For the Hurt.

Lift your eyes
Lift your head, lift your spirits
I know that fear
I see that regret

Lift your soul
Lift your hopes, raise them higher
I know you feel weak
that you are so tired

But I, I promise one day
You'll do more than survive
Life seems so tough
its hard to get by

With just yourself, nobody around
Just yourself, you keep lookin down
Just yourself, your worth more than you know
Just yourself, no place to go you say

I sure wish I could fly
I'd fly far, far away and never come back
never again to the reality of me.

Don't you think
Don't you think, Don't you think
We were created
created for more?

Don't you see
Don't you see, Don't you see
There's hope for the tired
the sad and the meek?

But I, I promise one day

You'll do more than survive

Life seems so tough

its hard to get by

With just yourself, nobody around

Just yourself, you keep lookin down

Just yourself, your worth more than you know

Just yourself, no place to go you say

I sure wish I could fly

I'd fly far, far away and never come back

never again to the reality of me.

Stories from October 15th Laundry Love Project

As I think about the Laundry Love Project, one of the things that has become very apparent to me is how it has taken on a life of its own. It may have started out as a little seed of an idea that God placed on my heart, but it has grown into something way beyond myself and that has had way more influence and impact than I could have anticipated or brought about on my own. To me the best part of this fact is that it means that this isn't Corey's thing, no this is so much more than that. Laundry Love has become a vehicle through which God has begun to change lives and bring his kingdom to this Earth. 

For example, life has been crazy, and I slipped up and didnt get to advertise this months laundry love at all. Nada. Zip. Nothin to let our customers know we were coming to serve them today. I have to admit, I was worried. But when I arrived at the laundromat there was already 15 people there waiting to get laundry done. In total we had about 35 people today, probably more, that we were able to serve and bring clean laundry and friendship too. All from word of mouth.

People are talking all right, and their voices are echoing a love that is not of this Earth, a love that connects our finite broken lives with the infinite loving God who is faithful and mighty to save.

You wont find any glamorous stories from this month's laundry love as far as those we serve are concerned. Only people that have consistently come to our project whose lives we have been able to touch and whose stories we have gotten to know on more than just a surface level. Relationships and connection between the social and economic classes are becoming a reality, and the gospel is being lived out in community.

It's gotten to the point where there is rarely a person that comes in with laundry that at least one of our volunteers hasnt built a relationship with yet. And I'm not talking about idealistic incarnation, I'm talking real, messy, complicated human relationship that is being taken on and people that are being shown the love of God in practical ways.

Im proud of our volunteers. And it hit me today how God has always provided the right people at the right time. People who are ready and willing to break down barriers and boundaries between us and the poor. People who are willing to take up their crosses and step out of their comfort zones into the lives of those in need of love and provision. 

Praise God for the work he is doing for his kingdom and for how he is changing the lives of both us and those we serve through relationship, community, and his divine Grace. Praise God for how Laundry Love Project has become about more than just clothes.

The Heart of the Matter.

It seems like I keep falling into these traps. It seems like I keep making mistakes that I can't seem to shake. Everytime I start to feel apart from God, even in the slightest, its like these empty wells are just calling out to me, enticing me with promises of relief from the pain and a distraction from what's really happening in my heart.

So beneath all the frustration, all the seemingly horrible and unforgivable mistakes, all the winless and endless battles with myself, lies the heart of the matter. And after all, isn't that what's most important?

I distinctly remember reading scripture where Jesus address these rituals and laws that the religious leaders held so dear and tells them plainly: It’s not what goes in or comes out that defiles a person, It’s what is in his or her heart. (Matt. 15:11-20).


So what I find is at the heart of my constant screw up is the belief that God desires to be absent from my life and that he does not love me unconditionally. Mine is a faith that is built on my performance. The truth that God is for me no matter what and that his fatherly love is not dependent on me seems out of reach sometimes. 


I'm learning that, in being called to obedience, what God is really calling me to is adoption into his family. He is saying "I created you, I know how you tick. I know what hurts you, I know what makes you joyful. I know where you run when you are in pain, I know what can heal you."


When I sin, I act on what is inside my heart. If it is doubt, hopelessness, and hurt, then I have to replace that with the truth of who God is and how he perceives me.


When I think of obedience to God, I recognize it as a process where God breaks away the things that are not of him so that when I look in the mirror I can start to see his beauty looking back at me.


We are called to Identity in the Father, and to obedience for our own good. Furthermore we are called to recognize that we serve a God who "chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,so that no one may boast before him." (1 Cor. 1:27-29)


Not only is God's love relentless, not only does he call us to his side for an unconditional love that is not based on performance, but He calls us to be more than we could ever have imagined. He calls us to partner with Him for his work on this Earth.

I don't want to merely survive my way through life anymore, I want the fullness of God. I want to serve him with my WHOLE heart.

Stories from September 17th Laundry Love Project

You know, it's one of the best things in the world when you get to see real change happening in the lives of real people. And that is exactly what we are starting to see over time at the Laundry Love Project. We are seeing those we set out to serve become our friends, become servants of others, and start to step into the love and work of Christ.

A prime example of this is our friend Dale. Dale has been to every laundry love project and when we first met him, he was just coming out of homelessness and starting to get back on his feet. Since then, dale has begun to bring other homeless folks he knows to the project to get their laundry done. He is living proof of how God's love changes lives.

Not only that, but we are getting a chance to meet people that have real need, and we are getting to love and take care of them right where there are at, showing them that there is a God in heaven who cares deeply for them.

As those of us who live in the Dueber missions house were walking around our neighborhood, we met up with a woman as she was handwashing towels in basins in her house because her family had no washer or dryer. We told her about the Laundry Love Project, and at this last LLP Cheryl brought loads and loads of laundry to do for her family that they would not have been able to do had we not met them.

And probably the biggest blessing for myself is watching those who have been called by Christ have an opportunity to be with those who are struggling and use their gifts to love those cast out by society. This project is as much for those who volunteer as it is for those we serve, and all are learning what a life lived for the kingdom of heaven looks like.

At this last project we also met Jerry. Jerry has been 12 years sober (praise God!) but unfortunately his girlfriend is dying. Jerry acknowledges how much God has rescued him from, and I know that in this time of distress God will rescue both Jerry and his girlfriend.

Lastly, we met Charlie. Charlie lives right next door to the laundromat, and because of this project we were able to find out about other needs she has for repair around her house. Which is a huge deal because she is very old and disabled, making even small things hard to do.

I praise God for how he is letting us meet people and draw together as a community. We got to spend $250 dollars and help over 50 people do over 75 loads of laundry at this last project. And also had a cookout where we got rid of over 100 hot dogs.

God is working in Canton my friends, bringing light to dark places through the hands and feet of his followers.

Perception is reality?

How I long to see what's on my heart
be spoken of on your lips
Because I don't know how to say
that my heart overflows

Perception is reality, they tell me
So I suppose
Your thought of me after the talk, the laughter
I've no clue where it goes

I only hope where I land
is that part of your brain
that allows you to have grace
for a broken man like me

My day to day, the unseen
it's more than you've yet to know
but the praise that comes
I wish it would never go

If it were up to me I'd always manage my personality
but that's constrictive
What I'd really like is for you to see
the parts of me that are wicked

I'd like to know if you'd stay or go
based on the depths of my heart
Because this perception of me, that you think you see
has been hard to maintain from the start

So I breathe, and I hope
I hope for a love deeper
I hope for a love
I hope for a love
I hope
I hope
I hope

that you could care about the parts of me
That no one else has yet to see.

I remember

I haven't forgotten
what was special, what was true
The dream had been fading
then all I saw was you

I remember how we used to play
passionately, with no fear

I remember what we used to say
we belong right here

I dont care
what happened to our goals
or every shovel we used
to dig ourselves these holes
all that matters
is we are pressin on
we kept believing
we stayed strong

Where was it
that we first said goodbye?
all I can imagine
is the tears in your eyes

it doesn't matter
cause now we're movin on
the dream is bigger
the battle's won

I dont care

what happened to our goals

or every shovel we used

to dig ourselves these holes

all that matters

is we are pressin on

we kept believing

we stayed strong

Its 5am

I dont know what sleep is

cause who could rest

with knowing where we've been

I'd like to wake up

to tell myself its not real

but its much sweeter

to let myself feel 

I'll keep on dreamin with you

you'll keep on dreamin with me

until we wake up and 

find it's reality

Direction

Can I create something from nothing?
Is it possible to do what you do?
Cause when I look in myself
and at everyone else
There's no way this reality's true

We need order and borders
and bosses to say
Here's the box
and here's where you fit in

But as I try to break free
I stumble and fumble
and my sin
gets the better of me

When I face isolation
my thoughts run away
and I chase them all day
but I dont know where their going to
When I am super inactive
my thoughts become captive
and I attempt to see
somewhere in me
to tell me where I'm going to

The fuller the schedule
the richer the life
these lies are painted on

The less that you do
no one could ever love you
this thought comes on so strong

But me,
I long for direction
not dissatisfaction
I'm trying, I'm trying
I'm trying, I'm trying
But what I'm selling myself
my heart is not buying
so I'll give it right back to you

Maybe you can show what use I have
what steps to take, on this well-beaten path
I refuse to cave in, to believe its not true
that in you, and through you, and with you

I'll know just what to do.