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Raising Awareness

Terence Lester
In 50 Day Count Down, Blogging Journey, Campaigns, DRIVES, Great Commission, Homelessness, Journey, Life-dares, Movement of Doers, Raising Awareness, , Vision

The Countdown Begins (DAY 33 STRUGGLE)

Yesterday was my hardest day! I left them gym, and thought to myself is this even possible? “Can I really lose 25 more lbs…?”

My old schoolmate Cooper suggested, “You can if you keep going…” Cooper is a new personal trainer who decided to train me after my last trainer dropped out due to schedule conflicts.

Now I’m 33 DAYS out and wonder if this is possible… I literally had to reflect on Jesus’ life when he was in the “Garden of Gethsemane…” His disciples were sleep, and he was thinking about what was about to happen to his life… Jesus prays, and asks God to take the cup, but ended up saying an incredible and encouraging statement in the face of a Roman scourging and crucifixion… Jesus says,

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done (Luke 22:42, NIV).”

Jesus did two things that are encouraging in the midst of tension! Firstly, he acknowledged the “cup” or hardship. Jesus had a healthy reality of what was before him, which gave him the proper strength to ask God for help…Having this perspective helps one to not live in denial about what has to be faced.

Secondly, Jesus asked. Although this did not remove the “cup” Jesus’ journey, Jesus asked. Sometimes asking helps us to accept and weigh what we are being called to do… Jesus gained strength from what he felt God was calling him to do.

I believe God is calling #lovebeyondwalls to raise awareness about homelessness on this daring journey! In fact, we will need God’s strength to continue. Today, I am reflecting on this scripture…

“I can do all this through him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13, NIV).

Below is a short video before we release the second campaign…

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Terence

Terence Lester
In 50 Day Count Down, Blankets & Socks, Blogging Journey, Collaboration, Great Commission, Homelessness, Journey, Life-dares, Movement of Doers, Raising Awareness, , Uncategorized, Vision

The Countdown Begins (DAY 34 FOR THE VOICELESS)

Below is a picture of me and my brother (Rahkeem)… These reason why I post this picture is because I truly believe in this young man. Currently, he lives under the bridge with his mother, and is only 19 years old. I make it my goal to spend time with him once or twice a week.

Why? Because I am building a relationship with him, and hope to grow #lovebeyondwalls enough to remove him from the streets. Yesterday, he read a poem/rap to me that he wrote for us… It went something like this, “Been struggle since I was thirteen seeing homelessness for me…”

He is only a kid, and still has so much future ahead of him! However, he is voiceless! This must end… I am going to sacrifice my life a little this year to make sure that people like Rahkeem and others get help, or at least be heard.

There are three ways we are planning on helping this young man, and his wife. I ask that you keep us in your prayers as we make preparations to do so in months to come. I consider this young man not only a friend, but a younger brother that needs a “hand up” not a “hand out…”

2014-01-25 10.28.09-1Terence

 

Terence Lester
In 50 Day Count Down, Blogging Journey, Campaigns, DRIVES, Great Commission, Homelessness, Journey, Life-dares, Movement of Doers, Raising Awareness,

The Countdown Begins (DAYS 36&35 Staying The Course)

Yesterday, I almost cracked and gave up on my weight loss journey…

It is so hard to stay disciplined, but I have made a resolve in my heart to keep going. Why? I received a phone call from one of my homeless friends (Rahkeem) yesterday. He is a 19 year old that stays under the bridge in tent city…

He reached out to say thank you for being a friend (and keeping our word)… talk about tears forming…

It was inspiring and moving to me that he considers me a friend, and trusts our team. He went on to say that everybody under the bridge appreciates #lovebeyondwalls having people help them while they are in transition. That alone is reason enough for me to keeping going, stay the course, and share more of what I have learned from going homeless around Christmas.

It is my prayer that God keeps me while on this journey! So far, I have lost 10lbs… I need you to pray for #lovebeyondwalls, and the second awareness campaign that I will release next week. 35 more days to go!

35daysTerence

Terence Lester
In 50 Day Count Down, Blogging Journey, Campaigns, Homelessness, Life-dares, Movement of Doers, Purpose, Raising Awareness, Serve,

The Countdown Begins (DAY 38 FIVE THINGS ON FOCUS)

Below are the top five things I’m learning about focus and distractions! Why am I sharing this? Because it takes laser focus to complete this task of losing weight and #lovebeyondwalls’ next awareness campaign!

Here goes:

1) You can’t focus if you don’t have a plan — If you are building something great, losing weight, or seeking to reach a goal… you MUST have a plan. Without a plan, you’ll allow life to take you in any direction. When this happens, it is easy to give up completely.

2) Focus can be easily broken if you have options — A mentor of mine once shared, “you can’t give half of yourself to something you want full results from…” In other words, it is important for a person to go ALL in, and cut off ALL options to escape the plan.

3) Focus needs accountability — You can’t achieve anything great alone! Therefore, accountability and support as your strive toward reaching your goal is important. Your accountability system will keep you on track, and challenge you to stay committed to your own commitments.

4) Focusing on the big picture helps one to ignore the small distractions — The big picture will always remind you of why you started in the first place… It is easy to become distracted by the smaller “picture type” experiences that are negative and draining. Focus requires seeing that every experience contributes to the bigger picture!

5) Focus takes sacrifice of immediate gratification and may be uncomfortable — Focus means that you forfeit some things that you enjoy to reach your ultimate goal. Focus is a sacrifice! However, this type of sacrifice will push you outside your comfort zone, and strengthen you as you let go of things temporarily.

All of these points above mean so much to me as I prepare myself for this life daring challenge!

Terence

Terence Lester
In 50 Day Count Down, Blogging Journey, Campaigns, Collaboration, DRIVES, Great Commission, Homelessness, Journey, Life-dares, Movement of Doers, Raising Awareness,

The Countdown Begins (DAY 39 BIG PICTURE)

Today is day 11 of my training and healthy eating! Today kicked my butt, but I am determined to lose these 30+ pounds to raise awareness about homelessness. When days get rough like this, I have to force myself to think about the big picture! #lovebeyondwalls cannot wait to release the second campaign! As a matter of fact, this quote came to me while working out,

“Whenever you feel yourself becoming distracted, remind yourself of why your started out in the first place. Never allow second and third things replace the main things!”

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Terence

Terence Lester
In 50 Day Count Down, Blankets & Socks, Blogging Journey, Campaigns, Collaboration, DRIVES, Homelessness, Raising Awareness, Serve, , Uncategorized

The Countdown Begins (DAYS 42&41 MUST STAY CLEAN)

Have you ever gone 3 full days or even a week without a shower or bath?

What about this… Have you ever stood in a line of 100+ to take a shower, and got discouraged by the time it got down to only 20 in front of you (because it took hours for you to go)?

Well, many of our homeless brothers and sisters experience this week in and week out. In fact, when I lived on the streets for three days, I found out that personal hygiene was hard to maintain if you are a homeless person (especially if you live on the streets). Why? Because there isn’t easy access to everyday products like toothpaste, soap, rags, lotion, q-tips, etc…  (products that are some times at arms length for us)

I remember day 2 when I went homeless… I decided that I wanted to take a shower… I wasn’t able to because a gentlemen fell out in the shower, hurt himself (causing blood to be on the floors), and they shut the shower down for a few hours (by that time, I was discouraged). It took hours for the shelter to clean it up and by that time, I was on day two without a shower… It was hard because I wanted to shower or at least keep clean, but wasn’t able to.

Point blank, it is hard. It is hard to maintain cleanliness when there are only “few” showers around the city for thousands of homeless people. Therefore, if you wanted to know why #lovebeyondwalls is collecting hygiene products, this is why… With walking in the shoes, and hearing the heart of many of my homeless friends… We have decided to provide hygiene “LOVEKITS”

In the month of February, #lovebeyondwalls is collecting “LOVEKITS” filled with hygiene items that will aid our homeless friends with items to survive on the streets. To participate, contact us [HERE], or simply drop-off items at one of our three locations on the flyer below.

LBW-LoveKit-Location copyTerence

Terence Lester
In 50 Day Count Down, Blankets & Socks, Blogging Journey, Campaigns, Collaboration, Diversity, Homelessness, Journey, Movement of Doers, Raising Awareness, Serve,

Love Beyond Walls Story (Pt 1)

Below is a piece of the LBW’s story and how it started.

-LBW Team

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Terence Lester
In 50 Day Count Down, Campaigns, Homelessness, Journey, Life-dares, Movement of Doers, Raising Awareness

The Countdown Begins (DAY 42 PERSEVERE)

Today my inspiration to continue my weight loss journey for the next #lovebeyondwalls‘ campaign comes from a Duracell commercial. It briefly highlights the story of Derrick Coleman. If you have not seen it, allow it to push you to persevere!

Terence

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