Darren B. a good friend of many years...
At one time in my life, I was homeless and living under a bridge, and during that time, I spent a lot of time at The City Rescue Mission of Lansing which is a homeless shelter for the down and out. When I was there I met a guy named Darren B. which is funny since my name is Daron as well. We hit it off and became good friends, and later in life that led to me being an employee there at the Outreach Drop in shelter for a year. This was several years ago now and while I was busy relapsing, he was busy continuing to reach out to those in need.
The Old Teen Challenge...
We have a building here in Lansing that used to be a Teen Challenge center. It has been run down and abandoned now for many years but recently, Darren and some friends started a non-profit and bought the building. The name of their non-profit is Mi Just Cause and the goal is to provide services to those getting out of jail and those in need of job counseling and placement. The building is huge and the renovations are going to be extensive, but today, Darren took me to tour the building. More important than that, we discussed the possibility of me having a position within the organization! This would allow me to use my professional skills and still help out those in need, as well as share my story to help others. I really needed the hope today, because honestly, I have not had much recently.
Renovations...
As you can see from the photos, there is a lot of work to do here, but hopefully, when the grants that the organization have applied for come through, there will be enough money to get them done, and because I have a history of working in the building trades as well, hopefully I can also be an asset to getting things done. All I know is that God showed up just on time, just like He always does for me. I was feeling really hopeless last night and prayed for something to give me some hope. Today, I got it. Remember, one day at a time things will get better...
As you can see, this place is huge!
Lotsa rooms!
Commercial Kitchen...
This will be a community dining room for meals for those in need...
Gotta start somewhere...
The people that were baptized here and left messages...
Vandalism... Argh...
Slow and steady...
Yeah there is a lot to do here...
You can see the possibilities here, right?
So there is hope!
Like I said, I really needed to have something in my life that would give me some hope for the future, and today, God showed me He is not done with me yet. I am very hopeful that in the not so distant future, I will be back to serving my community and giving back to those I took so much from. I am at the age where money is nice, but being able to live with my self is way more important than things. This organization might end up being just what I need, right when I need it!
As Always, Thank You For Reading!
