As some of you know, now Love Wins Ministries has office space, generously donated by a local church that supports us. I now have a desk and file cabinet (both also donated by supporters – thanks guys!).  We are very thankful for all the love and support, and I am thankful that I have a place to get admin work done without Felix (my cat) trying to get on top of my laptop.

We really do need a desktop computer and monitor for the office, however. Right now, I am shuttling my laptop back and forth, but it really is not powerful enough for some of the programs we need to use, plus it, like me, is getting old.

If you have a desktop computer and/or monitor you are not using, we sure could use it. Ideally, it would be running Windows XP or Vista and located in the RDU area so we could arrange somebody to come pick it up. Of course, we will give you a reciept so you can write the value of the donation off on your taxes.  If you think you might be able to help, please leave a comment on this post or email me directly.

The National Coalition for the Homeless recently released a 194 page (!) report on the trend among cities to criminalize homelessness.

Of the 25 cities surveyed by the US Conference of Mayors for its annual Hunger and Homelessness Report, 19 reported an increase in homelessness in 2008. On average, cities reported a 12 percent increase. The lack of available shelter space leaves many homeless persons with no choice but to struggle to survive on the streets of our cities. Even while most cities cannot provide enough affordable housing, shelter space, and food to meet the need, many cities use the criminal justice system to punish people living on the street for doing things they need to do to survive. Such measures often prohibit activities such as sleeping/camping, eating, sitting, and/or begging in public spaces and include criminal penalties for violation of these laws. Some cities have even enacted food sharing restrictions that punish groups and individuals for serving food to homeless people.

Read that last sentance again. If you give food to homeless people, you would be breaking the law.

You can download the full report here. I will write a real post on this more later, but right now I am just disgusted.

My friend Wayne Sutton went on a photo tour of NC State campus last weekend, and discovered someone’s bedding under a bridge. He shot some footage with his camera, posted below.

A small, birdlike woman in her late 40′s or early fifties, she is older than most of the folks out here. She walks with a limp and has what my grandmother would have called a lazy eye. Sometimes she sleeps in a shelter, sometimes she sleeps outside and sometimes she sleeps at a friend’s house. Lately, she has had a room in a small rooming house. Let’s call her Cindy.

Last week I saw Cindy had, in her words, “had her hair did”. She had bought a home perm kit with her first of the month check and had a friend perm her hair. She just glowed and glowed, showing off her new hairstyle.

Cindy and I are at a point in our relationship where we can kid each other a bit.

“Are you on the prowl for a new man?” I ask her.

“Honey, they are on the prowl for me!” she sasses back.

Small joys, like a new hair do or a new place to live. The value of feeling pretty, in a world where bathing sometimes gets pushed to the back burner. Joking and laughing. Small things, but good things.

These small glimpses of joy in a very bleak world are what keep me believing in a gospel of redemption, of resurection, of restoration. Just like the smell of pies baking make me hungry for the pie itself, these small windows of joy show me the merest glimpse of what the Kingdom of God will be like when it comes to it’s fullness.

For about two years, I have known Mike. He is only sporadically housed and, because of a debilitating  injury, he is awaiting a ruling on disability. If there is such a thing as a homeless cheerleader, he is it. He smiles, he makes others laugh and, strangely enough, he always has a camera in his hands. You will often find him with a disposable film camera, taking candid snaps. He loves it when church groups come out, because there is so much interaction, so many scenes.

About a month ago, Chad lent Mike his digital camera for a few weeks, to see what he would come up with. He took some awesome pics!  As a result,  we have made Mike the unofficial, official photographer for Love Wins Ministries. We are processing and editing some pics he has shot for us, but meanwhile here are some from the Fourth. In the future, we will give Mike his own author account here, so his pictures will be their own post.

More writeup on the Fourth is forthcoming (no pun intended).

This should be a normal post about July 4th, with me hanging out with other people who look just like, have the same jobs, attend the same church, and believe generally the same things. Or maybe this should be a post about the gigantic fireworks I shot off at my home state (Kansas). The 4th of July has meant a lot of things to me over my life, but this 4th, something was drastically different because I spent about three hours with a lot of friends I met through Love Wins.

Three hours with people who did  not look like me, who don’t have homes like mine, who don’t have jobs like mine, and who don’t believe the same way I do. I spent three hours with people who care about me not because of material things, but because I am their friend and the feeling is mutual.

Love Wins sponsored a community cookout and the poor spent time together. Some of us were poor in spirit, some poor in money, some poor in friends, but we all gathered to celebrate the freedom we have as citizens of our country. There weren’t any prayers prayed, there weren’t any invitations given, we just showed up to love and be loved. I guess like we like to say, Love Wins.

Note from Hugh: This is the first of several posts that will talk about what happened on the 4th of July in Moore Square. Pictures are coming soon.