June 18, 2009
Some time today was we moved through the subway system, we heard a bluegrass group playing and I immediately thought of the Soggy Bottom Boys from “O Brother, Where Art Thou” because we were on am odyssey of sorts and we most definitely were soggy…
But, that didn’t slow us down much. We did alter the schedule a bit though. Due to the rain, we didn’t do the Gray Line Uptown Loop today, but will do that on Friday morning. Today, everyone had a chance to see the sights, do souvenir shopping and the like. So, we spent our time in and around Times Square seeing what we didn’t see yesterday. Our plan to go back to the hotel before our evening mission venture was foiled when the 7 train went out of service for a while. So, we went back to Grand Central where I bought pizza for everyone (which was the plan anyway). The folks at the pizza place really went above and beyond the call of duty. While it wasn’t the best pizza I have had, it hit the spot indeed. We shared our leftover pizzas with some homeless people in the terminal. That was a blessing.
For the evening, we went to the New York School for Urban Ministry. After some worship and training, we split into five teams and distributed food to the homeless at various points in the city. It was well done, safe, and a great eye-opening experience for our kids. Never have I seen such poverty next to such opulence. A shame, indeed.
We are resting now. I don’t think the kids will have any trouble sleeping when they get back to Tyler. But for now, we are squeezing all the juice we can out of the Big Apple.
Blessings
BB
