Dancin’ Shoes

The last 10 months or so have been amazing time of stretching and growth for Kaleber.  Since the initial meeting of Kaleber we have been seeking God’s will for His ministry and to whom and where He desires to minister.  Not realizing what Kaleber was going to look like, we jumped in blindly and in a step of faith to God’s call of ministering to the houseless.  Now if you have been keeping up with us and the blog you know that not only has this growth and stretching been spiritual, but that we have learned new vocabularies, skills, and learned priceless lessons.  These past 10 months have provided us with great fellowship and lifelong friends.  Especially since our last post (1 month-we apologize) we have began to see tremendous growth in the quality of our friendships….especially with Mike and Dave.  While Mike has moved into a veterans home we, as Kaleber, have been able to specifically focus on ministering to Dave and those that live in and around his camp.

Dave is a simple man, one who doesn’t have much and doesn’t need much.  On the nights that we visit with Dave at his home under the highway, he values the conversation and friendship more than the physical needs being met (clothing, food, supplies, etc).  You see, Dave runs a camp that serves as an informational hub for the houseless, he keeps two extra tents at his sight for those that need a place to stay until they establish themselves in the community…I guess you could say Dave’s place serves as a “halfway” camp.  Dave realizes he has been put in this position by God for a reason…and he sees this reason to be an advocate for new men in the houseless community, giving them a place to stay and providing what they need for that initial period of time.  Dave is continuously pointing people to the next step of their journey, whether that by providing them with a tent and supplies for the initial period of houselessness or directing hoppers to the right train for the next city.  God has placed Dave in a certain place for a certain time with a certain purpose.  And Dave is nailing it!  He isn’t pulling up dirt, picking corn, and making others kick rocks…Dave is living out God’s purpose for him during this time.  Dave is using the gifts and circumstances given by God to help others.  How many of us do this?

You see this whole post was birthed out of a joke down at camp one day…one of Dave’s recent attendees, Lydia (who is in the hospital-please pray for healing), had a pair of dance shoes that she had left under the table.  Not knowing whose they were, we kidded Dave about his white dancin’ shoes for the rest of the day.  We got a great laugh out of this.  Of course Dave denied his ownership of these shoes in the beginning and explained whose they were.  However, by the end of the night and telling numerous people about his dancin’ shoes, Dave began to play along and tell people they should see him cut a rug in ‘em.  We still joke about these shoes, the exact ones pictured above…

I don’t just reminisce this story for the heck of it, but to remind us of our calling to use the gifts that God has blessed us with. Regardless of our desire to exercise them we need to step up, own ‘em, and cut a rug in ‘em- Whether they are white female dancin’ shoes or the gift of hospitality, teaching, or caring for the houseless.

Lets be honest, Dave would much rather be in a house and out of the camps…but he realizes the white dancin’ shoes God has gifted him with and he is doing the most beautiful rendition of a Foxtrot.  Sure we can stuff our shoes in the back of our closet, but eventually God will clean that closet and there they will be once again waiting to be used appropriately.

We are each a part of the body, we each serve a purpose….who knows you might even be the feet inside the dancin’ shoes… If you don’t have a place to dance or are having a hard time figuring the steps, we would love to have you join us at Mosaic and/or Kaleber… I’m sure Dave could teach you a few steps he has learned along the way.

So may we dance in the shoes God has given us, in order that we might bring him glory.

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