jane simpson

immersion

rob simpson

d'oh!

ow.

so-
yesterday i went to sky high

with some middle school guys.
my goal was to walk away uninjured.
trampolines and i have had an on again,
off again relationship since my teens.
i keep getting on them
and they keep wrecking my body.


didn’t make that goal.


i rolled my ankle.
but i kept on bouncing.
i guess the drive to bounce runs in the family.

as i was bouncing there was this moment
where my lower back jumped into my upper back.
ow.
i crawled off the trampoline.
i tried to play it off-
but there were some moments where
i did some complaining.
i was walking with a young man named austin.
i said,
“austin- i am injured.”
“sounds like YOU need a MASSAGE!”
he said.
“yeah- i’ll have to figure that out.”
i answered.
“i give really good massages!
would you like me to give you one?”
he asked.
“uh- no. but thanks I said.”
“are you SURE?

because my mom says that mine are the best!”
“yeah- i think i’ll be alright- but thanks buddy.”
i said.
“my dad thinks mine a really good too!”
“for reals buddy- i’ll be ok.”


we walked out to the bus side by side-
and without speaking,
he quietly dig his fist into my back.
i chuckled and said thanks.
it was a thoughtful gesture.


and today i’ve been walking around
with a limp and hunched over-
and trying to look cool.
trampolines!
why do you have to be so fun?
and dangerous?!

turn back the tide

chef paul

if you hang around the ministries that i lead at the church,
hopefully it won’t be long
before you meet some one that is
homeless, hungry, or hurting.
this has been sort of a theme in my circle of influence:
i feel that helping those in need
is always relevant,
and always has something to teach us.
and because of this focus,
i’ve been to all sorts of homeless shelters,
soup kitchens, women’s shelters, and recovery centers.
i’ve met some incredible people-
and i’ve served a lot of food.


tonight, i was serving the homeless and hungry
with some college students
and i experienced some things that i never had before.
when i uncovered the dish with the night’s dinner,
it smelled
good!
like really good!
my mouth was watering!
there was a whole tray of steak that was covered in spices-
another tray had roasted potatoes-
that were also all spiced up.
there were cooked vegetables
and a salad that could be served in a nice restaurant.


this is crazy- because most of the food
for the homeless that i have served
has been a bunch of leftovers thrown together,
without any real concern
about the taste or presentation.


the food looked awesome,
but chef paul thought it could look better.
he fussed over the salad
and wanted to make sure it was mixed up just right.
he wanted to make sure that every bite
had the right mix of vegetables.
he told us how to prep the plates
and when we prepped them incorrectly,
he told us,
and then fixed them personally.
he told us, “it’s very important
that the presentation is just right for our guests tonight.
I want it to taste delicious, and look delicious.”


what?
come on paul, it’s a free dinner!


chef paul cared.
and it showed.
he personally handed out the plates to hundreds of people
that knew his name.
he was thanked over and over by his guests
for making such great food-
the entire group of 200 guests applauded him at least 3 times.
one guest said to paul,
“when i strike it rich, i’m going to hire YOU as my personal chef!”
i shouted out-
"me too!"


ok- i understand him going the extra mile
if its his first year on the job-
only it wasn’t.
more like his 22nd year on the job!


after dinner, paul shared his story with us.
he was a doo-wop singer from back in the day.
he was a restaurant chef,
and when bad times hit;
he found himself in line at a soup kitchen.
but the food was awful,
so the next day he made high-end pastries
for the staff of the shelter
from the leftovers in the kitchen.
they were amazed.
and he did that every day
until they gave him the job as the kitchen chef.
22 years ago.


he said that he could have just given half effort,
thinking that “its just for homeless people,”
“its just a free meal.”
“it doesn’t matter how it looks or how it tastes-
its good food and they should be happy.”
but that food represented him.
and not just that, it was for people that he cared about,
so he gave it his very best-
and not just to feed his guests’ bodies,
but their souls as well.
he told us how he hosts monthly talent shows
for his guests- with the guests themselves
providing the entertainment.
he told us that the level of talent within the shelter
is unbelievable:
singers, poets, musicians.
again, he gives it his very best,
for a section of our city that is largely forgotten.


he is a celebrity-
not among the wealthy,
but the poor.
and they know that he cares,


because he gives them his best.
i think that a lot of us in-ministry
and out-
can learn a lot from that attitude.


speaking of attitude,
he said that his never changes-
and in 22 years, he’s never been bored;
he always looks forward to work
and he smiles all day long.
tonight, i was the preacher,
but paul gave the sermon.
and we all walked away inspired.


thanks paul, for reminding me,
and the unis
that everyone deserves the my very best.


“whatever you do, work at it with all your heart,
as working for the Lord, not for men,
since you know that you will receive an inheritance
from the Lord as a reward.
it is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
(colossians 3:23)

trapped in the park!

tonight i walked through almaden lake park to the albertson's on meridian and redmond while listening to the giants game.
barry bonds didn't hit a home run, but they've won like 4 games in a row now!
on my way home, i was wondering if the park would be open for me to walk through,
because it was dark and the park closes at sunset.
the back door was open and i walked in and through the park to the front gate-
but the front gate was locked and all of the park rangers were gone.
i was stuck inside! would i have to sleep in the park?
i walked along the fence, looking for a place to hop it,
when i saw an elderly asian couple out for an evening walk.
they didn't seem to speak a word of english, but they were trying to tell me something.
they kept pointing toward the right-
were they saying "there is a good place to hop the fence over here?"
i tried to ask them questions in english,
and they tried to answer them in their own language,
and we weren't understanding each other at all.
they kept pointing and walking to the right side of the very long fence.
we walked together on opposite sides of the fence
(they on the sidewalk, me through the park)
until we got to the end.
it turns out there was a secret exit over there!
i escaped almaden lake park-
thanks to some nice people going out of their way to help me out.
i was on the recieving end of a good deed!
it was fun!

maybe they were some more of those undercover angels i found in santa cruz...
i'm onto you guys!

rob 0, ally 1

ally may have won the battle,
but I'll win the war!
(what i really want to know is,
WHO LET HER INTO MY OFFICE?!)
you can run to pennsylvania ally,
but you can't hide from
THE SNOWBEAST!

friday night lights

here are some pictures from tonight's walk:

jane on a train

right now, my girl is really into thomas the tank engine.
i mean really into thomas.
whenever we’re at barnes and noble,
she plays at the train table.
she has thomas books that she has memorized.
she can sit there and recite them
and make it look like she’s reading them.
she gets thomas dvds from the library.
(they’re boring at first, but eventually hypnotic.)
she has thomas stickers,
and a few weeks ago,
our youth admin, judie got her a real track with trains-
whoa!

i was online awhile back,
and i saw that you can actually ride thomas in some places.
and i saw that he was coming to the bay area,
this summer!
so of course we got tickets.

we’ve been talking about it all week-
“five more days to thomas!”
“four more days to thomas!”
“we can give sir topham hatt a high five!”
(sir topham hatt is in charge of the trains in thomas-world.)

and today was the day we went.
she woke up early saying “thomas!”
this morning we drove to felton to the roaring camp railroad
in the santa cruz mountains.
(which is really cool!)
the whole place was done up for thomas-
and thomas merchandise and children were everywhere.

janie was amped.
here we are looking at thomas.




the thomas toy store:




here we are on the train!




this is sign language for train:




during the ride,
she didn’t talk at all-
she was focused on listening to the little story over the speakers
and listening to the songs it played.

and this is a picture of jane with a very scary looking sir topham hatt:




she slept hard on the way home!
i think we cured her of her train obsession for awhile.