Wednesday, September 26, 2012


1917 MENTOR?

Went down to the mission yesterday.

I saw Julie- Dirk’s girlfriend.

I usually don’t see her at the mission- and when I do- she’s always with Dirk.


At first I wasn’t sure it was her- but as she walked by I asked ‘aren’t you Julie’.

Yeah- it was her.


If you remember- I wrote a post about them both going to one of the national parks here in Texas.


It’s called the Angelina national forest.


Over the years Dirk has told me lots about how much he loves being there.


It’s kind of a ‘second’ [or 3rd?] home away from home.


Dirk spends most of the year living here in his van.

Every so often he goes home to Michigan to see family.

And sometimes he stops at the national forest for a few weeks- he knows the locals- older retired guys who he plays cards with and stuff.


He has told me how he loves to hunt for arrow heads along the banks of the river.


Okay- I asked Julie where Dirk was.


She told me ‘I left him there’.

They got in a fight- over the arrow heads!

Yeah- every morning Dirk would get up and take Julie arrow head hunting.

So she told me she bought a few books in town and one morning wanted to read.

Dirk went hunting for the heads.


He came back- found something and was all excited- he tried to show it to her or something and she was into the book.

One thing led to the next- they got in a fight- and she drove back to Corpus [about a 600 mile drive by the way].

He has no ride back.

I knew from the start that they were going to get into a fight- I just didn’t think she would leave the guy.


I think that’s why she was down at the mission- sort of waiting to see if he makes it back.



I mean I did have to laugh- as I talked with Julie I told her I thought something like this would happen.



I do want to mention something that will sound self serving- buts it’s the second or 3rd time Julie has told me this- and to be honest it surprised me.


Julie tells me that Dirk is always talking about me- that he sees me as his ‘mentor’ and that he has nonstop praise for me.

I find it ‘funny’ because Dirk usually has nothing good to say about anyone- to be honest.

Many times he has put down the other ‘street’ preachers who work in the area.

I have had to defend Brother Rey- a street preacher- many times.


But being she brought it up again- I want to simply say a few words.


I have known Dirk for many years- and he realizes that me getting with the guys- often taking them out to eat- just being friends with the homeless.

He knows that this is ‘ministry’ to me.

Now- when you become friends with people- of course- over time- they will learn stuff- you will talk about God- and many times the guys have questions- things they might have heard as kids.

Misconceptions about God- things that have hindered them from believing- and often times it’s a simple explanation that clears it up.


So- I guess after knowing Dirk all these years- he has come to see me as a sort of mentor.


I have Henry sleeping in the living room right now- we hung out most of the day- I cooked some simple stuff last night and let him crash on the couch.


I have started doing this at least once a week- I see it as a way to contribute a little more- without it costing a lot of money.


Henry is a football nut- he knows the sport like I used to follow boxing.

Over the years at the fire house the guys realized I was a boxing fanatic.

I would usually know who would win the fight- and when they had a question about some rule- they would ask.

I had a laugh one day- I was upstairs watching the fights- they were down in the main room- I guess they put it on as well.


James- one of the guys- came up to ask ‘what’s it mean when they say- no 3 knockdown rule’.

I told him ‘that means you can’t knock the other guy down- more than 3 times’.

Actually- it means you don’t stop the fight if the other guy goes down 3 times in 1 round.


Some states have this rule- they think it prevents a fighter from getting hurt too much.

But in some cases maybe one of the knockdowns is a fluke- then a guy might lose a fight when he really wasn’t hurt.



So- being Henry is a football nut- you guessed it- we watched the bad call in the game the other night.


I think it was Green Bay and Seattle.

It made the news because the NFL has the replacement ref’s in the game- the regular guys are locked out over a dispute about their contract.

Henry could not get over the amount of coverage- I mean I had ESPN on for 4-5 hours at the house.

I finally told Henry ‘man- I’m gonna catch some news’.

Yeah- it was on the world news too!

Obama and Romney and all the politicians had to have their say.

I’m just waiting for the Al-Qaeda statement.


So- we watched the play- around a hundred times thru out the day.



In a little while Henry will get up- we will head out to some area- maybe go visit my friends in Bishop/Kingsville- it’s been a while and I probably should see them.


It really doesn’t take much to do this- I read John chapter 15 earlier.

Jesus says the most important thing is to love your brother.

That he showed us that to lay our lives down for another- to sacrifice your time- money- etc.

That this is the heart of the matter.


It doesn’t take much- and your friends will never forget.

Note- Do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] - I have posted lots.







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