Bar-b-Q's that don't work.

This past week I resided in the deep woods of New Brunswick helping out my former band Atlantic with their last week of camps for the summer. These guys were my family, friends and co-workers for the past 4 years of my life, so since I have left the band in January I haven’t had the community I once had with them. There are strong bonds that you have with certain people throughout your life, something that is just refreshing to your soul when you can be around them. So as rainy and tiresome the week was, it was renewing in a foreign sense.

On Tuesday of this past week Jenna and I started week two on Hawkins Street. The plan was to barbeque some dogs in the park and invite teens/kids/parents to the park. This of course didn’t go as planned. Their was a piece missing from the camper barbeque we brought, even after I called my mom to bring a back up, the barbeque didn’t get hot enough to cook anything. So we went door to door handing out bottles of water, which in Hein site provided a chance to have some one on one conversations people from the community. Sadly every conversation we have is with a single mom, maybe the father or boyfriend is out bringing home the bacon, but there is doubt that weighs heavily in my heart. When we tell these moms what we are doing and what we want to do with mentoring and programming they state how much they need that, how they feel hopeless when it comes to having any control over their kids.

When you walk around this street long enough the heaviness only get heavier, but my God is the God of the poor, the oppressed, the depressed, those who feel stuck. He hears their cries. And if we listen only for a few minutues we hear them as well.

I’m excited to barbeque tomorrow.

-Drew