The Present Future!

I feel led to comment on the events of yesterday, July 17, 2011, my 74^th birthday. In Hawaii, up at 6:00 a.m., devotions on our lanai (my view pictured on your left).

Watched first half of the World Soccer Match, U.S.A and Japan. Left for the Kauluwela Corps, score tied 1-1.

After church, lunch at Ward Center with Doris, Denise and five grandchildren, McKenna, Riley, Shea, Parker and Hayden: Orange chicken, noodles and sticky rice. Yum! Rob out at Waianae conducting beach service and not able to join us.

Back to the condo for a swim in those exact waters pictured above, followed by a rerun of the last half of that game, only to watch U.S.A lose on penalty shots, an exciting game, though.

Ran over my notes for the evening preach – theme “Aggressive Forgiveness.” Left at 5:30 p.m. for The Upper Room, service commencing at 6:00 p.m. to discover that two of us were celebrating our birthdays, mine and an Upper Room convert who lives under a bridge adjacent to Chinatown.

Preach over, we head downstairs for Birthday Blast and food preparation for the homeless in Chinatown. My homeless birthday mate makes a wish and blows out the candles on the cake – pizza and cake, doesn’t get any better than that.

8:00 p.m. Upper Room Team heads out to Chinatown where they minister to a burgeoning homeless population: Food, first-aid, foot washing, counseling or whatever the need, no task too menial. There have been miraculous outcomes: families reunited, spiritual healings and “Getting other people saved,” including my homeless, under the bridge dwelling birthday mate who has been attending Upper Room for over a year now.

On a typical Sunday, Rob leaves at 8:00 a.m. in the morning and returns home sometimes at midnight, most of the ministry conducted outside institutional walls. Catherine Booth would be proud because it’s called “Going to where the people are to be got at!” And this isn’t part of his job description; it’s his calling and passion.

Reggie McNeil nails it perfectly in his book The Present Future: “This is what it’s going to take to get a hearing for the gospel in the 21^st Century—the smell of cleaning solution, dirty faces, obvious acts of servanthood…” Sound familiar? The past translated into the present future.

On the way home, I stopped at Zippys and bought an apple pie sweetened with Equal. It wasn’t fresh peach pie, but oh did it taste good, warmed with a glob of vanilla ice cream melting down the side, trade wind breezes blowing with now a nighttime view of that scene above.

Before going to bed, checked the Braves box score and found that Freddie Freeman had driven in the winning run with a walk off hit, first of his career.

Yes, it was a very good day, can’t wait for the next one, #75! That’ll come soon enough. For now we’ll be content to focus on the present future.

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JN