Hello everyone, we hope you’re doing well. I know it’s been a while since we sent out regular updates. We apologize for that. Things have gotten rather hectic.
Tuesday, during the outreach, I was talking with a gentleman named Steven. He’s a few years older than I am, he’s a musician. He’s homeless, hooked on heroin and he was seeking help. He was tired of being on the streets tired of living out in the elements, so I gave him my number and told him to call me and I would help him. I’ve given out my number out to dozens of people just like Steven and most never call.
He called me yesterday, Friday, and told me that his mother had passed away Wednesday and that he “just couldn’t do this life anymore” so I told him if he was ready for help, I would help him. He said that he needed to gather up some stuff that he owned from various places and put it into a storage unit that somebody was paying for him to use while he went to rehab. So this afternoon I went running around southeast picking up, what most of us would’ve considered trash, what most of us would’ve thrown in the dump, but with his mother dying, and with him getting ready to change his life completely, he just couldn’t let go of this stuff. It’s been sitting out in the weather for months a lot of it’s wet and moldy. A lot of it is just it’s falling apart or broken. A lot of it will never be able to be used again, but I didn’t say anything because I could see how bad he was hurting, and that by telling him that most of his possessions were trash, would just completely break him and not in the good way. So I helped him move it. I helped him pack it into the storage unit. We’ve got a little bit more to do tomorrow and then Monday morning he will finish up the things that need to be taken care of with his mother passing away last week and then Monday afternoon, I will take him to detox and then he wants to go to a Christian facility. I’ve already talked to them. They are expecting his call. I believe this one is an eighth month eight month facility. It’s got a very good reputation. It’s called Eagles Nest.
I don’t think Stephen is a believer. I think he thinks he is but I am pretty sure he’s not, so my hope is that while he’s at Eagles Nest, not only does he get clean and get his life back on track, but that he opens his heart to Jesus, that he gives up his life to Jesus as his Lord and Savior, that he starts following him and not the world.
This ministry is hard, many times it brings me to tears and I know you can’t hear it through the words that you are reading but that’s where I am right now. But I wouldn’t trade it because it’s the ministry that God has given me. He’s taking my past and using it for good to help others and I am so grateful for that. That the things that I went through that at the time were hard and painful and difficult, He can take those experiences and He can help somebody else with them.
Please continue to pray for us not just me but Melissa and Alex and the rest of our team, Bernardo, Tuck, Debbie, Hope, Rebecca, Becky, Heather Anne, Mandi, Jeff and Kat.
This is a ministry where you don’t often see fruit. This is a ministry that weighs heavily on your heart,
I thank you for all your support and we love you all.
Derek, Melissa and Alex
Buchanan’s in the Wild
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