From the Wayside Chapel-Graham Long

Dear Inner Circle, Becoming the people we would wish to be is always a slow process.  I'll bet I've heard more renunciations of old ways than most. I'll bet I've heard  more people swear off the drink or drugs or other addictions than most.  But change never happens with one insight or one decision or one event.  I think good habits are the greatest tool for character building and bad habits  are the greatest weapon for the dissipation of ourselves. That's why I'm so  impressed when I see someone replace destructive habits with habits that build  and serve. One of our famous street drinkers has, for two years now, not  had a drink. He has replaced habits that indulged and destroyed with habits  that serve and build. This fellow is working full time and spends every weekend  serving others at Wayside in the hope that he might help someone back to life  and health. Starting again from nowhere is a big ask of someone who has reached middle age  and blown all of their savings in destructive behaviour. It is tough to build  new relationships when a network of alliances have been built that co-operate  and aide the person's self destruction. Every time I meet our former street  drinker and see him smartly dressed and with his engaging eyes alight,  I'm lifted and encouraged. Can you imagine the adjustments that had to be  made when this fellow joined the workforce again after being drunk for so long?  His new job required that he obtain a car and so he bought a pile of junk  for next to nothing. This old car has been running on prayer for some time,  held together by faith, rope and charity. The car died this week and as a result  a good man and a good job looked set to become parted. Desperate to prevent  this waste, I wrote to 4 people whom I knew to be generous and good people.  It was cheeky of me but I asked each one to lend me $2,000 so that we could  buy a car and preserve the job of this courageous man. Within hours, not only  did I have the promise of $8,000 but one of these angels dropped his own car  around to Wayside so that it could be used until we found the right car to buy!  That beautiful angel is hiring a car to make do so that a brother that he has  never met keeps his job and strengthens the habits that make him stronger and  more alive. Tears are not far away as I recall the look on the face of the reformed drunk.  He had no words because there are no words that could express what I saw on his  face as he took the keys of a strangers car, given generously, given without strings,  with $50 to put some petrol in the tank and an instruction not to panic in the  event that an accident might happen. In the hard journey back to life and health,  it sure helps to know that there are people in the world who will love and  encourage and help. Last week, one of our workers was phoned at 7am by the railways to say that  a woman who was booked to travel to Brisbane had been put off the train  because of her smell. How did this become the problem of the Wayside I hear  you say? Countless phone calls over hours established that the woman has cerebral palsy  and was wheelchair bound. She had no carer with her and had clearly  soiled herself.  How did she get to Sydney I hear you say? More hours of negotiation and I approved  the cost of an airfare to Brisbane still not sure how this became our problem.  The airline needed to know what kind of chair with what kind of batteries etc etc.  At the end of the day the airport phoned to say that the woman stunk so badly they would not allow her onto a plane. Our worker phoned her partner to head  out to the airport and shower the poor woman in the chair. I'll bet the partner was  mystified about how this became our problem or how such a weird and unromantic errand dropped out of the sky on a Sunday evening. It turned out that  the lady had been so long in her own excrement that her skin had discoloured and split. At about 5pm, the poor woman was on a flight to Brisbane and our worker finished her day exhausted and exasperated for the sake of a woman she had  never met. There seems to be a protocol with police, railways, larger charities  and all kinds of groups that says that if a person fits nowhere and is the  responsibility of no one, call The Wayside Chapel. That's enough, thanks for being part of our inner circle, Graham PS This is my last chance to say to you before the 30th June, that this is the  right moment to let your love of humanity reach down into your wallet.  Find a charity that you trust (I know a good one) and make a donation in the last moments of this financial year. Generosity is a good habit. If you'd  like to donate to Wayside, you can do so here. Rev Graham Long Pastor and CEO The Wayside Chapel Kings Cross http://www.thewaysidechapel.com/

Protecting your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal information  is important to us, as it is fundamental to the way we operate. All information  is kept in the strictest confidence and is stored in a password secure database.  Levels of access to information are determined by an authorised employee's specific  need to do their job. Personal information collected by The Wayside Chapel is  never sold or passed on in any way, shape or form to any other organisation or  non-authorised person for any purpose. If you would like to seek access to, or revise your personal information or feel that the information we currently have on record is incorrect or incomplete, or you believe that the privacy of your  personal information has been interfered with, please contact us. Our appointed  Privacy Officer is Stephanie Guerin stephanie.guerin@thewaysidechapel.com