I hope and pray that everyone is having a fantastic Christmas week with friends and family. Nancy and I had the pleasure of going into Houston last night for a nice dinner with good friends we had not seen a long time. We were both quickly humbled when we were driving downtown and were overwhelmed by the number of homeless sleeping under I-45. There seemed to be more than normal due to the rain. I was also overwhelmed by a group that had set up flood lights, tables, and were serving meals. I am not sure if this was the St John's team or another a group. So many of us at CLPC have been truely blessed in so many ways. I personally are starting to realize that with these blessings come huge responsibilities to help those who need us.
Special thanks goes out to Lee Swindler and all of you who have really stepped up in re-starting the Carpenters Hand Ministry. In a very short amount of time, we have accomplished a lot. A sample of the accomplishments the last six weeks includes:
- 15-20 men that showed up for our first Manly Service day on November and performed yard work, misc home repairs in San Leon, hanging a door for a very special member of CLPC, and assisted with the youth garage sale.
- ICM Assistance – Joe Bradley, Mark Klaus and I along with our sons and some of their friends loaded Christmas trees on a truck and hauled tree containers to a storage unit on Dec 5
- Ongoing Help for Nancy Craig – I know that Wayne Bell and Jason Pettrey have gone back and helped with home repairs and transportation assistance
- Church Nativity Scene Lean-To – Bob Webber and I built a structure to house the CLPC nativity scene (see attached picture)
- Installation of the new door for Harrison’s – Laurence Mays and I completed the installation of the new door on Dec 12
The next Manly Service Day is Saturday, January 9th - We will meet at CLPC for a quick breakfast, prayer, and break out into work teams. The plan going forward is to have the 2nd Saturday of every month set aside for service projects. The projects are pre-planned and targeted to be completed by mid-day on Saturday. Please reach out to Lee Swindler, Josh Strasner, show up at CLPC, or leave a comment to this blog if you are interested in getting involved. There is plenty of different work to do for everyone - from manual labor, carpenter skills, to the ability to go buy supplies, and/or to just stop a listen to a person in need.
I hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas and Happy New Year!
