The Secret of the Thistle

Destiny, it seems, brought us to Nashville. And to Thistle Farms, a community of women who have survived prostitution, trafficking, and addiction.

Do you know about the thistle? It is a hard, prickly plant, with deep roots that break through sidewalk. It defies the world and survives the roughest disasters and storms. But have your seen it bloom? It has the most beautiful, gentle purple flower.

What is the secret? Actually it's not a secret, because I will tell you. It is love.

Rita, what does love mean to you? It means caring. Just caring, about others, things, yourself. “Before, I didn't care about anyone. I didn't care about myself, and I sure didn't care a damn about you. That's how it was.” But slowly you learn love... slowly love shows you how to care, slowly you learn to love yourself and take care of yourself. There is something to live for.

Lori, who works in their sewing studio, told me: This place creates the space for you to have peace. It is the most loving and peaceful place you will find. She thinks it's crazy how people work to make a living. I am living!, she tells me, I love what I do!

I was surprised to learn that Thistle Farms is not faith-based (but everything we do, they told me, is based on faith). Instead, they are love-based. I think that I, too, shall be love-based. Really what you are saying, then, is that you are God-based; God is love. If love is the key, the focus, the in and out of everything – then God is the key, God is the focus, God is in and through everything you do. Love heals. God heals. This, I think, is the only kind of healing that is real.

Meet me in St. Looey...

If you want something about your life to be changed, spend a day with Steve at Restore St. Louis. In fact, Libby and I have already bought a house and are moving to North St. Louis! Here we are in front of our new home:

Just kidding. But we loved it there.
New City Fellowship and Restore St. Louis in a word: Relationships. In a sentence: Justice is not an option....even if (or especially if) it means your life.

Caught a visit to The Covering House on the way out and were blasted with knowledge, coffee and candy!

Favorite St. Louis thing: The City Museum. Go there and everywhere in there.

I Ain't Got No Home In This World Anymore

Tent: check, coffee: check, bookshelf stocked and buckled into the backseat: check check, plastic Jesus on the dashboard: definitely check. When your car is going to be your home for the next several months, you need to make sure it is adequately prepared for that kind of endeavor.

Why live in our car and drive around the country for several months? Well, there are a lot of things to be seen, lessons to be learned, and outside-the-box people to be met, and we might as well get on with it before time runs out. Also, in light of our pursuit to start an enterprise that not only meets social needs on a lasting level but is both scalable and profitable, we decided an adequate research and development plan should be carried out. And research, my friends, is best done the old-fashioned, face-to-face way.

We welcome you to embark with us and our valiant steed on the adventure of the year... we'll be posting periodically.

(Shout out to Michelle -- thank you for magnificently scouring out our room while we sat around brain-dead and blog-writing!)

The New Year

It seems that as Dickens inspires my dreams, he has inspiring dreams himself. If you're looking for an interesting way to usher in the New Year, I'd recommend reading Dickens' "The Chimes", a short 4-chapter story that I found insightful and challenging.

"So may the New Year be a happy one to you, happy to many more whose happiness depends on you! So may each year be happier than the last, and not the meanest of our brethren or sisterhood debarred their rightful share, in what our Great Creator formed them to enjoy."

 --Charles Dickens, The Chimes