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Experiencing homelessness

Terence Lester
In 50 Day Count Down, Blankets & Socks, Campaigns, Collaboration, Diversity, Education, Great Commission, Homelessness, Journey, Life-dares, Movement of Doers, Raising Awareness, Serve,

The Countdown Begins (30 DAYS LEFT – SECOND AWARENESS CAMPAIGN)

Do you want to know why I am losing almost 30lbs? Here goes…

Did you know that people who are in transition (homeless) have to walk to survive? In fact, if they live in a major city like Atlanta, walking is a must.

“You have to walk to shower…Walk to eat… Walk to use the restroom… Walk to get food… Walk to find clothing… Walk to find employment… Walk to the bus stop (or train station)… Walk to get medical help… Starting to get the picture yet?”

Walking is a means of survival, life, and wellbeing to someone who doesn’t have a home or the necessities of life. These are hard shoes to wear! Why? Because it takes a toll on your body, your hope, and your energy level….

WATCH THIS VIDEO

[embedplusvideo height=”500″ width=”500″ editlink=”http://bit.ly/1ez98jl” standard=”http://www.youtube.com/v/pK1SpZjs5hU?fs=1″ vars=”ytid=pK1SpZjs5hU&width=500&height=500&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=&notes=” id=”ep8003″ /]

 

Could you imagine walking 50-70 per week just to survive and make it (hoping to transition off the streets)? Could you imagine walking 365 days out the year? Could you imagine being tired from survival and having very little energy to do anything else?

Well, #lovebeyondwalls is going to do something about it…While living on the streets for three days, I found out that many of my homeless friends walk tons of miles per week to survive (watch the video). Walking is equivalent to water and food to a homeless person.

On March 1st, 2014, I am going to attempt to do something I have never done in my life to teach people what I have learned about the survival of people in transition (homeless).

Along my journey, I am going to invite people at various points to join in with the walk on later blogs… Also, I will release the specific journey that I will take, and how you can meet me at the end of the journey (and what we are doing in March)…

I am going to wear the shoes of the my homeless friends again by walking thirty miles straight in one day (four miles over a marathon). Why? Because many of my homeless friends in Atlanta and across this country have to walk to survive! It’s a little less than the distance that some homeless people have to walk per week. BUT, It’s going to take me 10-12+ hours to do it…I am also doing this to teach the world the top five lessons I learned while homeless. This will be a way #lovebeyondwalls can show the world how much a person without a home has to go through to live and survive. Why? Because many homeless people walk marathons every week (without notice). #lovebeyondwalls has created the second homelessness ribbon! It is a ribbon for the voiceless. We have created this ribbon to give those who are overlooked, and deemed rejects of society a voice. Therefore, we are calling it “VOICE FOR HOMELESSNESS…”

Our organization feels that this is one way people can correlate walking with “walking to survive…” (literally)

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I’m walking in the shoes of the homeless again, and hope to help many restore their lives from the streets… Pray my strength!

Terence

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

The Countdown Begins (DAYS 32 & 31 STRANDED)

Yesterday, I experienced one of the longest days of my life (in a car)…

I was stuck in traffic, ice, and a snow storm for more than 14+ hours. I ran out of gas, had to be pulled out of a ditch, and drove on the wrong side of the road at 1 mile per hour to get home around almost 2AM in the morning (I had been in traffic since 10:30AM the day before).

However, two miracles got me home… Firstly, a nice older man gave me gas after running out sitting in traffic six hours in Douglasville. This same old man pulled my car out of a ditch and led me to the gas station in his truck so I could fill up again. From there, he led me all the way from Douglasville to Fairburn Rd where he wished me luck to get home.

After traveling some distance, I arrived on Camp Creek Parkway where I sat another seven to eight hours… All of a sudden, a random truck driver approached me vehicle and said, “I want to help you get unstuck…”

He suggested that I drive up the wrong way to get home… I was hesitant, but persisted to do so, and to my surprise was able to bypass tons of cars, and traffic. I saw cars in ditches, 18 wheelers flipped over, tons of ice, people crying and walking, and several trucks and cars stalled. It was a horrible sight.

However, I was able to maneuver through it all (while sliding) hoping to make it home. After 14+ hours, I made it home. I can’t tell you how, but I can tell you that I was exhausted, hungry, tired, and overwhelmed. By God’s grace I made it.

After experiencing that yesterday, and hearing all of the horrible stories around the city of Atlanta, I am more than pumped to continue journeying toward #lovebeyondwalls second campaign… Why? Because it is almost parallel with what the city experienced. We will release it this Friday…

Terence

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

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