I was so proud of myself, of us, really. My husband, my parents, and I decided one Christmas morning to serve breakfast at a homeless shelter called GodTell.
Yes, so spiritual.
We spooned eggs on to their plates along with toast and hash browns, orange juice and coffee, and a smile, of course. Then I played some carols on the piano. Mary took us on a tour: the rooms, neat and clean, the storage area with diapers stacked and donated clothes hung, the bathrooms, scrubbed and sanitized.
Maybe it was Thanksgiving. Which would have meant giving up watching the Macy’s Day Parade.
So spiritual.
The group consisted of mostly men, a couple of women, and one mother with her three children.
Then my husband, my parents, and I went home to our turkey dinner and mashed potatoes and hot wassail.
Yes, yes, so spiritual.
GodTell is run by Mary and Martin, whose desire it is to shower the down-and-out with God’s love, to give them food, a place to stay, clothing, job interview helps, and the Word of God.
After breakfast, on a typical day, Martin teaches a short Bible study. Then the tenants have to leave. They can’t come back until 4:00.
They have to look for a job.
They have no suits on their backs and a brown bag with a sandwich and maybe chips or an apple in hand. They have their resumes, spiffied and shinied-up with the help of Mary and Martin and a few other volunteers. They’re ready to conquer the world. At 4:00 they come back. Each has chores to finish before dinner to keep the place going.
The goal: those who come to GodTell won’t need to be there long. They’ll find new jobs, new homes, a new life. In the meantime, they have food, shelter, clothing, and love.
There’s one couple, though, that will never leave. Mary and Martin.
They live their full-time in a trailer next to the tenants’ home. And since the tenants don’t have air-conditioning, neither do Mary and Martin. Did I tell you that this is in hot and muggy southeast Texas?
Craziness.
But sometimes God’s love looks that way. Living with the poor. Without air-conditioning.

A couple of weeks ago, before I got distracted by the land that I love (aka New Jersey), I told you about the upcoming Mondays that would highlight people incarnating Christ’s love and truth. The time is here.

I’ve decided to call it Mentor Monday because these are people that are doing what I talk about doing. The Apostle Paul said in one of his letters that the new believers should emulate him. These are people I want to emulate.

The truth of the matter is that there are thousands of ministers and missionaries who have given up corporate salaries, powerful positions, and limosine lives in order to serve God in professional ministry. My husband and dad are two faithful examples of these servants.

But for now, I’d like to highlight those who are specifically serving the poor. These are people who help the poor build businesses, spoon soup into the mouths of the hungry, play soccer with the leper, kiss the boo-boo of an orphan, and knit blankets for a local shelter. These are the Mother Theresas, the Shane Claibornes. These are the little Christs. They live overseas, and they live in our neighborhood. As I mentioned before, if you know someone like this, please email me at heatheragoodman [at] yahoo [dot] com.

For the big kick-off, I’d like to tell you about Carmen.

I met Carmen in 1995 at an orphanage in Honduras. More like saw her hugging this child, kissing that girl’s scraped elbow, kicking the fútbol around with some of the teenagers. She mothers a whole lotta kid at Hogar de Niños Nazareth.

No wonder her back hurts sometimes.

This orphanage, run by Mama Carmen–if you hadn’t guessed–doesn’t see adoptions. No Angelina Jolie flying in to save the world. But Carmen has made a home for all of them, the abandoned, the lost, the parentless. They have a farm, chickens, and a cow, both to feed the orphanage but also to sell in the local village to help sustain the facilities. Carmen trains the kids with vocational skills, such as sewing, woodworking and welding, so that when the time comes, the new adults will leave the orphanage prepared to support themselves and contribute to the economy of a Two-Thirds World country. The children also receive spiritual training, including a Sunday walk to the local church and daily prayer.

Carmen’s ministry started with two abandoned girls. Carmen was 19 at the time. She broke ties with the convent she was serving in (who refused to take the two girls) and broke the law by taking in children that were not her own. She had no job and no money, but she had God’s love, and she knew that was enough. With the help of a group of mothers of children she had taught previously and Air Force soldiers who volunteered their time when they found out what she was doing, Carmen turned an abandoned and disrepaired house into an orphange, into a home.

Now she has close to 200 children in her care.

Through the years, God continued to provide helpers–local farmers, crazy estadounidenses (U.S. citizens), and "graduated" orphans who stay on as staff.

Carmen says that her greatest challenge is making sure that the children feel like they’re in a family rather than a facility. But her love covers that. After all, it’s Christ’s love.

For more information on Carmen, the children of Hogar, or All God’s Children, the nonprofit that helps support the ministry, visit their website.

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke,to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him…If you do away with the yoke of oppression…and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched landand will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail…you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
Isaiah 58:6-12

It has come to my notice within the past 6 months how many of our clothes are created in sweatshop factories overseas. These factories are characterized by unpaid forced overtime (some of this overtime resulting in faintings and other problems), wages less than the cost of living, sexual harrassment, child labor, and other monstrosities. All of my favorite shops are on the list (you can find out how yours rate at Responsible Shopper). The mistreatment of others for my convenience and pleasure has driven me to my knees for forgiveness and to action of some sort. Many months ago, I sent out an email to friends and family focusing on two places (Target and Gap stores, although it is important that I have not yet thought of a shop that doesn’t have this problem). I wrote Gap a letter (I tried to write Target a letter, but they sent me in circles). Here is the response:

Dear Ms. Goodman,
Thank you for your inquiry about the treatment of workers and the factories that make our clothes. We share your concern, as this is alsoa very important matter to us. We want our products to be made in a safe and humane environment, and we’ve devoted significant amounts of time, money and energy toward improving factory conditions and the livesof garment workers. We’re committed in our efforts. Nearly a decade ago, we created a Code of Vendor Conduct establishing our principles and the expectations we have for factories that produce our clothes. Today we have one of the most comprehensive factory monitoring programs in the apparel industry with more than 90 employees around the world who are devoted to improving the factories in which our products are made. We make both announced and surprise visits that include interviewing workers, reviewing documents, inspecting health, safety and labor conditions, andmore. In addition, we work closely with nonprofit and governmental organizations, independent monitors and community leaders, striving to promote change through greater collaboration among all concerned stakeholders.
We’d like to share more about our program with you, and we invite you tovisit our web site at: http://www.gapinc.com/public/SocialResponsibility/socialres.shtml
We’ve also recently published our first Social Responsibility Report which is available online as well. We want our customers, employees andinvestors to know what we’re doing to improve factories, and your feedback about our efforts is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Ray
Customer Service Consultant

Because I am a cynic, I wonder how much is marketing and how much is real concern. (I could go into Starbucks regarding this, but I’ll save that soapbox for another day.) But you have the information I do to do with it what you will.