Closing Berachah

Berachah Place closes it’s doors

I was interviewed yesterday about Berachah closing its doors. I’m kinda busted up by this, and I wanted to write a few things down, and perhaps clarify.

First things first – why? ... Funny thing that happens when you keep attaching another why to the previously asked why question is you get right to the heart of the matter.

It is the same game that 4 year olds play:

Why? Why? Why? Why?

Why is Berachah shutting down?

First simple answer is - We didn’t have enough funding to run Berachah Safely.

Why?

Because we need more than one staff on at a time.

Why no funding?

Right here is where the answers start getting muddled and historic.

The grand end to those questions past the muddled part of who Heritage Family Services is, what our role was, why we stepped in when we did, why we didn’t do some things, why we did do other things…..is a simple reality that I have been feeling for the last 2 weeks. The very root of the issue for Berachah’s closure rests on me.

I was the leader of it these last years.

And I failed.

And I feel horrible about it, especially as winter approaches.

I should have engaged the community earlier.

I should have set Berachah up as a non-profit, sooner, and engaged with other great people in Red Deer to help.

I didn’t.

Instead, from the first days after we lost our main funder a couple of years back, we ran it, and just kept running it.

The things that should have been done and done differently are myriad. The reasons for closing are myriad.

I could point the finger. I could blameShift.

Or I can just say this:

I wish I could have done more.

I hope those that step into the gap, can do a better job than I did. 

faith

faith
That can move a mountain.

Today I was talking to my family about faith. Faith so powerful, it does extra-ordinary things. Things that blow us away, when we take the time to think about them.

Talking about faith, most people quickly flip the switch to some churchy religeon thing. We quickly shut our brain off and say something like “I don’t believe all that faith stuff, I just believe in hard work, and grit and making things happen.”

Good, then we are talking about the same thing.

The problem seems to be, most people who talk about faith are about also about the stuff that makes us uncomfortable, prayer, God, etc etc etc. and that is the exact place I want to dance a line between. Part of that line, says the the church types don’t actually understand faith, although they talk a lot about it. And part of that line, says the rest of us don’t understand faith much either, because the spiritual types turn us off of it, with their judgmental stance.

Lets grab a bit from both worlds ok?

First, I’ll start off with an uncomfortable place for many of you, for me too – a 2000 year old spiritual teaching by the big J man himself – Jesus – yay, this is fun!!!

Well, Jesus said:

Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

And you say “ I don’t believe in all that faith stuff, I just believe in hard work and grit”

And I want to say – exactly – they are the SAME THING!!!

Lets start with a question:

What is faith?

Let us start with the simplest answer we can find:

1faith noun \ˈfāth\

: strong belief or trust in someone or something

lets hang with this: strong belief or trust in someone (actually, we wont go any deeper or further – this is IT)

What is faith?

I’ll meet you at the coffee shop at 12:30

Ok

(you both show up)

~this is faith

We would like to order some steel from you for a project

How much

20 feet of ¼ thick by 4” wide delivered by ________

Ok we can meet that timeline, this is our price $_________

Ok, sign here

(you both follow through)

~this is faith

So this trailer is road worthy

Yep, never had a problem.

Awesome will you take $12,000 for it

Make it $12,500 and you have a deal

Done

(you pay, and the trailer works awesome)

~this is faith

Can I trust you with a secret?

Yes

I’m worried about my marriage and I don’t know what to do

Ok, want to sit down and talk?

I don’t want anyone to find out?

No problem I wont tell a soul

Ok, can you meet me tonight?

Sure

(you both show up and you keep your word)

~this is faith

so back to our question, what is faith?

First – faith is a thought. How big is a thought? Well, thoughts are really really hard to measure, so hard, that we can’t even tell where they originate from. In the brain a thought could excite several regions of the brain, or only a few. Brain cells, (like most cells) are really really tiny, so, ya, mustard seed sized – really really really tiny. First thing, faith, is a thought, but faith isn’t just a thought, faith is a communicated thought. It is a thought that we express and listen to. how big is listening (again, happens in the brain, in the cells - really really tiny)

To be honest- the person, who sits in front of the mountain, and prays “God, move this mountain, I have faith that you will move this mountain.” Is just about as close as you can get to clearly insane.

There are other elements in each of our examples that help us understand faith.

Faith is a thought, that is communicated, but that isn’t all faith is. Faith is also about a goal (or stated outcome) and ACTION if we want to go back to the airy fairy old scriptures….. (again 2000 years old) “faith without action is dead.” Pray to the mountain (or God) and do nothing, and… yep, you are insane.

What if I could give you an example of faith, that moved a mountain? Maybe, that Jesus guy wouldn’t sound so freakish, and that other guy Mr “faith without action is dead” would be so insane. (Oh, BTW the person who just prays and does nothing – ya, still close to insane)

Well, here you go:

These are pictures of the Lafarge plant at Exshaw, near Banff Alberta, over the last 100 years, people set a goal, broke that goal down into pieces, built a factory, communicated a whole lot, and literally MOVED A MOUNTAIN. Bit by bit, pebble my pebble. In FACT pieces of this mountain, probably are in the foundation of your house (or your church – LOL)

Faith

Faith, is a thought, that is communicated, about a goal, that requires action.

Action – faith without works is dead ~James

Now this just got super practical, and how similar is it to: “I don’t believe all that faith stuff, I just believe in hard work, and grit and making things happen.” But the person that said that, put their faith in someone. Someone, said they would pay for the grit and the hard work.

Faith, is a thought, that is communicated, about a goal, that requires action – sometimes (most times) MASSIVE amounts of action.

You buy a new truck

~faith

You drive the truck down the highway

~faith

in fact, there are SO MANY faith steps – it boggles the mind, from the people that got the raw material OUT OF THE GROUND to the people that manufactured it (think of all the people and the steps, to the people who shipped it, to the people that put it together, to the people that delivered the truck on time, to the people that paid for each and every single transaction in the whole ordeal, to the person that stays on their side of a little white line on the highway….. faith.

Today, you will put your faith in someone else a hundred if not thousands and thousands of times, become aware of it. Be thankful for it. Live in state of bliss and gratitude for all the things going correctly in your world. All the things conspiring together to give you (with 99% accuracy) what you want, when you want it….

Faith - Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” ~Jesus

There is one more person, you can place your faith in, place your faith in yourself, for the last 20 days, I have looked out across the driveway, and said to an old house - "come down" then, bit by bit I worked at it.  I had a thought, then I communicated it, I set a goal, "that house will be torn down 'by hand' by October 1st", then I took massive amounts of action. And I will succeed, or get soooo close to my goal it hurts :-)

Think. Communicate. Set goals. Take action. Work towards them - say Yes YES to life, you will prevail, Take massive amounts of action, get ENTHUSIASTIC, You can do it, if you believe you can!!

If you are not getting what you want in this life, try to live by faith, and what is that?

Faith is, a thought, that is communicated, about a goal, that requires massive amounts of action.

~slv2all

Keziah Grace foundation for Human Endeavour

I’ll take a moment

shed another tear for you

not of sorrow

but joy

you are the world to me

now we make a difference

Introducing the Keziah Grace Foundation for Human Endeavour.

Most things that matter – begin with who, not what. There are the precious moments in our lives, where things happen, events transpire, worlds are changed, differences made, all because of who. For some time, I have been saying: ‘Relationships are “The medium of all human endeavour”

Why do I say that – well, because it is true. Just think about it on an elementary level. It doesn’t matter if the relationships which resulted in you were really bad, it still took some form of relationship to produce you. Not only that, but to get you from birth to this moment reading this took relationships. Sure, we may not know the person at the supermarket where we buy our groceries, but in some way, there was a myriad of relationships that conspired together to put a banana on your counter for you to enjoy.

Relationships are those things which move exactly everything forward on this little ball of dirt floating through space. Without relationships, without interaction, without connection, we die. And it is this very place, this dark, cruel, juxtaposition to life – death – where the Keziah Grace Foundation for Human Endeavour finds its genesis.

Who is Keziah Grace?

The uncomfortable answer to that question is that we never got to know, because two weeks before her due date, Keziah Grace was taken from us. Every other time we had had been to Unit 25 in Red Deer, we arrived together, anxious but excited, and left exhausted but so full of joy. This time, Lynn went to get checked out alone, she arrived nervous and fearful, we left exhausted, and so very empty.

Empty handed. Broken hearted. Our marriage was already teetering on the brink. What would happen now? There were lonely nights. Angry nights. Tear filled nights. Suicidal thoughts. So much pain. I needed to recommit as a husband, she would have so very much to forgive. And what we hoped would bring us together – little Keziah Grace, was gone.

What happened next, didn’t happen in an instant, but rather over the course of years: the slow persistent deciding, that this would not be how we ended. I sought professional help. And along side of us came a group of people that would cup us in their hands and hold us together. Those first years were a blur, still 3 kids to raise, business to run and a full life of stuff. Then we got pregnant again. It felt like we held our breath for 9 full months. Still our friends and family held us, cared for us, and loved us. And into this world came a beautiful little girl – one of her middle names is Jacoba – a Hebrew name which finds it origin in the name Jacob – which means: to take the place of. We can’t count the number of times we have seen a glimmer in the eye of this little girl, or a smirk, watched the way her wet hair curled… and wondered…. “To take the place of”.  How could anyone take the place of another? And yet, she is our youngest…

In the midst of all of this, I found a new openness to learning, to creativity, and being. I found myself useful in the building of a new identity, around the idea, of a Tribe. A tribe that helps you right when you need it most, and holds on to you, cups you in its hands, doesn’t put up with your shit – pushes you to personal transformation, and takes care of you until you are ready to not just stand on your own but help others on their journey. Positive Tribes, beget positive Tribes. This same Tribe continues inspiring you, watching you, teaching you, asking great questions of you, and striving together with until you begin reaching your potential, never ever leaving your side – because your true Tribe never lets you go.

And into that space, came questions:

What could be?

Do all humans have potential?

How do we help find it?

How can resources best be used?

Could we find human potential in crucible moments of greatest need?

How could we raise the potential of the whole tribe?

What if we funded the Tribe, instead of the individual?

With training, can we raise the potential success of the investment in the person?

Can the person in need get better, and their tribe?

All the pieces started to fit, things began to come together. Someone mentioned again, that what we needed was a foundation. We have a couple of ideas that we want to all come together in the same place: We want to have a ton of FUN raising money, we wanted it to stay mostly in our community, we want to help people in need reach their full potential, but we think giving resources to a person isn’t the best way – we want to give resources to a Tribe. Tribe-funding. And not just any tribe – your tribe, we want you and your tribe at your best – so we don’t just want to fund, we want to train, and we want to train to win!! Then my brother hearing all this, suggested the name Keziah. 

And tears flowed again...

I’ll take a moment

shed another tear for you

not of sorrow

but joy

you are the world to me

now we make a difference

~dad