Volunteer Focus

Due to a lack of trained staff in Vermont, we are sending volunteers to other organizations to volunteer.

We are collaborating with some churches in our district to provide pastoral care as the disaster unfolds in areas south of Rutland. 

Please pray for Vermont, especially the faith based organizations that have limited funding, but are striving to show the love of God.

BINGHAMTON / OWEGO NY

Volunteers are needed for Binghamton and Owego, NY for mud outs and general clean up.

We will be there on Friday, Saturday and Sunday of this week (16 to 18th) Meals and housing is provided. Just bring yourselves, compassion, and a willingness to serve.




Mature Pastors and other lay leaders and mature Christians with CPE, or Disaster Experience are needed to provide pastoral care as well. One to two week deployments. Meals and housing provided. Email me for more details. jamie@hesedhope.org


Please contact me at jamie@hesedhope.org; www.hesedhope.org

If you can't give of your time or are limited in helping due toe health reasons, financial Donations are always appreciated and help to get other people in the field. You can donated via paypay on our web page. www.hesedhope.org 

Volunteers and Chaplains Needed for State Wide and Local Clean Up in VT and NY

We are collaborating with VOAD and other state and local organizations to develop teams of volunteers for "Mud Out".

We need volunteers willing to donate a day, or several days to help home owners clean up their homes. Older youth groups and adults are welcome.

We also need pastoral care providers, chaplains and especially those with CISM and disaster experience for deployments lasting one week or more if possible.

We will find local housing and meals.

Last, we need churches throughout NY and VT who will house and provide meals for volunteers in the communities near them who were hit by Irene. 

The safest and most effective way to help, is by joining up with an established organization like ours. 

People are often prevented from going into sights that are not part of a recognized organization, and most importantly, they should be. During disasters many volunteers are injured because they become a liability to the rescue operation due to a lack of knowledge or experience. Even the most skilled of us end up injured at times, as we learned on our recent disaster with two injuries. Disaster sights and disasters are unpredictable.

At this time, VT still has many roads closed and even a small rain fall can cause the already existing situations to become hazardous again, stranding volunteers who them become victims of the disaster.

We are in constant contact with state and local authorities to stay abreast of road and weather hazards, as well as where we are most needed.

Please sign up with Hesed Hope for Mud Out and other volunteer opportunies by writing to me at:
jamie@hesedhope.org

 And visit our web page at: www.hesedhope.org

What Exactly Do We Do???? - Sheep Needed for Hurrican Irene, Signed Jesus

 Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

"...‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 

[ 'For my home was destroyed and you took me in, my belongings were gone and you provided for me, I was in pain, and you visited me to show your love and compassion.']"

“Then the righteous will answer him, ['Lord, when was your home destroyed and I took you in, your belongings gone and I provided for you, in pain and I visited you to show my love and compassion?’]"

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did  for one of the least of  these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."...

                                                                                                                                  Matthew 25:31 -40

WHAT DO WE DO?

We are a small developing ministry building crisis and disaster response teams; training and equipping the church to be effective ministers of love and compassion. Sheep.

We are similar to Billy Grahams Rapid Response Team (of who we are also members, but now called to build more teams).  BGEA works alongside Samaritan's Purse. BGEA does the spiritual care- SP the practical helps. We do both on a much smaller scale (so far) as we build our trained spiritual care teams, and provide help anywhere we are needed. We also train others to provide effectively for local crisis response, when we are not needed for disasters. (Visit our web page)

What we do not have, is an international budget nor salaries. We  do not have a professional  photographer, nor the man- power to always have pictures to show the work we are doing - like right now. We also have the sensitivity to respect the privacy of who we are working with, so pictures are not always a priority.

100% of donations go to deployments - we do not even reimburse ourselves for many expenses, fully committed to this ministry. I (Jamie) am acting director, and ordained and endorsed as a chaplain - do not take any pay, working more than full time. None of our board members of staff are paid.

The majority of donations from large corporations like Walmart, now go directly to the Red Cross, making the task of grants and fundraising difficult, and time consuming, for small scale operations and other NGO's. (You will no longer see Teen Challenge outside Walmart.)

Our volunteers must self-deploy - simply because they love Jesus, and desire to share His love and compassion with others - we are able to provide housing, most meals, and usually on-sight transportation for our volunteers.

We are not all professionals - though we have a mixture of professionals and "lay" persons. We are recruiting teams that include mental health, chaplains, R.N.'s, fire and rescue - peers of all types, men and women.

We had truly hoped to get more people interested in training before a disaster hit - especially locally, but everything happens in His time.

Now is the time. The secular world is responding in droves. This is our opportunity - the church - to show the sacrificial love of Jesus - in action. 

We need financial donations for expenses, material donations of cleaning supplies, and  MATURE CHRISTIAN VOLUNTEERS. 

We will be driving trucks down to Schenectady to pick up donations from Convoy of Hope, tomorrow morning - renting a truck if we do not have one provided. 

We have a team in VT hiking into the hills to minister to people cut off, at the invitation of the Red Cross.  (Perhaps pictures and stories will follow tonight) 

We are in contact with non-government and government officials. 

We are in this for the long haul. We COVET your prayers for the victims of this disaster in NY and VT, safety of our volunteers, and provision for this work to continue. 

Please stay tuned to this blog for daily reports and needs. Please post your availability, or contact me with your contact information at: jamie@hesedhope.org 

In His Loving Service,

Jamie and Dave and Hesed Hope Staff

www.hesedhope.org 

An Intimate Conversation with Jesus

Our "green pastures"

 I was praying this morning and had some very intimate time with the Lord.

I have been home for 3 days now, and typical of my reactions to working in trauma is that my emotions peak about day 3 of my return. Last night I watched, "A Walk to Remember" thinking it may be good to cry. I was wrong - it would have been better to laugh. I woke up very fatigued and in the midst of some self- pity. I was in need of some genuine Jesus time to renew my strength. If Dave had been here, I most likely would have turned to him. God has worked this situation to my good, even in my reluctance to accept His will in Dave's absence.

I was praying for others and meditating on His word, when I looked out the window admiring the amazing beauty of God's creation - the mountain views, the ponds and animals, the green grass and trees - the PEACEFUL setting - all the many blessings Dave and I enjoy in our property.

My prayer shifted to the rare but occasionally real presence of God that seems as easy as chatting over coffee - (something I long for on a daily basis and have found more since Dave is not here to have coffee with me) something like this:

Me - "My Lord, you ask too much of me. My family will be scattered and I won't have the beauty of the mountains to bring me peace. My whole life I longed for the life I have now. How can you take this away? What of Dave? He loves this life even more than I do. "

Jesus - "My child, I think this conversation you need to call me Jesus, and see me as Your friend, and not your Lord or God."  (John 15:15)

Me - "My Lord, I cannot obey you in this move if I do not see you as my Lord. Would a friend ask another to make such a painful sacrifice?"   (John 15:13)

Our creek and waterfall

Jesus - "Jamie, What you see as a sacrifice, I see as a promotion - a door to open, an opportunity to be grasped. Don't you wish for your friends that they grab a hold of all that I have for them?"  (Prov. 3:5; Jer.29:11)

Me - "It does not feel like an opportunity, but another possible trial. A loss, a  lonely and fearful readjustment to all things new. [Our 19th move] The loss of church family, our friends. More loss for my children. I am afraid that if I live in the suburbs, I won't be able to find You. You will be as lost to me as the mountain views. I find YOU in the peace of country life. I have always know the glory of God through the heavens at night - even as child. I longed for what you have given me - a glimpse of heaven in my life. I leave pain and destruction to find peace here.  Jesus, YOU know this. You ask too much. "  (I Cor. 2:9)

Jesus - "Jamie, I have never asked you to do anything that you can't handle. Even when you believed I asked too much, you were both able to bear it. You have endured all things by My strength - you both have. You will handle this too - together- and glorify me. Together, you and Dave will grow through this. He will love me more." (I Pet. 3:6b -7; James 1:2-4)

Me - "Lord, you think too much of me - too highly of me. Ask what You will, but I may not glorify You through it all. I am afraid that my old ways will rise up and I will be angry with You. That I will only see you as Lord, and not my Friend. I will need Your help - your grace, and your strength. We both will."  (Isaiah 41:10)

Jesus - "Jamie, when you look at the stars, you see the glory of God and find peace there. But when I look at you I see the face of God. I see the beauty of my creation and my own likeness, I see LOVE. When you minister to others - you do it because you love me. You see me in them. Will you let me minister to you because you believe I love you? That in you I see the image of my Father? You are my friend, because I chose you."(Gen 1:27; I John 4:7; 5:1; Matt. 25:40; John 15:16)

Me - " I believe Jesus. Help me with my unbelief.  Help me to see myself through Your eyes. Will you hold me Jesus, like Dave does?" (Matt. 9:23-24)

"My child, I already am.  My embrace encircles you both, you just need to lean back and rest in my arms. Trust me Jamie. Have I let you down before?" (I Cor. 10:13; John 14:27)

Me - "I trust you Jesus, but you better not let go, the fall from a horse hurts way more now at 52."

I felt His smile and the warmth of His embrace. 

Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 
Take delight in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. 
Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: 
He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. 
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;

The Holy Bible : Today's New International Version. 2005 (Ps 37:3–7). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
   

Jesus, Joplin, Justification

Truck - chassis wrapped completely around the tree.

5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 

Hospital in Joplin - completely destroye

I cried during worship today. I turned and saw my son-in-law Matt holding our 3 year old daughter Keira and thoughts of Alabama and Joplin flooded in. The unwanted image of a 3 year old child being sucked out of her mothers arms assaulted me as I sang about how awesome our God is. I can still feel the tears that fell on my arm as I prayed for the individual who told me the story - and the helplessness that was in his eyes.  I vividly recalled the young women who found the remains of her grandfather - complete with all the horribly gory details that I never imagined I would choose to hear in this lifetime. There was the young women who spoke of climbing over bodies of her friends after her apartment was leveled; or the story of the mom with her 3 children climbing over bodies and twisted metal to flee a destroyed  building - she is terrified to leave her children now for the traumatic responses it causes. The man who ran with his newborn infant in his arms and the screams of his wife became distant. He turned and realized - she was gone - sucked up into the whirlwind. The multitudes of children who now look daily at once green yards and trees that they climbed,  turned into a barren wasteland of debris, and stripped, dead, trees - many are now afraid of the storms.

All that is left standing - the cross

Jesus wept. Quite possibly my favorite scripture.

Our God is awesome, and Jesus is our wounded healer. As we sang praises about how great and wonderful our God is, I know I sing more loudly, more passionately and with more conviction than ever before. For the last 4 years, every death call, every intervention, every prayer offered on behalf of hurting humanity - only brings me closer to the suffering Savior and his redemptive work on the cross. The people who didn't think they needed a 'god' find themselves thanking Him, or tell the tale of crying out to Him for mercy during the storm and feeling the presence of an 'unseen power' in their midst. The multitude who lived through the unlivable, praise the God they did not know for the things that He did in preserving their lives. As my WWII, Normandy Beach, D-Day, Dad used to say, "You don't find athiests in a foxhole." There were a lot of foxholes in Alabama and Joplin.

The number of deaths in Joplin do not measure the total destruction to large areas of the city. F5's are without partiality or mercy in their devastation. Many survivors know this, and praise Him.  There are death stories - but there are a multitude of life stories - thousands of them in several states. God causes the sun to rise on the just and un-just alike. Why do some live while others die? Only God knows - we are here to rejoice with those who rejoice, and mourn with those who mourn.(Rom. 12:15) To comfort others with the comfort we have ourselves been comforted with. (II Cor. 1:3) We are chaplains, "for such a time as this." (Es. 4:14)

I was given permission to share Richie's story. I am partial to Richie since he shares the same name as my favorite songwriter. Richie lived through Katrina and Rita, and moved north to Joplin 3 years ago. Richie's house was moved about 10 feet from it's foundation while he and his wife and two grandchildren huddled in the hallway. The house is destroyed and will be bulldozed. They are now living in a pop-up trailer. I met Richie as I walked an area looking for families to help. Richie was being helped by a church group cutting down trees when I met him. As we spoke, he mentioned he hadn't had a chance to really share his story yet - he had been so busy with taking care of the necessary, he had not had time for the truly necessary - his emotional and spiritual state. Richie teared up when I told him I had all day if he needed, and he began to pour out his heart. Katrina was tough, but he was a seaman - he was ready and they evacuated. He knew how to handle hurricanes. But they have moved up here to get away from the storms - going through two was enough. There had been enough losses in his life already. He was agitated, nervous, having trouble sleeping - to name a few. We covered a lot of critical incident stress information and I left him with handouts. He was thankful to learn he was not going crazy, but his reactions were normal, for the event.

Notice foundation to the right - destroyed house is to the left of the trailer.

I prayed with Richie and he teared up again - he then spoke about his faith having been increased by the storm, and knowing God was real. It was an opportunity for me to talk about Jesus and His presence and Richie listened attentively. He knew that God was with him, but he needed to know that he was with God - a son of God - loved by God. We prayed again, and Richie understood that his relationship with God was sealed by Jesus - his covenant was sure - he was justified by his faith in Jesus.

"Suffering produces endurance..." What a blessing it is to come alongside the suffering and help them to endure the race set before them. God's love has and is being poured into the hearts of the suffering - believers and unbelievers alike. What a privilege to be a minister of the hope of Jesus to others, by being a living, breathing presence of the hope of Jesus Christ in action. Thank you Lord for an opportunity to serve the ones you suffered for.

We need trained team members. If you are anyone you know is CISM trained and wants to serve with us, please pass this one. If you are ready to begin CISM training and working with us,  you know where to find us. The harvest is plentiful and the workers are few. We are praying diligently for workers to join us in the harvest.


The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Ro 5:1–5). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.