“For [God] delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper. [God] has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence [God] redeems their life; and precious is their blood in [God's] sight.”
- Psalm 72:12-14

“What is the ‘impossible’? It is liberation. To liberate people from the demons of fear, of loneliness, of hatred and of egoism that shackle them. To liberate people so that they also can love, heal, and liberate others. But in order to do that, you must go in poverty and experience the life of God flowing within your own flesh.” - Jean Vanier

I believe this sums up what we all do here at Cup of Cool Water. 

I want to share an excerpt from Safe People, hoping that you will take an interest and read along with us.

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men –robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. (Luke 18:10-14)

The tax gatherer did not see himself as righteous. Instead, he sought grace humbly, for he knew that only through God’s grace could he be loved and accepted. The Pharisee, however, saw himself as good, and others as bad. He believed—wrongly—that all ‘badness’ was outside himself.” (Cloud and Townsend,1995)

Below is a link to where you can order the book, consider reading along with us!

Safe People – Book

Cloud, Henry and John Townsend(1995). Safe People: How to find Relationships That Are Good for You and Avoid Those That Aren’t. Grand Rapids, Mi: Zondervan.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

In 2001, Cup of Cool Water finally got into its newly remodeled facility. We were all excited. There were lots of kids coming in. In fact, we were running around a 10 to 1 ratio, 10 kids for 1 staff. It was exhausting and energizing all at the same time. Then it just suddenly stopped. There was nobody coming in. I think we went about a month with only 1 or 2 kids coming in everyday that we were open. They wouldn’t stay to long. The place was empty.

That started bothering me. Well, it went beyond bothering me. Frankly, I got really discouraged, even went into a little depression. Yep, I was taking it personally. It came to the point where I even got upset with God. I was at my boiling point; wondering why Cup of Cool Water even existed. We should just close the doors. I started fighting with God. That’s right, I was upset. Then it happened; God interviened.

Before every drop-in and outreach time, we spend some time praying. Well, with being in the funk that I was in, I really didn’t feel like praying. Heck, I didn’t even want to be there. As everybody else prayed I tried not to listen. Then it was silent for a while. It was like they were waiting for me to say the last prayer. I relented and prayed, “God, I really need your peace. Amen.” I didn’t think it was much of a prayer and it was totally done out of spite. I thought, “Let’s get this thing over with.” That’s right, I prayed with a bad attitude. Minutes after I ended the prayer time we opened the doors.

As soon as the doors were open, day drop-in time began. Martha came in. Martha is 16-year-old girl involved in prostitution. She has been coming to Cup of Cool Water for about 2 years. At the present time, Martha was the only person there besides the staff. Martha walked in with a joyful bounce in her step, plopped down in a chair at a table, and sighed with a deep and cheery breath just as I sat down at the table in a chair across from her.

“I love coming here.” Her cheerfulness was a little annoying to me and I wanted it to end so I responded in the most gravely and frustrated voice I could muster up, “Why?”

Martha looked right at me, right into my eyes, and answered with a cheerful and serious tone, “Because, it is the only time of my day that I have peace.”

I didn’t say a word, I only gasped. Then it happened. God broke through my hard heart and I could hear His still small voice hit me over the head with a 2×4 saying,“This place is about ME and what I want to do here. Let it go and give it to Me.” Right after the voice ended, I remembered the verse, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27)

It was at that moment I was reminded again that God is about healing our hearts and He will speak though whomever He wants to bring the healing. Even a 16 year old young woman heavily involved in youth street culture and prostitution. A young woman who society says is trash.

The last time I made this for Staff lunch, it was suggested that this recipe should be shared on our Blog .

CASHEW CHICKEN

Ingredients

1 lb of chicken breast

2 cloves garlic

1 Tblsp. Olive Oil

1 bottle Oyster Sauce

1 small head Cabbage

½ lb cashews

1 bunch green onions

Directions:

Thinly cut chicken into 2 inch strips.

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat, and sauté garlic until just golden. Add chicken and cook 6-10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Add cashews, oyster sauce and green onion to chicken. Toss well, cover and reduce heat.

Chop head of cabbage. Add cabbage to chicken and toss. Remove from pan and place in serving dish. Serve with your favorite Basmati or Jasmine rice.

Serves 4

One of the facets of Cup of Cool Water’s ministry that receives a little less attention is the number of volunteers we have who do work “behind the scenes” to help keep our facility clean, organized, and serving kids in the best way we possibly can.  I have the privilege of working with many of these “indirect service” volunteers and finding ways to hook people up with service that interests them and is also of benefit to the ministry.  Indirect service includes anything from one-time youth service groups to long-term regular internships in a variety of different capacities.  Anyone can help in an indirect service capacity, and we are always open to suggestions of new ways people might be able to serve.  Here are a few words from some of our Moody Bible Institute volunteers who just started working regularly with the ministry in the last month.  We appreciate them!

Hi, my name is Alex Jensen and I am a student at Moody Bible Institute. I am 22 years old and this is my second year in Moody’s five year long Missionary Aviation Program. A friend of mine told me about Cup of Cool Water and introduced me to her uncle, Mark Terrell, who started the ministry. He told me more about the work they do and told me they needed kids to come down and help out. Hearing about the need for volunteers, and having to satisfy a service requirement for Moody, I decided to get involved. I now come once a week to help out wherever I can doing odd jobs such as cleaning and vacuuming, or helping with the Bike shop. Cup of Cool Water’s training program is coming up in a few weeks and I am excited to complete it so that I can become more involved with the kids that come here to Cup! I’m also really excited to see how Christ will work in this coming year and to see how He will work through this ministry!

Hi, my name is Peter Cain and I am 21 yrs old. I am currently a second year student in the aviation program at Moody. I was introduced to Cup of Cool Water a little less than a year ago when Mark Terrell came and spoke at a chapel at Moody. At the time I was not able to volunteer because of prior engagements, but this year I have begun volunteering twice a week helping out in the bike shop and doing other odd jobs like cleaning, organizing, and preparing for drop in. The more I hear about the ministry the more my interest grows in what God is doing through it. I enjoy helping people in whatever way that I can and working indirect service has given me a way to do that. I will take the training class in a couple of weeks that will allow me to do direct service, however I am thankful that I can serve now. I am excited about all the people that have been, are, and will be touched by this ministry and about what all God is and will be doing in my life because of it.

 Click here for more info about Volunteer Training – October 14th and 15th!

If you are interested in finding similar ways to serve at Cup of Cool Water as an individual or with a group, please contact Sarah Hennagin at sarah@cupofcoolwater.org or 747-6686.

This is a poem I wrote and often share with cup kids. so many feel so unworthy and so unloved.  These reminders are crucial and I find they can never hear these words too often!!

I have value                                       

I was created by God

I AM LOVED…

I am worthy of love

I am forgiven

I am hopeful

I am determined

I am God’s child

I AM LOVED…

I can do it

I need God

I need people

I have God

I have people

I AM LOVED…

I am creative

I am talented

I have gifts

I am awesome

I am gifted

I am worth it

I AM LOVED…

I won’t give in

I won’t give up

I won’t quit

I won’t believe lies

I believe in God

He loves me…

I AM LOVED…

by Kathy Burrowes

Fried Cabbage (as a side dish or a main course)

You’ll need:

1 pkg pork bacon OR 1 pkg Andouille Sausage

1 Large Head of Cabbage, cored and chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 onion, diced
2 cobs of corn (cut corn off cob)
salt and pepper to taste

In a large frying pan or electric skillet (my fav) fry the bacon and set cooked bacon to the side. In the fat from the bacon, saute the green pepper, onion, and corn for about 5 minutes on medium heat.
Add the cabbage and toss in the pan. Cover and simmer for about 5 minutes stirring once or twice. Uncover, crumple bacon and stir into fried cabbage.  Serve with warm cornbread.

To make this as a main course use Andouille sausage instead of  bacon, following the directions above. Use 2-3 tablespoons of butter tin place of the bacon fat.

This dish is almost as good without the meat, for those who love a hearty veggie dish.

The following is a blog from Roy Larson.  Roy is a longtime supporter and friend of CCW, and these are some things he wanted to share with you all.

Quotes, etc. for T-Shirts:

To know the faithfulness of God is to know the peace of God.

At day’s end I turn all my problems over to God.  He’s going to be up anyway.

Talk to God about the lost, then talk to the lost about God

Contentment is wanting what we have.

We all have 24 hours a day – make yours count.

Instead of putting others in their place, try putting yourself in their place.

From the seeds of kindness, happiness grows.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Life is fragile – handle with prayer.

Live today as if you will stand before God tomorrow.

People who suffer need more than sympathy; they need companionship.

Roy also wanted to share some health-related information with whoever could benefit from it:

Potassium is good for high blood pressure and heart disease.  The following are potassium-rich foods:

-Potatoes

-Peaches

-Clams

-Bananas.

Also:

-Salmon

-Soybeans

-Avocados

-Walnuts

-Hot peppers

-Apples

-Onions

It was a Monday night and I was on Outreach. Outreach is when we exit the four walls of our facility and go to where the kids are. We walk around downtown looking for young men and women we know and don’t know who are either homeless or heavily involved in youth street culture.

This particular Monday night there were three of us in our team, and we felt God leading us to go into Riverfront Park. When we arrived, there were some kids there that we knew. We chatted for a while and handed out some sack lunches. There was one young woman who stood out, or more accurately she was laid out. She happened to be drunk and passed out on the grass. Her friends were ready to leave and had a hard time waking her up. They were hitting or kicking her, not hard, in the stomach in an attempt to make her throw up. It didn’t work. So two guys picked her up, one on each side, and tried to make her walk to wherever they were all trying to go. We never saw her open her eyes one time even as they dragged her.

As they left in one direction we left in another. While we walked away we began talking about the situation. The major emotion we were all feeling, and which one person verbalized, was “I feel helpless.”

In a situation like that it seems all we can do is sit/stand, watch, and pray. In fact, it appears to me, that unless we (the church or individually) are not actively solving a problem, then we feel that we are not doing anything. This is especially true when it comes to an individual’s problems.  As a result, we feel “helpless.”

The question for me, then, is why does simply “being with” someone not seem to be enough? Why do we feel “helpless” when we can only “be with” the person praying and there “with” them when they are having a difficult time? Why do we have to solve another person’s problems/issues to feel like we are doing something?

I think it is because we have bought into the lie that God is a magician who waves a magic wand and solves all our problems. We often think that if He doesn’t wave that wand and solve our problems or another person’s issues, then He just is not a loving Creator. Also, since we are made in His image (Genesis 1:27) we end up believing we must do the same, or at least say some magic words to save the person from being in pain or get them out of their painful life situation.

If God is not a magician who solves all my problems at my beck and call, then who is He and what role does He play in my life?  And how does that change my response to the pain of others?