Coming and Going
Friends,
To date, we have served (10) young adult men and getting ready for (2) new guys to move in by month’s end. In our 4th year of doing this, we have been reflecting on the frequency of entrances and exits, of lives coming and going. A biblical songwriter, writing in a time of distress, ends with a note of encouragement and trust:
the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
which echoes the blessings of Moses:
You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
This desire to bless the guys’ lives when they come in and when they go out has been at the heart of what we do this year, and we are grateful for your partnership in it.
We seek to bless the guys when they come in:
They move into a fully furnished room: bed and bedding, dresser, desk and chair, nightstand.
They are assigned weekly chores to help keep shared spaces clean.
They meet with me at least 2 hours/week for life skills training and relationship building. We’ve crunched countless budgets and identified just how much those energy drinks are costing us, inventoried our time and discovered how much video games we play, and envisioned a future that may not have been as clear or possible before they moved in.
We cross paths daily, these innumerable, mundane, day-to-day contact that builds trust, fills our house with laughter, summary of our day, conversations both consequential and inconsequential, and glues us together as a community.
We seek to bless the guys when they go out:
They can take with them whatever furniture in the their room to help start their independent living.
They continue to have access to me for relational or practical needs. We’ve maintained relationship with almost all of our former residents.
In the last month, 2 of the guys decided to follow Jesus, the source of all the blessings they’ve received from Orchard, and it has been a joy to see them grow spiritually.
Thank you, friends, for your partnership with us. For our fundraising campaign, you committed to over $500/month in new recurring donations, which will be matched for the whole year. Thanks to you, we raised $12,000 towards equipping these young adult men into their adulthood. Please look through our picture and video gallery and join us in our thanksgiving.
God bless you!
Mike Liaw
