AT&T recently released this powerful, emotive PSA on the subject of texting while driving. It features a compilation of stories from people whose lives have been altered as a result of a single text typed while operating a motor vehicle.

I sent it to my wife and my kids…and I have watched it more than once…as hard as it is to watch!

THE PHONE CAN WAIT until you pull over or get out of the car!

000000;">I have the honor of serving on the board of a life changing organization called Safe Harbor. It’s a place that reaches out to the homeless women of our community and place where women can begin to put their lives back together with the hope and grace of Jesus Christ. This post is written by the Executive Director Debbie Haynes…a strong and humble woman. 

Yesterday I received two very special pieces of mail:  one from a homeless mother and daughter who had spent time in our Day Shelter, and one from a mother, daughter, and 2-year old grand-daughter who had also spent time here.  Both families had relocated – one all the way back to Denmark, where she was born, and the other to Oklahoma.  Both wanted to update us on what is going on in their lives. 

Looking at the enclosed photo of the little girl, who crawled for the first time here at Safe Harbor, I was again reminded of the importance of relationships for all of us.  The women we serve are mothers and daughters, even grandmothers and granddaughters.   All of us who fit in either of those categories have similarities:  the joy of laughing together, the shared pain of facing life’s heartaches, the hopes and dreams of a better day.  For women who are homeless, often there is such a sense of disconnectedness; of disruption from healthy, strong relationships.  Hope is at a premium that many of them have decided is too dear a price. 

Hope wafts through the air here.  Whether in the Day Shelter, where women cook for each other and sometimes their families, crochet a blanket, look for a job, hear the hope of Christ; or in our residential program where family ties are slowly re-established – hope must be offered before anything else can be received. 

As you think of ways to honor the special women in your lives this weekend, please consider an “out-of-the-box” gift – hope for the women of Safe Harbor.  Go to   http://www.safeharborrescuemission.org/  and click on our  “Donate Now” page and give a life-changing gift.  Note your honoree in the comment section, and we will be glad to send her a card sharing how a gift in their honor has impacted mothers and daughters who will appreciate it so much!

Happy Mothers’ Day!

Debbie Haynes

Don’t get me wrong – I love Christmas. It’s time for family, for comfort, for love. And for Christians, it’s a time to celebrate what’s most important, the birth of Jesus Christ.

But there are a lot of things we get wrong about Christmas.

For one, we give each other so much stuff. Whether it’s out of obligation or just to truly show someone we care, we’re still essentially material-rich people giving other material-rich people more… materials. The purpose of our holiday, though, is Christ. And Jesus made his purpose clear to us – sacrifice. He died so that we could live. And we struggle to keep that the focus of Christmas while we’re busy buying and unwrapping gifts.

Let’s face it, we actually sacrifice very little. But what’s small to us can be huge to someone who lacks basic health necessities. Just $20 is enough for one person to have clean water for two decades, for example.

So, this year, I’m asking others of you to join me and give up some gifts and donate that money to help me build a well. 100% of all funds raised go directly to the water projects. Between now and Christmas, I aim to raise $2,500 in my charity: water campaign.

Jesus sacrificed himself for us. This is the least I can do.

Please join me and donate whatever you can…..http://mycharitywater.org/ebroussard

THANK YOU!

My Dad died in in 1990 when I was 28 years old. But he stopped being my Dad long before that date. Just like too many children in America my parents divorced when I was just a child (3 yrs old). We lived in the same town until I was 7 and I vaguely remember going to his house for weekend visits and events like birthday parties and Christmas. We moved 1400 miles away when I started second grade and the memories of my Father were spaced further apart and are not any more clear. There are two bazaar memories I have of my Dad and they are: I remember his hands…he always had rough hands(from fishing on the weekends), and I remember him always singing “When the roll is called up yonder I’ll be there” as we drove in the car. When he died it was a very mixed up feeling. He was my Father but he wasn’t my Dad because we didn’t know each other, we didn’t have that relationship.

I have unpacked and repacked that suitcase many times over the last 40 years and the hardest part has been trying to identify my emotions for him. I am not mad at him, I don’t blame him, I am not really all that sad…I simply didn’t know him.

 What I have concentrated on…is being a Daddy to my two beautiful daughters. God blessed Marilyn and I with two children (now young women) to protect, nurture and most of all to love . To love like our heavenly Father…Daddy…Abba loves us. I am still learning how to do that. At times it’s hard, at times it the greatest relational feeling I have ever experienced.

This Fathers Day I will be filled with pride and joy because God has allowed me to experience the relationship of Daddy while here in this world. I love you Betsy and Miranda!

And when the roll is called up yonder…I pray he is there.