Riding With Ray Pt 4

A convergence of events in the heavens has been preventing me from my duty here at WWJE. My mentoring for seminary has been getting increasingly busy. I’m having problems with my blogging client, ecto. I highly recommend the program, but it is getting hung up for some reason. Anyway… enough excuses. Here’s an update on my summer Riding with Ray.

One of the components of my mentoring experience is to get involved in a community ministry project. My mentor hooked me up with a pastor downtown who works a lot with addicts, prostitutes, homeless and poor people. He is in the process of financing the purchase of an abandoned nursing home and medical building. His vision is for it to be used as a center to minister to homeless families, men and women. It would have financial counseling, a clinic, job program and training. The vision is for a full service center to help the homeless.

Because these buildings were previously used for a similar purpose the facilities are already set up to work as a homeless center with rooms, a commercial kitchen, dining area, offices, etc.

It’s an exciting vision because there is nothing like this in our area. Since central Texas is home to the world’s largest U.S. military installation, Fort Hood, we are also home to an abundant population of veterans who are homeless and/or in need.

The part that gets me especially excited is the approximately one acre of land that goes with the second building. I shared my passion for food and ways that urban farming can serve the poor with local, organic produce instead of HCFS-filled WIC items that lead to diabetes and obesity. To be honest, my thumb is still looking kind of black, but the thought of making something like this happen would be worth whatever I need to do to learn how to farm in an urban setting for the poor.

What does this mean for me? I don’t know yet. We’re still waiting to hear from the World Hunger Farm and listening to see what is next for us. I do now that for some strange reason God keeps this pacifist liberal vegetarian theological mutt in the belly of the Empire’s army.