Blessed Be (and what I did last night)

Several years ago … more than ten now — I was blessed to attend a family camp for children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.   We have several kids who have this and it is really a hard, hard thing.   For no fault of their own, these people’s brains were messed up by alcohol before they were even born.   

At that camp, Jason Grey entertained us.  He’s a Minnesotan and this was before he hit the big time.  He impressed me so much with the way he handled the kids and how much the songs he shared that night were so appropriate for those kids and us as their parents.

Last night my awesome friend Kari posted the link to one of his songs on Facebook.   I read it after my family and I had just worked together to entertain a family of five who now live in James Crossing that I met through CarePortal.  She is 21, he just turned 18, and they have two babies together, one is 11 months and one is 2 weeks old.  She also has a daughter who just turned 7 that she had back when she was 14 and legally free for adopted…. except that nobody adopted her.   

We met last May through Care Portal and since then we have been through many ups and downs.  She’s been in and out of jail.  She has been in and out of the hospital.   Their relationship has been up and down.  But over time we have been there for them …. not every day ore even every week… but when they need us.   So yesterday my daughter went shopping to buy a gift for that beautiful little 7 year old.   Her car was the only one big enough for everyone, so she drove down to Greenfield Drive to pick them up.   My sons Dominyk and Wilson helped to clean the house…. and we ordered chicken from Moore’s Country Store because our son Jimmy is the cook there and he wanted to be part of things.   Our granddaughter Gabby set the table and cut the strawberries.     We had the dinner that she requested — fried chicken, homemade mac and cheese, green beans, rolls and strawberry shortcake.   And the night was complete with a JoJo Siwa outfit, complete with lots of shiny stuff on the skirt.

Tying this all back together, when I heard the song it made me remember something that my friend Patrick mentions.  God lives with the broken.   We had a great night…. I held a two week old baby.  I got to watch my kids and grandkids caring for others.  And I recognized that Jesus was at the table with us in so many ways.

The song is taken from the beatitudes in Matthew 5.   it’s so interesting to see who Jesus says are blessed.

The poor in spirit.

Those who mourn.

The weak.

The hungry and thirsty.

Wow.   The broken are the blessed.  The Losers.

Here are the lyrics to that song:

Losers
All the lovely losers
Never thought you'd hear your name
Outside
Always on the outside
Empty at the wishing well
But time will tell

Chorus:
Blessed Be
The ones who know that they are weak
They shall see
The kingdom come to the broken ones
Blessed be

Thirsty
Like you're drinking from a salt sea
But one day you'll be satisfied
Hungry
For the taste of mercy
Aching just to have your fill
One day you will

Chorus:

Not for the strong, beautiful the brave
Not for the ones who think they've got it made
It's for the poor, broken and meek
It's for the ones who look a lot like you and me

Blessed Be
Losers
All the lovely losers

https://youtu.be/1MzrLQTjNxI