Ambassadors of Hope

At the 2008 Scholarship Dinner

Okay, so here's how it went down. Yesterday morning, after 3 hours of sleep, I woke up at 4:00 AM in a hotel room in Merrillville. This phrase, ambassadors of hope, was moving 100 mph around the racetrack of my mind. This phrase is by no means original to me and I have no idea where it finds its origins. However, I was just so overwhelmed by this phrase and filled with a sense of excitement and joy. You see, it occurred to me that I had been in the presence of so many ambassadors of hope during the previous night's event. I was also filled with a sense of anticipation about seeing other ambassadors in action throughout the remainder of the day and into the evening. Then, I started thinking about an email from Friday and, you guessed it, he's an ambassador of hope, too.

Who are these people?

• A guy who voluntarily takes a bunch of 8th & 9th grade guys on a retreat to his parent's lake cabin. Note the italics on voluntarily. Some people might this this guy is crazy, but I bet those students would disagree.
• Pumas who graciously offer scholarship money to students. Having been on the receiving end of this money only a few short years ago, I can personally attest to the hope that this assistance offers to students.
• A community that is truly better together. When all the food was tallied, the 14th Annual Letter Carrier Food Drive broke the record for most lbs of food received.
• A small group anticipating future trips to the Dominican Republic. The creative juices are flowing as this group contemplates spending time with friends, a medical clinic, an expansion, and future projects.

2008 Letter Carriers Food Drive

Follow-up to btheremedy

Normally, I do not send out mass emails. However, Trent came up with some great graphics to send out in emails to promote btheremedy.com. One of the emails ended up in a co-worker's inbox. Today, she told me that her daughter was so excited about the food drive that she was raiding the cabinets. The daughter was so passionate about getting food that her dad finally said, "We might as well go buy some food." While this was quite inspiring, it is not the end of the story. In fact, this girl picked up the phone and called her grandma to make sure that she put out food, too. Wow.

Btheremedy.com

New Books

I started reading Fundamental of Business Law over the weekend for a class that starts next week. I have to confess that it is actually pretty interesting. I really enjoyed the chapter on business ethics. We'll see about the rest of the book.

I was able to pick up this little red book today entitled, Pagan Christianity? Exploring the Roots and of our Church Practices. I am very excited to dive into this book. As I have been reading through parts of the New Testament, one of the questions that I have been asking lately is how does the contemporary church compare to the early church? I'm by no means an expert, but am not seeing any references to pews, pulpits, or steeples.

Conflicting Emotions

Wow, it sure was a beautiful day today. Spring is in the air! Holly and I went on a hike at Potato Creek State Park this morning. As we hiked further into the park, it was amazing to experience silence. The trees were starting to fill in with green. The wildflowers were coming into bloom. I also headed out on my bike this afternoon and had a wonderful ride. The weird thing is that, despite experiencing all of this beauty, I have these conflicting emotions...

Hope and despair

Joy and desolation

Peace and unrest

Hangin' out at Subway

This evening, I hopped on my bicycle and made the trek down to the local Subway. When making this journey, I prefer to take the side streets. The main street of this bustling community can be a little scary at certain times of the day. Anyway, I walked into Subway and was greeted with a "Hey Todd." (Is this a symptom of going to Subway too often? )

Caleb commented, "I'll get the letters for you a in a minute."

"The letters?" you ask.

(Have you ever wanted to change the letters on a road-side sign? You know, those signs with the letters that spell out the latest, greatest deal.)

A few minutes later, Caleb brought out the letters and I began piecing together a message to put up on the sign. Picking out a message was difficult. Why? Because, the message depends on the letters that are available. After exploring a few combinations of letters and adding some electrical tape in strategic locations, I had the message picked out.

Meanwhile, one of the employees from Copperfield stopped in to purchase a sandwich.

He asked, "Is this your second job?"

"Well, no," I replied, "just picking out some letters for a message."

During a brief lull in business (the 12-in sandwich for $5 is a hot item), Caleb stepped out to check on my progress of picking out a letters for the message.

"Do you want me to get the ladder?" he asked.

"Ladder?" I thought.

"Yeah, you can put up the letters."

"Really?!."

They actually had a special ladder for putting up the letters. It attached right to the sign. So, I pulled up my shorts (forgot to put on a belt) and headed up the ladder with the letters.

After removing some letters, moving some letters, and adding some new letters, HAVE YOU TRIED OUR FLATBREAD transformed into LETTER CARRIER FOOD DRIVE MAY 10.

Thanks to my friends at Subway.

You guys rock!