CHOOSE: GOD'S GUIDANCE & GOD'S TIMING

BUMMER! That's what I thought when I saw that the MidSouth Food Bank Collection box had been removed from "my" Kroger. Of course, I can pay for meals at the grocery check-out but I had been purchasing food to "give" and the sacks were in my trunk.

But God....had me see national news on TV about communities having "blessing boxes" to share food in neighborhoods. So....I started "scouting" Memphis area for some. A recent article in Commercial Appeal highlighted one in Binghampton area that was restocked on weekends. So....I decided to try and locate it and take food in middle of week when they might be running low.

BUMMER! Last week as I was headed to dinner with two of my widow ladies along, seated comfortably in the back seat, we tried to locate said box. It was "dusk." We could not find it and I could sense uneasiness from the back seat!

But God....had hubby with me at Board of Education on S. Hollywood last Wednesday. After the meeting, and armed with his GPS, the "hunt" began again.  Voilà! We found it at intersection of Merton St. and Harvard. If I had realized it was in front of Caritas Village, I would have found it much sooner as I've been there several times. 

The door of the "Little Free Pantry" at 2509 Harvard Ave. (38112) was swinging open.
It was almost empty so my assumptions were right. 

Hm-m-m-m God must have had someone in need in mind for that day!

It's always the right time to help feed the hungry, whenever God guides you to them. (Matthew 25:35)

SABBATH SNAPSHOT : Hesi-TEA-ation

A beach read---who was I kidding! I never even had a chance to read at the beach until Friday---and then, we assume, the ocean ate my glasses, prescription bifocals, no less. On These Courts, by former Memphis Wayne Drash, was my beach read choice. The book is listed as a biography of Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway, a Memphian and former NBA player.

Not a typical beach read either----but one I was drawn to because of it's locale and time frame---from both the 80s to 2012. Plus, Penny was in hubby's classes at the University of Memphis and he later gave Penny private swimming lessons. Penny reciprocated by speaking to the 400 kids from Chickasaw and Cyprus inner city schools who attended the summer National Youth Sports Program which Larry directed.

But....it's much more than that. It's a book about caring, compassion and giving back to an impoverished neighborhood. A story replete with failing grades, gang pressure, incarcerated or non-existent fathers and violence on the crime-ridden streets of a Memphis neighborhood. A book that took place just two years ago within a stone's throw of some mid-town friends and the Binghampton Christian Academy, where my sweet friend Nancy is a dorm mom.
A book about the discipline and love that is learned by street kids through the game of basketball.

Hesi-TEA-ation is another stretch for a "tea" word play but very necessary for this book review.

Hesitant because I have only read 2/3 of the book....though personally remembering this time has me aware of the very probable ending. An outcome of hope.
Hesitant because the book is full of "street language" blasphemy and brutal "child" abuse. Though all is true and well documented, it's hard to read of such.

Hesitant because this review is not necessarily a recommendation, even though I have enjoyed much of what I have read. Yet, it's certainly full of violent reality and harsh way of life in the "hood" of Lester Street.