My nose and an interesting night

The stitches are out! I had ten, and just got them out a few hours ago. Feels great. For ten days it has felt like someone is pulling on my skin, and it's nice to have that constant pressure gone. It'll also be nice not to hear any "Did you get in a bar fight?" jokes. They were funny at first, but I admit they've gotten a bit old. OK, a lot old. It looks like I'm going to have a bit of a scar, so I may get a few more of them as it continues to heal. Overall, though, it looks really good. You can hardly tell. Which is the point, after all.

It was a very interesting night last night with 7 Bridges to Recovery doing "A Day in the Streets." It started out with us being told that the group that when another group went out last Saturday there had been gunfire about ten feet away from them. In two months, we'd never heard of that before. At the first stop, we found out one of the homeless guys had been getting frisky when the women gave him hugs. Never heard that before either. At a later stop, one of the guys we were visiting thought that, given the bandage on my nose, it would be fun to pretend to punch me in the nose. It was harmless, and he was definitely joking, but having a drunk homeless guy pretend to punch you is not the greatest feeling. Especially because my reaction was to stand there like a deer in headlights. I'd like to think I'd have at least had the sense to flinch or something. That was new too. Then, at our final stop, someone ran over asking us to call 911 because someone was waving a pistol around nearby. That was something else that was new. But it was the final new thing that made me forget all the rest.

Someone came in last night. One of the homeless we've been visiting agreed to come to a shelter. That means more than just coming in to warm food and clean beds. At 7 Bridges, it means they are committing to following Jesus and ordering their life around him. She was committing to 'spiritual recovery' too, which is crucial for the homeless who are almost always addicts. And it was absolutely amazing. None of us who were doing it had ever been there when someone agreed to come in, and it was...great. Just great. To give food out is really neat. To share hugs and prayer is awesome. But to be there when someone comes in, that just takes the cake. Nothing can compare to that. Even the guns and the gross hugs and almost being punched in the nose (but not really).

Feeling the love

So, I had a wee bit of surgery on Monday. It wasn't a huge deal, but neither was it fun. I had a 'Squamous Cell Carcinoma' removed from my nose. If you're going to get cancer, this is a great one to get. The odds are very, very good that after this minor operation I won't have to worry about this little bugger again. Then again, it was cancer, and that's never a good thing to have. Now it's over, and I've just got to get this 10-stitch scar to heal and I'm all set. It looks like Harry Potter's scar tilted to one side a bit, and on my nose instead of my forehead. I'm waiting for my special powers. :-)

Before the surgery, I thought I would send out emails and let the folks I love know what's up. I don't really know why I wanted those folks to know, I just did. And as I added people's names to the email, and the list got longer and longer, I just couldn't believe how many names were on it. By the time I finally sent it, there were way more people on that list than I had ever expected. And I thought "Wow, there are a lot of people I care about."

Then the replies started coming back. Friends I hadn't talked to in awhile, family members I hadn't seen in years. And then I thought "Wow, there are a lot of people who care about me!" I gotta tell ya, that was a great feeling. It was so wonderful to get all those emails of love and support. I've never really had any kind of health crisis before, so this was new for me, but now I feel like I'm the most beloved person on earth. Cancer sucks, even this minor kind. But feeling this much love is just awesome. It really feels great.

Thanks, everyone! I love you too!

I made it rain. Again.

It's about an hour and a half before I need to go setup our booth for "Taste of Alpharetta." This is a festival that 60,000 people come to. The River is going to be there handing out balloons and doing face painting and sharing God's love and just letting folks know the church is out there. All of which sounds great, and would be great, if I wasn't going. Here's why:

Every time I go do this at a festival, it rains.

It's happened the last three times. The last two were complete rainouts. "Taste" is supposed to be 'rain or shine', but it's gonna be a whole lot more rain than shine. Last time I looked at the radar it was entirely filled with rain. North, south, east and west. The only dry places in three states were indoors. I doubt we'll get 6 people, never mind 60,000. All of which is lousy for growing The River, but is very good for Georgia. At last, the way to end the drought is clear. I just need to go to more festivals.

So if you know of any festivals, let me know. I'll go, and then we can take long showers again.