TRANSITION HOUSE UPDATE

I cannot and do not always give updates on the Transition House or our residents. That sometimes is difficult because some may think they are entitled to know everything about everything. It is usually not that way. Residents can come and go quickly. Our primary objective is to give them the opportunity to transition. They may “keep their bed”, their place in the house, as long as they live up to the contract agreement they turn in every week. It should never be a surprise to a resident if they are asked to leave the house. They turn in a weekly agreement. Either they kept it or they did not. You certainly understand when we do not make public announcements about the house, who is out and for what reason. And, by the way, not everyone leaves because of a relapse. Some leave for more personal reasons. Thanks for understanding this and for helping others understand as well. 

I love the way our church family loves and receives the House residents. Just remember, many of them, like many of us, have lived for years as cons. To stop using your drug of choice is hard. Those addictive thinking patterns can be harder to change. One of the things we will be asking the church family and our recovery ministry is to not give money to our current or former Transition House residents. That is so hard because we love them and their babies. You can give money for them through Celebrate Recovery. Then their sponsor or CR leaders and/or group can make sure it is the healthy thing to do. That even includes things like diapers, milk, etc. Wow, I know, that is so hard. We want to make sure helping does not hurt. This may relieve a lot of pressure should someone ask for help. You can agree to help…but only through Celebrate Recovery. The new residents will sign an agreement that they will not ask.

Right now, the Transition House is going through some changes. I am calling it a reboot. We are having some major construction issues. Some of them are structural in nature. Others are more cosmetic. Think about it. We originally bought the house for the purpose of tearing it down for parking. It went with no attention for over 6 years before we started the Transition House. We have had the Transition House Ministry for close to 4 years; housed over 20 women and almost that many children. It is time for the four R’s…repair, repaint, refresh and refurnish. While the house is temporarily closed, we will also be “rebooting” our policies and procedures and developing a Ministry Team to help lead the Transition House Ministry. Just FYI, the last residents had over a month’s notice that the house was closing down. We did not want anyone, especially babies and children, living there with major construction happening. So, all in all, announcing in February that the house would be closed was good timing. It gave everyone 4 to 6 weeks to make plans.

Let’s pray together Jeremiah 33:3…call to me and I will tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know…

Pastor Tom