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Or if you desire a longer session in private surroundings they are available for a fee based session by appointment, feel free to call and arrange a time / place for their services. |
Miracles on Ogden Street By Valerie Wilson There’s a line I love in the movie Grand Canyon: “Maybe we don’t have any experience with miracles, so we’re slow to recognize them.” I’m not sure how many recognized the miracles that occurred as the idea of our Children’s Church Playground manifested into physical form, but they were many and truly beautiful to witness. First, there was the playground equipment itself. Originally visualized at a cost of $1,500 to $2,000, practitioner Miriam Swihart found a perfect gently used set on “Craig’s List” for $175. When they learned she wanted it for a church, the sellers donated the equipment to the children. The area north of the church annex still had to be cleared away and fenced, and the budgeted amount for the fence and earthmover equipment was just under $1,500. The children created “picket fences” from Popsicle sticks and began selling them for $15 each. Through the generosity of the 94 congregants present that day, they raised $950 the first Sunday. Two weeks later, the children had surpassed their budget goal. Miriam had requested 30-40 volunteers for the daylong task of clearing and leveling the playground area. I’m sure her heart must have sank a bit when she surveyed her group of less than one dozen workers—two of them children. But there was a job to do and Miriam isn’t one to be daunted by false appearances. She knew beyond any doubt that she had everyone and everything she needed. As the volunteers struggled to master the controls of the “bobcat” and gingerly began the ground clearing process, a young man intently watched their progress as he finished washing his car. (Visitors to our location in the heart of Capitol Hill know that our sacred space sits right behind a 7-11 store and a car wash.) After observing for a while, he shyly approached the small group and asked if he could help. As Spirit would have it, Carlos was a construction worker who drove a bobcat for a living. Watching Carlos maneuver the earthmover machine was like watching our wonderful Gabriel sign on Sunday morning—grace and poetry in motion. He was an updated, inner-city version of Homer Smith in the classic Lilies of the Field. And what a worker! The job that had been originally calculated to take 30-40 people more than a day to complete was finished by about 3:30 p.m. that afternoon. But the story doesn’t end there... His girlfriend began to miss him when Carlos didn’t return to the neighborhood laundromat as expected. When she walked over to the car wash to investigate, she found an audience watching her partner work miracles with a bobcat. That’s when we learned that Carlos and Nickie always do their laundry on Fridays. This had been a weekly routine of theirs for a while. But for some reason, they hadn’t done this chore the day before and had decided to wait until that Saturday morning. As Nickie joined Carlos’ fans, she found herself telling them about the couple’s recent struggles and her deep faith that things would work out well for them. Though they were temporarily living with friends, they hoped to find their own place very soon. Miriam had recently bought and refurbished a small apartment building in the area in which they’d been looking to live. Carlos and Nickie moved into her last vacant apartment the following day. |
