Hugh's Views

In the last 48 hours I have:

• Negotiated with a landlord on behalf of someone else.
• Held a crying mother of two who was facing the fact the kid’s dad had left her.
• Advised a man how to avoid being arrested for something he was surely guilty of.¹
• Visited a lawyer with someone to determine the status of a lawsuit.
• Had a meeting with three other pastors to work on ways faith communities can help with the coming post-traumatic stress disorder crisis that is going to hit when all the soldiers come home ²
• Tried³ to track down someone who was arrested while I was out of town.
• Spent several hours counseling a couple that just moved into their new apartment after a year of homelessness.
• Visited a friend’s new restaurant.⁴
• Spent two hours with my fellow theological misfits at the Raleigh Emergent cohort meeting.
• Booked two upcoming speaking gigs.
• Prepared the first of four lessons I am teaching at a local Baptist church over the next month on poverty and the Civil Rights movement.
• Sketched out the beginning schedule for an ongoing podcast for our ministry
• Adopted a 2 week old kitten.
• Narrowly averted the power company from shutting our lights off at the house.
• Researched options for arthroscopic knee surgery for someone who has no health insurance ⁵
• Walked a total of 5 miles as part of my new exercise regime.

No wonder I am tired.

¹ This is the sort of ethical struggles my particular form of ministry requires. If you must know, it is a victimless crime that he will be better able to resolve in a few months. Right now, however, he has a wife and kids who utterly depend on his income.

² PTSD will affect 20% of them – roughly 400,000 people who are five times more likely to seek help from their minister than all other sources of help combined.

³ I was unsuccessful at this

⁴ It is the new Market Restaurant on N Blount St. The food is incredible. He also hired the man in the couple mentioned above, which made them getting the apartment possible. We really need to support Chad and his new restaurant if we at all can.

⁵ The short answer is, there seem to be none. Medicaid is only an option in NC if you are disabled or have dependent children.