New Year’s Eve at Helping Up Mission is a unique day in the calendar. Guys say that July 4th and December 31st are the two days of the year that most of them abused drugs or alcohol.
We had a full house that night, but many of the guys were eligible to be off campus – with their families, in their churches or at a recovery group activity. Graduate Intern-on-duty for the weekend, David, noted that those who went out communicated an awareness of the things that could pull them back into addiction. Consequently, he said, they tended to do things together, accountable to each other. Frank said, “I had a great evening with family and friends, but was actually glad to just get home” – home being back here at Helping Up Mission!
But a number of guys were not eligible to leave the campus or just made the decision to stay here for the evening. Our original (but newly renovated) 1029 East Baltimore Street building has four floors above ground and a rooftop deck with a great view toward the Inner Harbor.
So, at midnight, a bunch of the guys went up to the roof to watch the fireworks and sing a rousing version of Auld Lang Syne. Graduate Intern Paul, with a background in photography, bought himself a $70 digital camera reduced to a $40 Christmas special. He videoed the fireworks from our roof and I thought you might enjoy seeing what we can see from our rooftop deck: http://youtu.be/Rn2dFx4fNTc
May 2012 turn out for you as well as Paul’s video turned out for him.
Pastor Gary Byers
Spiritual Life Director