the overload of information… Frozen is the step father that reached out to help… frozen in time like a portrait hanging on the hallway wall. Frozen, as memories stop and time leaves behind the moments and memories of a child, a “Man gone too early”.

And yet, here we are, moving forward, making plans and trying to influence one more guy to step into recovery to find a life that has a better end. The thing about recovery is it never is over, and although you may have never been lying on the floor physically, we have all been in that hall way of despair, the corridor of making the wrong choices… we all know this path leads to a door, and once you step across the eternal threshold, there is no turning back, no saying goodbye, no undoing the last step.

For me that last step, that eternal threshold is one into light, into heaven, into God’s Glory… I hope you are also walking towards that door. I can’t see the door you are walking towards and you can’t see mine… but we all are on that same journey called life, until we too enter into that timeless realm… or at least its timeless for those left behind, still walking the path laid out in front of them. 

At Sam’s Place, we are not a recovery program, we don’t provide recovery to our clients, but we are all dedicated to helping anyone that struggles with staying clean, some do great, some are walking a rocky path. All we can do is provide a home where recovery and staying clean is our goal, because staying clean is a requirement to make good decisions.

One time is all it takes… as I have heard many times:

 You are always one drink, one toke, one pop away from destruction. 

I mean, if you stop and think, are we not all one decision away from making our lives a mess? The man that stops at the bar for a drink, and ends his day swerving over the line, killing a mother and three kids. Or the harmless toke that brought on middle aged schizophrenia.  A pill that ends a carrier. The glass pipe that spiralled you into needing narcan. The girl in the video that was “harmless” yet ended your marriage. The business decision that was so easy but sent you to prison. Speaking harshly to your brother ended your relationship.  The Child who just wanted to be important but you were too busy. The friend that called a little too late in the evening whose funeral you are attending tomorrow. The granddaughter that wanted to show off her art work, but it was cutting into your busy schedule. Or maybe it was that leaking tire you meant to fix months ago that blew out at 55mph causing you to swerve across four lanes of traffic and now the little girl in the back of the minivan will never be able to have children. 

When time stops, when lives change forever, when things can’t go back to what they were… it’s still not too late to make the next good choice, it’s not too late to be there for a different friend… It’s not too late to “not” stop at the bar, or to “not” take a toke or to go fix that tire… life may be short, but it’s worth living and it’s worth living to the fullest… When life has you down, the best medicine is to get out, go somewhere and help someone… I dare you to prove me wrong! Just go and help someone in need, and if they refuse help, find someone who will take help.

The best way to help beat depression …thinking of someone other than yourself, try it. When we shift our focus away from ourselves and onto the well-being of others, we trigger positive neurochemical responses. 

But in the end, remember this, we do not know the battles others are facing, some battles can be handled alone if you have been practicing. Some battles require help, support and encouragement from others.. Yet others may require a total surrender to the care of a professional. The best decision you can make is to surrender your entire life to God, I know that may sound cliche, but it’s a cold hard fact, Jesus is the only cure to life and death. 

God Bless, C.