Just One Week

I have been back from Jordan for one week now. It was about 80O F on our last day in Jordan and it was about 25O F the evening we arrived at Dulles Airport. You people were supposed to be done with all that cold and snow before we returned!   

My wife, Gayle, began to feel bad when she got home and she is only now getting better. I have done pretty well, but still can’t get my sleep regulated. Still, we are both back at work and things are pretty interesting here at Helping Up Mission.    

Not surprisingly, all the programs at Helping Up Mission ran just fine without me! Program Director, Tom Bond, and all the staff just continued to do what they always do every day – just without me butting in from time to time. 

It was good to get back to my Biblical Discipleship classes. That is my main opportunity to be able to share my heart and my hopes for each man and their recovery. Happily, I felt a genuine buy-in from the new guys, probably due to all the good work the staff did while I was gone. Of particular interest to me has been the prayer requests the guys has been putting on our daily prayer sheet. We make the prayer sheet new every day, so if someone wants us to pray about something that day, he has to put it on the sheet that day.

Not surprising, many guys put the same family members and friends on the sheet day after day. Daily they have us praying for the rest of the Helping Up Mission family, too – program members, our overnight guests, staff, volunteers and even donors. A number of guys also pray for the homeless and those suffering from addiction in our community every day, as well. 

This week, the men of Helping Up Mission have put on the people of Haiti on our prayer sheet. They are praying for those who are struggling and for those who are providing aid. My next door neighbor, Chris, is one of those deployed on the USN Comfort and for whom we are praying. 

We believe God answers prayer here at Helping Up Mission. In fact, we have actually seen some pretty miraculous answers just this week. BTW, thank you for all your prayers for us, too. 

Sincerely

Pastor Gary Byers

Spiritual Life Director