Jan 28
measure in love…
We’ve rung in the New Year and are looking forward to what is ahead. We can never say thank you enough for your support and friendship and prayers in 2008 - and 2009 promises to have more solutions for the hurting than the year before.
For many though, the New Year brings lots of change.Some good - some more difficult. Close friensd of our family called us shortly after the New Year. Their 40 year old son had died.
The last ten years were difficult for him. He’d had several surgeries and struggled with pain and depression and many of life’s demons.
Paul was not just our friend’s brother or friend’s son - he was a friend of SafeHouse Outreach’s and a friend of mine and Dacia’s.
I’ve got to say - the news was shocking. Much different than hearing that a person much farther along in years had passed. Those passings tend to make more sense to us. And then that’s what we try to do, try to make sense of it all, right?
I don’t want this to be sad - that’s why i tell you about Paul. Not to only mourn his death, but to celebrate his life.
The dawn of every year gives us 525,600 minutes to use. The successful Broadway musical, Rent, has a song called Seasons of Love and asks the question: with 525,600 minutes - how do you measure a year in the life? And then gives the answer to the question: Measure in Love.
I couldn’t help but think about Paul’s life - measured in love. Paul was one of those guys who went out of his way to help people. He’d help stranded motorists or give someone a ride.
When Paul volunteered at SafeHouse, everyone was treated with respect and dignity - he had seen hard times too and remembered when he just needed a friend. So He’d sit and talk.
We have a children’s room specifically for homeless children - an oasis where they can step off the streets and step into a playroom while a parent receives services. It’s because of Paul and his family that room exists.
They collected toys and stuffed animals and brought in one of those rugs with a town and roads on it - and lots of cars and trucks for little boys to play with. Baby dolls and baby beds for the little girls too. Books to read in two cozy chairs that Paul’s mom had reupholstered. Coloring books - so much in that tiny room!
Many didn’t know that Paul spoke fluent Spanish - I didn’t until i hears him speaking to a Hispanic gentleman at SafeHouse Outreach. The man needed services but spoke little to no English. It just so happened that on that day, at that time, Paul was volunteering - but more than volunteering - Paul was the only person at SafeHouse Outreach that day who spoke Spanish.
In fact he used his Spanish often - interpreting wherever anywhere he was, to help someone.
The end of the song says: Remember the love! Measure in love! Seasons of love!
It’s so easy to remember Paul’s life by love. We were amazingly blessed to witness several different seasons of love he showed here at SafeHouse, but i know there were many we weren’t privileged to be apart of. Those times no one was around and he stopped to help someone or interpreted so another could be helped.
We will never know everything. But we do know that for 525,600 minutes a year, so many of Paul’s could be measured in love.
Most people make resolutions at the beginning of each New Year. But for Dacia and me - we’ve decided to count minutes. And at the end of the year, how many minutes will I have used in love.

