Monday we painted a Restoration Ministries house. The local government had recently donated it to them. Restoration Ministries (the guys that live in Harvey House) then fixes it up, sells it, and pockets the profit. The government makes money on the property tax, and the community has one less vacant, ugly, foreclosed house, a win for everyone.
In the evening we went to Branden House, which is a secular drug and alcohol rehab/withdrawal program, for a bible study with some of the Harvey House guys. We heard a provocative message about the lies of Satan and Fear and the Spirit of God and Faith. We heard a lot of practical suggestions in the form of particular verses from the Bible. The speaker was Barb, the wife of the pastor at Spirit of God Church, which started Restoration Ministries. She also brought up the subject of illness and evil spirits. It rubbed some of our group the wrong way, but it brought up good conversation that needs to be had. I always believe that If everyone agrees with a certain speaker, that speaker really didn’t say anything.
Kyle got the tall job
Sarah was a big fan of painting.
So it's been a while. I'm now back on some adventures so here's something I wrote earlier. Harvey House is a 12-18 month Christian program for Drug and/or Alcohol addicted men. It is not for withdrawal, but for men who have already decided to change their lives.
On Sunday we went with some Harvey House guys to Chicago with Trinity College to give out sandwiches to homeless and pray with them. Needless to say it was a great time. My sub-group was with two Trinity College (funny, I almost applied there) students and Scottie, one of the Harvey House guys. Scottie was a pro on the streets because his life used to be the streets. He said he’d bought heroin all over the city. That, apparently, is the drug of choice in Chicago. We spoke, prayed with, and gave sandwiches to over six homeless people. Scottie made conversing with them simple. He was kind, straight to the point, and he steered conversation exactly where it needed to go. I learned a lot from seeing how he interacted with the homeless and from talking with him after. I learned how to pray with drunken people, I learned how to trust God for provision, and I learned how to be humble when offering help to someone older than me. I learned to rely on the Spirit.
Later Sunday night I spoke with Alex and Dave, two other group members from Valpo:
