"In the Shadow of The Cross" . . .
February 2010 03/02/2010
 John and Puck Puck..... Dennis came to our food line behind the Cathedral back sometime before the 9/11 attacks. I never really knew his name because, as he walked up for the first time his big smile revealed he was missing all his front teeth. Before he could speak I jokingly asked "Do you happen to play Hockey"? He looked a bit confused so I pointed to his mouth. He began to laugh and I stuck out my hand and said "Nice to meet you Puck". He shook my hand and answered "I've been looking for an appropriate nickname. I like that one." From then on, Puck was his street name. He would often help sweep up the alley after we finished handing out food. Sometimes working on the streets you wonder if you have an impact on those you befriend. Or if they simply move on and you disappear from their memory. Last week while feeding our Wednesday evening crowd, I heard a somewhat familiar voice call out "Swanger, you old fart!" I looked around and heard "It's me! Dennis"! Then he opened his mouth to reveal a mouth full of perfectly straight teeth and said "You probably don't recognize me with teeth.... It's Puck!" I said "More so I didn't recognize the name . . . Dennis." He said he let the nickname go away in 2008 when he got the new teeth. Then the conversation took off like we had never parted. He found a dentist who fixed his teeth for free then found a job and got off the streets about a year ago. He said he still doesn't make enough to make ends meet but he's thankful anyway. I love my job. We are adding Wednesday morning to our sack lunch program. If you are looking for an opportunity to volunteer please let us know. We will be needing about 3 volunteers from 8:30am - 10:00am every Wednesday. We are also looking for four families/home churches/youth groups. . . etc to volunteer to make about 60-80 sack lunches once a month on Tuesday nights and bring them the following morning. We will need 4 such groups. Again if interested, let us know. Thank you all for your prayers. Your compassion is changing lives. You are bringing hope to a lost and lonely world. Please remember, you're not just feeding people, you're giving them Jesus. John & Raylene 303- 594-7729 Post Office Box 1653 Eastlake Colorado 80614-1653 E-Mail john@tollgate.org Cross & Clef is a 501(c)3) organization & a Colorado Nonprofit Corporation. All donations are tax deducible January 2010 01/27/2010
 Indiana John John..... . . . came from Indiana. Mistakes have littered his path since he was seventeen. He's now fifty-three. He spent a little over three years in the Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet Illinois back in the late seventy's. One night after a few too many drinks he made a bad decision to drive home. He didn't make it. He said he woke up in jail to learn he had T-boned the car of a young man who had just asked his date to marry him. Neither made it. He said he had never been in trouble but that mattered little because what he had done was bad enough that he felt he deserved to spend the rest of his life in jail. The shame he carried has kept him from holding a job and has made it impossible to develop any kind of lasting relationship. That night was the last time he drove a car. Even though he was a few years younger than me he looked tired, as if he had traveled more miles than you could count. His leathery face told stories of sadness and shame. As he talked I was mesmerized by his hands. They were scarred and chapped. He was missing his ring finger at the first knuckle. I couldn't help but think each scar, each blemish had a story to go with it. Perhaps it was nothing more than sharing a name, but for some reason he was comfortable talking to me. For well over an hour he talked... and I listened. Then as tears welled up in his eyes he asked "Do you think anyone could ever forgive me?" I thought how shallow it would sound if I simply said "God would forgive you", I'd guessed it had been said often in his life without ringing true. So for the next hour I told him my story. How I grew up a thief stealing cars and anything else I could get my hands on. I told him that by seventeen I was robbing banks and grocery stores throughout the Western states. I told him I spent four years in the Federal Penitentiary and how I became a Cocaine dealer after my release. Then I told him that God forgave me. If God can forgive someone who had spent his life intentionally doing wrong, He certainly can forgive someone who simply made a wrong decision. I told him "You are a good man John. You have wasted way too much of your life hating yourself. It's time to ask His forgiveness and it's time to forgive yourself." We sat there a while longer and cried. Somehow spending time with John made me rehash the wrongs in my life. I was thankful I served a God who looked past my wrongs and used me in spite of who I was. I am thankful God has forgiven me... and John. He gathered his bags and walked away. I asked where he was going. He just said "Indiana". Often, the people God brings into my life to minister to, minister to me. "I write to you, dear children, because your sins are forgiven through Christ". 1 John 2:12 (New Century Version) Thank you all for your prayers. Your compassion is changing lives. You are bringing hope to a lost and lonely world. Please remember, you're not just feeding people, you're giving them Jesus. John & Raylene Newsletter Post 01/15/2010
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