i see home in the stories (a bouquet of community part 2)

It takes a village to raise a child. A phrase you've heard or even said numerous times.
What about an adult?  What does it take to elevate an adult? We don’t just raise
children; we raise our children to be adults. Last Tuesday, I had someone tell me they
had no idea how to be an adult. They had no life skills, that they were never taught
basic skills to be an adult. This absence had caused them to miss multiple opportunities
in their life. So, does it take a village (community) for adults? Yes, of course it does.
Especially if that adult was not taught basic life skills, or is still coping with childhood
trauma, or suffering from mental illness?

Community at its best is “home.” Home means different things each of us. Home equals
relationships and relationships can be complicated. William Paul Young puts it like this;
“I suppose that since most of our hurts come through relationships, so will our healing.”
Central is a home for those that are searching for a place to rest, heal, and call home;
even temporary. So, what does home mean?  As part of the U.S. Coast Guard, I have
spent months on ships underway. So, I have a different perspective of home than
others. This doesn’t necessarily make me more aware or have a better appreciation just
because I may have missed a few things. Just as our unhoused friends have a much
different perspective of home than I do. You can be humbled quickly any time you walk
through the red doors. There have also been many people up in “Amy’s Attic” (new
home ministry) that have taught me a few things.

We get a lot of different donations at the new home ministry. When people drop off old
household items, I see old grandma stuff.  I say to myself, “no one is ever going to take
that.” It will sit on the shelf for sometimes, quite a while. Then someone new who is just
getting their new place will cone upstairs to grab some household goods. They will start
walking around put a few things in a box and then they see it. “Oh my God, my grandma
had one just like this!” You see their faces light up, there is always a smile and
sometimes a tear. There is always an accompanying story that immediately takes them
to a place they haven’t seen or thought of in a long while. Just like that, part of an old
home moves to THEIR new home.

I see home in the stories.