This holiday season was, by far, our busiest yet.  Our Family-To-Family outreach (adopting families for Christmas) successfully connected about 40 suburban families/groups of friends with 40 inner city families who otherwise would not have had Christmas.  Many actually met with the family, taking the mother shopping and providing a meal as well.

Last year the Free Family Portraits and Happy Birthday Jesus Party served 26 families and around 30 kids, respectively.  This year both of those outreaches tripled in numbers.  The Women’s Christmas Gathering also grew both in size and program and our year-end mailing grew from 500 in 2008 to nearly 1,400 this year.

However, those are just numbers.  Numbers do not reflect much of anything beyond being uncomfortably crowded or very busy.  In fact those numbers do not tell any of the amazing acts of kindness, love, generosity, grace, acceptance and the spirit of God that filled so many this Christmas season through people who volunteered of themselves for others… and in most cases for other people they did not even know or had never met.

There were professional photogs who have been hired all over the globe to take pictures of the world’s most famous and wealthy spending their time with some of the poorest, most neglected and abused in our country – taking their pictures, laughing with them, playing and eating – generally loving, accepting and giving of themselves and their talents.  There were performers who have played for tens of thousands lending their gifts to women in the name of Jesus on the occasion of His birth.  There was winter clothing bought by people who live hundreds of miles away whom we’ve never met yet sent here to cloth children and keep them warm. There were busy people with families and companies of their own to take care of during the busy Christmas season giving up hours and days of their time while being overwhelmed with the larger-than-expected numbers of people showing up at events or putting together hundreds of letters, calendars and addressing the envelopes.  There was also the world renown famous… giving, not in front of cameras but in quiet anonymity with genuine concern and love.

There were so many acts of kindness no one was able to chronicle half of them but many took notice.  Many of the forgotten, disliked and abused noticed.  They witnessed great acts given in His name and for His purposes.  Purposes that were for the forgotten disliked and abused.  Some of that number even decided to devote the rest of their lives to seeking Him who is the author of all that we see, know and is unknowable.It was a wonderful season.

Remember when you were young and your birthday was the most special day of the year?  I remember being in 3^rd grade and Sonya Zorn, the most popular girl in school, was having a birthday.  Other boys bragged about what they were going to get her.  Knowing she liked a music group called The Carpenters I took my sister’s album, cut out their cardboard pictures and taped them to a white t-shirt then made a card out of construction paper.  She acted like she liked it very much and Al Crosby shot me the stink eye.

The other day Zach, an 11yr old boy and one of my Band of Brothers (a group of 6 middle school boys I mentor that have given their lives to Christ), had a birthday.  Knowing his home situation and finding out no one had given him a party I asked him to come to my house later in the day.  Not having the time to make a real cake we had a little store-bought cake and a few of his friends there.  After singing happy birthday to him I invited Zach and the B.O.B. to spend the night.  Around 11 PM I needed to run to Wal-mart for some cable.  I went down to the basement to see is any of the guys wanted to ride with me and they all said “Yeah!!” then they proceeded to fight over the front seat.  I reminded them I was just going to buy some wires for the projector system… it didn’t matter what it was for they were in.

“Raise your hand if this is the best birthday ever!” Zach yelled out on our way to the store.  Several boys raised their hands.  “Best birthday ever?”, I thought.  We didn’t have time to make a real cake, no presents, his own family forgot and now we are on a boring trip to the store for some wires.

In the neighborhood we moved from this party would be considered lame and the kids would be asking “That’s it?”.  The birthday kid would be dissapointed, other kids would be making fun of and bragging about their own birthdayq extravaganzas and the parent would probably be embarrassed their birthday party didn’t measure up to what the other parent’s do.  But here’s Zach, all excited 8 people sang the birthday song to him and he is on his running an errand.  I asked him “Why this one was so good?” and he told me “Most birthdays no one says nothing.”

While leaving the store I asked if they wanted to go through the Wendy’s drive thru and get a frosty.  As you can imagine no one declined but when they talked about how hungry they were I realized none of these kids had dinner.  When I asked if they were hungry and no one had eaten anything since their school lunch, besides that little piece of birthday cake.  I ordered off the dollar menu and spent around $20 for seven people and we went off singing, dancing and shaking the van to some hip hop.

While in the front seat Zach was stuffing his face with hot fries and said, “Raise your hands if this is the best day of your life!”

The best day of his life?  Wow.

One thing I know… it had little to do with food.

by: Mr. Thom

After an eventful day we were hoping Sunday night would be a time to relax.  My day started early. At 6 AM I was assembling a big grill that would cook hundreds of hotdogs at the 2nd annual outdoor church service in our neighborhood.  It was a great day but by late afternoon when we got home we were so tired I hoped no one would knock at our door so we could just rest.  When Michele told me one girl was going to hang out with us for a while it was for a very good reason.  Her older sister had run away, again, a few days earlier but they found her and she agreed to go to a center for troubled teens.  Our friend had now found out her sister was suicidal.  This girl is usually jubilant and a strong leader but at our home she went hours without speaking a word.  We didn’t have a lot of wisdom so Michele just kept her close, asked questions and loved her as a sister would.  The girl seemed to feel protected and loved just by being near Michele.  Then as it started getting dark a couple of 12 year old girls came to our side gate screaming “Help!  It’s an emergency!”  Two Hispanic men were chasing them, trying to forcibly take them back to their duplex a few houses down from us.  We later learned from the police that in Mexico it is common for men to take 12/13 year old girls and keep them until they turn 18 then marry them.  The girls were hysterical.  Crying and screaming they told me their story of running from these guys but they had no place to go so they came to our home.  I wanted desperately to fix the situation but I called 911 instead because only the police could do that.  By the time the officers arrived there was about 20 African-Americans in the middle of the street (and one white guy – me) who were very concerned about the situation.  The crowd was getting restless and started making their way toward the small duplex where these guys live.  Had the police officers not done such a tremendous job there is a good chance a race riot could have broken out on our street.  These tragic situations are well beyond any training Michele and I have had.  It would be easy to be too fearful to get involved but as the Bible says, “God does not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power of love and of self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7).  With no experience in helping a girl deal with a sibling’s suicidal tendencies or girls who narrowly escaped abduction we just were there to talk to them, hug them and help them communicate with their families.  Sometimes being there is enough.Two days removed from that night and I am feeling sad about how little our city seems to care about problems in the black community.  I am not a fan of the local news but tonight I watched the late news and was wondering why something like an arrest being made over the attempted kidnapping of two young girls would not make the news.  I’m pretty sure the reason is because we are in a poor black community.  That’s probably why the four year old boy that was killed by a hit-and-run driver never made the news and why no one outside our neighborhood never heard of the man who was shot on the steps of a church a block from our home.  I told Michele a year ago that if things like the little boy being killed happened in a nicer part area every TV station in town would cover.  I was thinking about that as the news anchor was relaying the day’s biggest stories and there it was….  It came on just after the picture of a bank robbery in action.  A story came up from one of the nicest areas of town and for the life of me I can’t understand why it could ever make the news of even a small city.  The bullet points read:  Franklin Public Library

• 2 Laptops Missing
• Toilets Filled With Paper Towels.

That’s the kind of story that’s not big enough for the conversation at the local hair salons but it made the TV news in America’s 29^th largest media market while on a daily basis real tragedy goes unnoticed among the city’s poor.  They are forgotten… and they know it.

I feel speechless and have for some time but I pushed through it tonight….I have wondered if it is the lack of sleep…. the lack of “overflow” that I have felt in these past 3 months after adding our sweet fourth child into our family. The Front Porch certainly has been anything but quiet and the opportunites have been plentiful – there was no “maternity leave” from the Front Porch so to speak…. only stronger boundaries for a time. There have been some amazing times and lots of kids to love on and relationships to maintain – a lot can happen in a week around here. One thing I wrestle with is how to articulate what goes on in my heart when I sit with some of these women and children. I am always blown away and humbled when these moms come over…. and keep coming…. and come when they have BIG issues or want prayer. My heart is heavy for them… they have REAL BIG stuff going on and often no where to turn where they feel is safe. I know I can’t save them… but I feel affirmed in what God has called our family to be with Front Porch Ministry and am amazed at the relationships He has helped us form with these women and the trust that we have gained over the past four years. It hasn’t been easy. I feel like we have gone from people just wanting something to “get by” to people being desparate for “life change.” It’s both wonderful and difficult to be apart of sometimes.

Tonight we had a mom and her children over for dinner to help her fill out a job application and instead she spent most of the evening sharing with me about her abusive relationship and the fact that she dances for money to pay her bills when she is behind. She is hurting and has so much shame and yet I feel the grace of God flow through me to share boldly with her that God will make a way… and it might not be easy… but it will be one step at a time. Through donations with Front Porch, we can help her keep her lights on and not feel pressured to strip in order to pay bills until she gets a job. We can pray with her and encourage her that God has a better plan for her life… that she is tired because she can’t do it alone and needs help…. she needs a Savior… we all do, we are all a mess without Him. Luckily there is one…. and He died on the Cross for HER and for me.

Just in the past 2 1/2 weeks, I talked and prayed with moms about their runaway children, domestic violence abuse, one mom working in strip clubs to pay her light bills…I have been to the domestic violence division of metro police to help a mom turn herself in for violating her probation, been to night court, day court and accepted phone calls from jail. Thom has changed locks to protect a family from a dangerous man and brought groceries and rides to school for kids whose mom is in jail. Life is harsh for some of these children and moms and they haven’t even touched the surface about what this is doing in their hearts….it is enough just to live through the cirmcumstances. No wonder many of them have shared with me about their anxiety or depression. One mom came over for prayer after hours earlier sitting on the couch with a butcher knife, ready to take her own life.

I feel like an unskilled social worker and I try not to “Take it home with me.” BUT I LIVE HERE!!! How can I not take it home with me. It’s real and these lives are real and they are hurting so desparately. I know I can’t save them… only Jesus can….and I am so grateful that He is a work.

In the meantime…I feel called. Called to be available… to answer the door…. called to speak boldly. And is not because I have it all together…. it’s only because I know where I find “bread.” Ginny Owens has a song that’s lyrics are something like… “fellow traveler let me take to the place where I find rest….fellow seeker let me show you where I find true happiness…. fellow traveler…. I know where there is bread…good bread…. come with me and sit at the table and you will never go hungry again.”

I love that song (even though I probably just butchered the lyrics). Nevertheless, It reminds me of whose I am…. not who I am. I am just grateful others want to know “where I find bread.” Who knows….maybe they will join me “at the table” and…”never go hungry again.”

It’s now 11:16 pm on Tuesday March 24th and my wife is at the jail in downtown Nashville.   Here is the story:

Dear Friends,

Right now Michele is at the Domestic Violence Division of the Metro Nashville Jail.  She has taken one of our dear neighborhood friends there to file for a restraining order for her.  They also know the lady she is taking will be arrested as well when they find out who she is.  I need prayer and advise from an expert in this area so I’m writing to all of you.  Here’s the part of the story I can share:

Dee (not her real name) has been having ongoing issues with a man who is the father of her child (I’ll call him “Bob”).  The issues are violent.  After one of the attacks she kicked his car and busted  out a tail light.  Although he had just physically hurt her he pressed charges for the tail light and had her arrested but she did not press charges on him.  Because of that she is on probation and must attend weekly classes but without a car she relies on the bus system.  After being late a couple of times and unable to sit in on the classes her probation officer put out a warrant for her arrest.  “Bob” knows that she has a warrant out on her so he starts hanging out at her home again and roughs her up knowing that she cannot talk with the police because she will be arrested.  This past weekend he had her in a position where the kids feared for her life and one of them hit Bob over the head with a vase knocking him out.  She is right now talking with a Domestic Violence Officer who will, in all probability also will arrest her on the spot as well.

She has children so being incarcerated can cause lots of issues.  We love her kids and spend a good deal of time with them so Michele and I will do what we can to help but are not sure what we can do.

We need your prayer for this family and for how we can help.  I also need one of you who might know someone who could help us.  If you know someone who would be willing to help us and has an expertise in any area of her story please let us know or have them email us.

Thank you.

Our Home is Threatened. About seven months ago one of Nashville’s most dangerous criminals moved into the abandoned house across the street from us.  His criminal arrest sheet is very long.  His crimes are violent – including home invasions – and yet he lives a very loud lifestyle that makes no apologies.  My wife, Michele, confessed to me about a month ago that for the first time since we moved here she dealing with a lot of fear.

I can’t give you his name nor can I relay what I know of his crimes.  I can only tell you that I believe him to be a high-level criminal whose presence changed the attitude of our neighborhood, kids and adults who also lived in fear to walk down the sidewalks on our block.  Many of our neighbors and friends grew up in the projects and have seen much in their lives but do not live in fear yet this man and his family that lives with him were on the streets enough for people to know they should stay inside.  Brand new motorcycles, four-wheelers and a go cart sat in the front yard, unlocked but never touched by anyone.

After a police raid on their home in January the man and his wife paid us a visit.  Fortunately my children were not home to hear the tirade of shouts and threats or see the angry faces and fingers pointing in my face because they thought that we had “snitched them out”.   On a different day one of the family members threatened to blow up another neighbor’s home.

God Protects Our Home. The situation with these guys became so intense that the for the past four weeks the Commander of East Precinct stationed a car on the side of our home 24/7 with their lights on and facing the house across the street.  Many complaints were lodged by the family but fortunately we found favor with the powers that be in the government.  One of my close friends is a contract mercenary.  He gave me tips of wisdom for the situation I was in and he frequently looks in on us and our home, ready to protect me and my family day and night.

A few days ago the family across the street began quietly removing their things from the house and today the house appears empty and the family seems to have moved completely.  Gone are the pitbulls that were loosely chained up in his front yard and could reach the sidewalk.  The porch sits quiet without the loud shouts from his wife threatening anyone in the neighborhood who wants to talk about them to the cops.  Gone is a young member of the family that doesn’t hide the deals he make in plain daylight and in plain sight.

I thank God for protecting my family and these precious kids in our neighborhood.  God is our provider and our protector.

Today we set out to see a college but by the end of the day we saw a miracle. I need to back up a bit though to tell the story. Reginald Johnson is one of the best guys you will ever meet. I met him about four years ago at the Salvation Army where he hangs out, plays basketball, refs ballgames and does just about anything Carlos Lowe, the teen director, asks him and never complains. He is a quiet leader around the Magness Potter Community Center. Everybody likes him and he’s just shy enough to barely offer a smile when someone tells him “Thank you” or complements something he’s done. But if you ask him to lead a prayer you will know something about his passion. It’s hard to get Reginald to talk about much but he comes alive when he prays to his Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

At the beginning of this school year we talked about the possibility of him using football to get into college. He is a senior linebacker at Maplewood High School and has had a goal of being the first college graduate in his family’s history. In fact, in four months he will become the first high school graduate in his family. He had a good senior year being named to the “All Metro Nashville” team while intercepting four passes, returning two of them for touchdowns, and knocking down a bunch more. Yet playing at Maplewood doesn’t give him as many opportunities to get his name out around the college coaches as it would if he were attending one of the well-known private schools.

Earlier this week he called me, excited that the coach at Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee wanted him to come visit on Saturday and asked if I could drive him. He wanted to also take a couple of his friends who were also starters on his team. Knowing Reginald, if he called them “friends” they are guys of character. I told them all to be ready at 6:30 AM sharp which would give us more than enough time to get there early. This morning Reginald calls me a few minutes after six to make sure I’m up and going to be on time – they were already up and ready.

Being a NCAA division II school, Lane College could only supply half scholarships to the athletes who end up receiving offers so if any of the three got an offer today there was still the question of how could they afford the other 50% of tuition, room and board. After sitting through a bunch of meetings the president of the school shocked everyone, (including those from the college), by making a pledge that these players and parents will remember for the rest of their lives.

He made an offer that had never been made to a group of prospective Lane College students before – and just before he made it he told every Lane coach, teacher and employee in attendance that the offer could not be repeated at any other meetings. He said that every student in that auditorium who made application to Lane College and had all their paperwork in before March 1st would not have to pay a dime of their undergraduate degree. In effect, he offered every student there a full-ride scholarship.

None of the three guys had ever had a male from their families graduate from college. Today God moved and the president of this small college may have just changed their families for generations to come. God is absolutely amazing. We could not stop talking about and being in awe of God the rest of the day.

Christmas season is crazy around the Front Porch.  We are either leading or partnering in on five Christmas outreaches.  During all the rush one piece of paper stopped me cold and I forgot about everything else on my mind and the to do list.  I looked at it briefly and asked Michele to stop what she was busily doing on her laptop.  It was a Christmas wish list from our Adopt-a-Family for Christmas program.  After hearing of the wish list from one of our sweetest neighborhood girls being loaded with all kinds of electronic gear and gadgets Michele and I had a good laugh and she said, “Well, if I were six and someone told me to write up a wish list…”.  Then I started wondering if there were some Moms that wrote out stuff for themselves and wondering if they understood the sacrifices people were making and all the other things that sometimes come to mind when we get a bit too cynical this time of the year.  All of that was swirling around in my mind as I reached over and picked up the folded piece of paper with this list.  I first noticed it was a long list of names that included an adult woman and adult man but the “Christmas Wish List” was so simple, in fact, they did not ask for anything specific.  As I read I couldn’t control my tears.  They simply put their name, age, shirt, pant and shoe sizes.  No Gameboy or Playstation 3.  No toys or dolls of any kind.  They simply hoped for clothing but without even mentioning a specific need for a new winter coat for the oldest child or shoes for their daughter – apparently they will be happy with whatever they receive.It reminds me of this poem my Dad used to read from church pulpits when I was a boy:

Today upon a bus,
I saw a girl with golden hair,
and wished I was as fair.
When suddenly she rose to leave,
I saw her hobble down the aisle.
She had one leg and wore a crutch.
But as she passed, a smile. Oh God, forgive me when I whine,
I have 2 legs, the world is mine.I stopped to buy some candy.
The lad who sold it had such charm.
I talked with him, he seemed so glad.
If I were late, it’d do no harm.
And as I left, he said to me,
“I thank you, you’ve been so kind.
It’s nice to talk with folks like you.
You see,” he said, “I’m blind.”

My world often feels like a snowglobe. Everytime I see one, I think of my dad saying that I am like a snowglobe…. “when you walk into a room…. it’s like “shake shake shake” and the snow starts to twirl and spin and go everywhere.” I am not sure if he was originally relating to the state of my room as a teenage girl at the time, but there is still truth to this day in his analogy. I have always thrived on chaos.

I can feel it deeply this morning…. as I realized it took me 2 1/2 hours of being awake to settle my soul (let the snow fall) and just sit in the quiet instrumental music of a cloudy morning. I awoke early, only because of my 5 year old who somehow has made it to my bed to snuggle in the early hours managed to push me to the edge of my own king-sized bed. She is good at pushing me to the edge (in more ways than one) and even in her sleep-state was “feisty” enough for me not to want to fight it.

It makes me question why I do not seek more “snow fallen” moments – it feels like food for my soul….. quietness, stillness, peacefulness. I think maybe I am “both/and.” For some reason, God placed our family in the midst of inner-city, door-knocking chaos. We are currently 6 weeks away from giving brith to our fourth (surprise) child in the midst of Thom being nearly 5 weeks now into healing from major backsurgery….. all while being 3 months into officially launching a very busy Front Porch Ministry. There is more…. but I can feel the “snow” twirling and shaking and I don’t want to get my snowglobe “stirred” up again…knowing how long it takes for the settling to happen.

There are so many times, I feel equipped to live out life in the midst of chaos and I can survive…sometimes even thrive. I understand it and can even function in it…. just come to one of our inner-city outreaches. Your head will spin. I have seen it happen with friends who aren’t used to it and it reminds me that God calls us uniquely and individually.

I think the challenge for me is remembering that I can’t stay there. There is so much value in the quiet. There is value in what you can only see and notice in the calmness…. when all the “snow” lies still and there is a quiet, beautiful scene left standing there…..That scene is enough and merits attention aside from the function of the swirling snow. It has beauty all it’s own and can even be valued aside from being shaken or spun. In fact, the scene inspired the snowglobe, not the other way around.

I want to remember that….even in the midst of being surrounded by passionate kids(both my own and our neighbors) who twirl and swirl and shake shake shake when they walk into a room. There is beauty in the calm (not just sound asleep calm). I need the Lord to teach me to let the snow fall (exactly where it may) and rest in the beauty of the scene. I want to take notice of the stillness and the quiet and maybe even softly make snow angels in the mound of snowfall…gazing back at the One that holds my snowglobe world in the palm of His hand.

December is a great time to reach out to others.  We have four outreaches planned for this month and there is plenty of opportunity to help through volunteering your time, making a donation and/or praying for each one.

More details are coming but here is the quicklist of the Front Porch outreaches:

1. Adopt-A-Family for Chirstmas (still need families or groups of friends to help)
2. Women’s Christmas Gathering (still need women to help)
3. Christmas Party  (a group has tentatively been penciled in)
4. Family Portraits (photographers booked; may still need a few volunteers)

An announcement and email will be coming with more details on how you can be a part whether you have plenty of time to give, very little time or not even close to Nashville.

I also need to pre-warn you that we will be sending an email and letter requesting financial support. It’s not  our favorite thing to do but unfortunately we still need a bunch of monthly partners just to underwrite this ministry.  With me (Thom) being bedridden due to an injury and my pregnant wife, Michele leaving her job on faith that we will be able to raise the support we make a great picture of what is NOT the ideal time to officially begin a ministry.

He is always for you,

Thom Hazelip