Beginings back to Houston

As I have time to reflect and think and pray I seem not have troube keeping ieas in the order

I hate the jumpyness in all computer products because I will be writing a tought and then there is a system or connection shake up and I AM WRITING IN THE MIDDLE OF THINGS, Caps go on and generaLLY i NEVER CARED HOW CLUMBSY MY HANDS BECAUSE i WOULD CATCH IT EASILT AND GO BACK. Now I do not know how the caps came on. and I am not retyping this.

My eyes focus on the keyboard and not thescreen and that really is enough.

So back to houston

The Epicapol Church I was interested in was dynamic and peaceful and full of dignity and that was good. The Chaarismatic porsion did not over welm the traditional portion and the traditional portion did not overwelm the charismatic portion. I went often, bur my girlfriend would not. it was too different from her traditional baptist backgrpund. And the best part was they never ever pushed anything.

I wanted to join went to a priest and he said I would need to join a household and move out of my parents house.

Who not ready for this, fear of the unknown, scaaared. Heck I wasn't ready to move out of my parents houseonmy own, I was way to comfortabe and I was 20.

So I kept visiting the church, going to school and visiting other places, including the Grek Church, which is very comfortable as a greek, but I did not know greek and it also was a forieghn land. (And the rality if you look a greeks they are fairly arogant especially with their church, but it is theirs and that is okay and I will go anytime)

Then on spring a friend from the "upper class" area of houston invited me over for a swim (think Greenwich) This is where I met Franklin.

He came from this area and had been a dynamic administrator of programs in The NYC Health Department, was Episcopal/headonist/searchingHe heard about the Chuch of the redeemer and what they were trying to do and flew to find out. A bit later he and his wife moved down.The Chuch had a small ministry that they were moving to another episcopal chuch which was trying community. The Ministry was the Four Ward Clinic, In the poorest area of Houston, where health care didnot exist. People came for problems, mini emergencies, vaccines etc and they paid what they could.

The clinic had a full Lab with volunteers and several doctors and nurses ad lab techs and everthing else. They were not paid.

When I saw Frank. he was different, he had passion and a purpose, he wanted to serve God by helping people. I never met someone with so much energy and he was relaxing by a pool!

We talked, he had someone in his household.. a German Athiest, who was volunteering attr the clinic. He asked at some point if I would be interested in volunteering one day at the clin nin if my school schedule would allow.

Oh yes!

He lived in the fourthward where the city gave them an old dynamic house to live in for a dollar a year. The only thing he had to do was keep it clean.

I started volenteering and realized that these people were not special, but had a passion and a focus and there were problem, but the people who came from outside never suffered, they were the priority, no matter what else was happening between personalities.

The job was acceptable to my dad, but he really did want me to make money, but I was at home and every so often I was invited over to Frank's household for an evening meal.

The household had Frank's wafe and son and between 2 and4 other males (including the German) The meals were simple but filling, noone lacked...that was intersting cause they had no income, but things given to one household, was always shared among everyone.

One evvening there was a discussion I over heard that one household had not had meat for weeks. The next day I went to the sroe and got the bigest roast I could.

So that was sacrifice, real sacrifice, not on my part, that was easy. Everything that happened. Their own comfort really took a back seat.

I started staying over one night a weekand would work renovating the place(no just keeping it clean, this was a super historic building that had been left to disappear) We replaced sheetrock and painted walls and did what ever to bring it to its formor glory.(the house was a two story masion wwith huge rooms.)

Things happen, people get in the way and the clinic closed 9 months after I was there'

Frank and his household stayed together, but moved to a place near the galleria. This was a normal house, single floor, a few bed rooms. He his wife his son the german, who had since converted and a foster boy. Frank got a Job, but I do not remeber where, but I think I was medica related. I Started staying over more.

I knew it woould be hard on my parents, I guess If I had gone away to college, it would have been easier, but I was not ready and so the gradual thing happened.

\It was not easy, my relation with my dad was always strained, because he though somewhere I was a whimp. And I was way to smothered from my mom, who always wanted to protect me.

In that summer before I moved in I got a job for the summer at theGettty Reseach Lab and it was fun and paid me and that helped my dad.

Fall I left the lab to continue my studies.
In the mean time thing were happing with Frank and his Household. People wanted him back up in this area to bring his community experience, they did not want to go.